What makes a good literary critic? For centuries writers were in agreement. The critic, Wordsworth noted, was a scornful(轻蔑的，鄙视的) sort who “frowned” on things. A critic knows, wrote Dorothy Parker, when a book is not “to be tossed aside lightly” but “thrown with great force”. A critic should—as Graham Greene said of all writers—have “a splinter of ice in the heart”. But then Greene had never met Dua Lipa.
什么造就了优秀的文学评论家？几个世纪以来，作家们意见一致。华兹华斯指出，评论家是一种轻蔑的角色，对事物“皱眉头”。多萝西·帕克写道，评论家知道一本书何时不该“被轻轻扔到一边”，而应“用力掷出”。正如格雷厄姆·格林评价所有作家时所说，评论家内心应存有“一丝冰冷”。但格林那时还没见过杜阿·利帕。
Ms Lipa is a British pop star. She is also an increasingly popular literary critic, thanks to her book-club podcast, in which she interviews authors. But Ms Lipa does not have a splinter of ice in her heart. She has something much lovelier. She loves books (“I love books”). She loves storytelling (“I love storytelling”). She loves Helen Garner, an Australian novelist (“I fell in love with you”). She loves Margaret Atwood’s biography (“I loved it. I love it. I love it so much”).
利帕女士是一位英国流行歌星。她还是一位越来越受欢迎的文学评论家，这要归功于她的读书俱乐部播客，在节目中她采访作者。但利帕女士心中没有一丝冰冷。她拥有更可爱的东西。她热爱书籍（“我热爱书籍”）。她热爱讲故事（“我热爱讲故事”）。她爱海伦·加纳，一位澳大利亚小说家（“我爱上了你”）。她热爱玛格丽特·阿特伍德的传记（“我爱它。我爱它。我非常爱它”）。
People—including publishing bigwig(大人物，要人)s—love her back. In 2022 Ms Lipa delivered a speech at the Booker prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award. She has interviewed a Booker winner (David Szalay) and a Nobel prizewinner (Olga Tokarczuk). In October she will demonstrate “her passion for the written and spoken word” as curator of London Literature Festival.
人们——包括出版界的大人物——也喜欢她。2022年，利帕女士在英国最负盛名的文学奖布克奖颁奖典礼上发表了演讲。她曾采访过一位布克奖得主（大卫·萨莱）和一位诺贝尔奖得主（奥尔加·托卡尔丘克）。今年十月，她将以策展人的身份展示“她对文字和口语的热情”，负责伦敦文学节。