星辰大海 | 論外國老白讀者的自我修養

導語

從《盤龍》的英文翻譯開始到現在，已經過去了兩年多。對於從盤龍時代就早早跳坑的歪果仁來說，這個時間足夠一個讀者從小白升級到老白了。是什麼讓外國讀者遲遲不出坑？在已經看穿小白文套路的外國老白讀者的眼中，中國網路小說到底是哪裡有趣？來看看Vexram怎麼說。

一位《盤龍》入坑的老白讀者

「《逆天邪神》值得一讀嗎？我看到它的評分很低，但在這個系列排名第一。我正在它和《莽荒紀》中糾結。」

2016年3月，剛開始閱讀中國網路小說的Ninzex在Wuxiaworld論壇上發帖求助。長篇的網路小說需要花時間閱讀，不知道該先入坑哪本的新人，常常會來尋求其他讀者的建議。

一位ID為Vexram的讀者很快回復了他。

depends on the reader if its good or not. some people will love it others will hate it. is it worth reading? thats up to the person. but ATG isnt a terrible story but i wouldnt say its a good one either. [……] Ill never read it. i tried the first couple of chapters but felt its just not for me. many love it but frankly its just not something ill ever read no matter. even if its said to be the best story ever written. frankly, the start of the story is enough to let you know what to expect. going up to a fuggin xian master and trying to steal from him only to get kicked to death. (dudes a 100% normal human at this time by the way) yeah~~ dont have high hopes for the story.

好不好取決於讀者，有些人喜歡，其他人則不。值得一讀嗎？看個人吧。逆天邪神不是個糟糕的故事但我也不會說它很好。……我是絕對不會看的。我試著看了下最開始的幾章但感覺不是我的菜，即使據說它是寫得最好的故事。

講真，看了故事開頭你就知道接下來會發生什麼。

成為一個操蛋的仙師，把想從他那兒偷東西的人全都踹死（順帶一提，這哥們這時還是個100%的凡人）啦~~別對這個故事有什麼很高的期待。

《逆天邪神》封面：「消磨時間還不錯」

儘管他承認「消磨時間還不錯」，Vexram的發言依然不乏一絲諷刺。在許多剛剛入坑的萌新小白還很吃爽文這一套的時候，他的言論顯得有些格格不入。

這位「看穿一切」的老白讀者，早在最初《盤龍》被翻譯為英文的時候就入坑了。2015年7月，他成為最早一批註冊Wuxiaworld的用戶，此時他已經看過不少中國網路小說，遠遠領先許多新人。在小說論壇尤其是盤龍劇透討論區，Vexram貢獻了不少流量。同時，他也比較中意《我欲封天》、《無限恐怖》和《真武世界》。

Vexram很早就看過我吃西紅柿的《盤龍》、《星辰變》、《吞噬星空》和《莽荒紀》整個系列的翻譯，對番茄的作品很熟悉。

well ST is arguably IETs best work (and first or second story), although the plot cliche is a bit overused, considering the age of ST its likely that it was one of the earlier works that use it before it became a mainstream part of chinese webnovels.星辰變可以說是番茄最好的作品（而且是第一或第二本小說），儘管情節套路有點用爛了，但考慮到星辰變的時代，它是在這些套路變成中國網路小說的主流部分之前就最早開始使用的小說之一。

《星辰變》遊戲原畫：「番茄最好的作品之一」

Vexram似乎是番茄的粉絲，不過他對番茄作品的缺點也毫不客氣，比如：

this is one of IETs biggest issues, he connects his stories into a multiverse but he does so in a way that makes it a pain in the ass for readers to understand. ……you have that then you have CD and ST, they have almost nothing in common. and what they do have in common are things all xianxia have in common.……這是番茄最大的問題之一，他把他的故事「連接」到一個多重宇宙中，但是讀者理解起來實在是蛋疼。……《盤龍》和《星辰變》幾乎沒什麼共同點，它們有的共同點都是仙俠文共有的。……

對仙俠這一類型，乃至對中國網路小說的了解，Vexram都比一般的外國讀者深入，常常在評論區扮演解惑的角色。那麼，他為什麼對中國網路小說如此著迷呢？

「好像溺水的時候呼吸到了空氣」

對於什麼是好的作品、好的小說，Vexram已經有一套自己成型的看法。

a good plot. even if a story has an amatur writer, as long as it has a good plot, it can still be enjoyable and you can over look gramatical errors and poor character developement and world building.good battles. IET is a good example of this. his stories are lacking in other areas but he does well in giving us entertaining battles.entertaining characters: when youve got characters like the meat jelly, fatty, trolls like nei li, yun che, bebe, it becomes fun to read.pacing: pacing is important to any story but even sub par story as long as it has proper pacing to match it can still be a good read.author knowing when to stop: im not talking about the story (although japan could use some lessons, naruto/bleach/one piece have been going on a bit too long and now its all about how long they can drag it out before people finally tell them to stop) but details, battles, trainings, mental examinations. if you go on and on about them over and over, it gets very very hard to read a story. although these chinese webnovels do this, they do it in small amounts spread out over tens of chapters, so youre not reading 5 chapters about the same damn thing with no progress.好的情節。即使作者是業餘的，只要有好的情節，它仍然可以很好看，你可以無視語法錯誤、單調的角色展開和世界觀構建。好的戰鬥。番茄是一個很好的例子。他的故事在其他方面不行，但他給了我們很有趣的戰鬥。有趣的角色。當你看到聶離、雲澈、貝貝這樣的肉凍、胖子和巨怪，讀起來就很有趣了。（Vexram在這裡趁機又黑了一把妖神記和逆天邪神）節奏。節奏對任何小說都很重要，但是就算是低級小說，只要有合適的節奏就依然很好看。作者知道何時停止。我不止是說故事（儘管日本有一些反面教材，火影、死神、海賊王都有點太長了，現在完全是在看人們要求他們完結之前作者能拖多久。），還有細節、戰鬥、訓練、心靈測驗。如果你看了一次一次又一次，看小說就會變得非常非常艱難。儘管中國網路小說也這麼寫，但他們少量地分散在數十章里，所以你不會讀5章毫無進展的辣雞玩意。

從他的反例可以看出，除了中國網路小說，Vexram同時也看了不少日本動漫。事實上，甚至韓國網路小說他也有所涉獵。他自稱自己最印象深刻（rememberable）的角色是《死亡筆記》的夜神月。對中國網路小說和日本動漫的不同之處，他也有許多見解。比如，有人批評中國網文結尾太粗糙，對此Vexram評論道：

at least japanese mangas have legitimate reasons for there endings (aka the ax). but i think the reason why so many xianxia style stories have not so good endings is because they put all their effort into the story but when it comes to the ending they just dont care anymore since its the end. like it doesnt matter to them if the endings bad.至少日本漫畫的結局有合理的理由（也就是「錘」）。但是我覺得為什麼很多仙俠風格小說沒有「那麼好」的結局，是因為作者完全把精力放在故事的過程上，等到結尾他們反而不在意了因為反正要完了。貌似爛尾對他們來說不算什麼事。

海賊王、火影、死神：三大民工漫畫

不過，日本動漫和中國網文相比，Vexram還是堅定地更喜歡中國網文一些。

what i like about xianxia, is even though they are pretty simple and shallow, they move forward constantly. after being a person who binged on jap anime/manga/LN, the radical different of alpha MCs and constantly moving story and strong MC was like breathing air after almost drowning.plus unlike english novels the number of cockroach villains is low (meaning theres not a bullshit plot armor on the villains), and the MCs grow and are strong throughout the story instead of just at the end. (seriously a whole story of drama then in the final 2 chapters the MC acts all badass and thats all we get).so basically what i like about xianxia is that even though the storys are shallow, the MCs are a bit overkill (pun intended for those who understand), and the plot is wonky, just the fact that the MC gets shit done is probably what draws me to xianxia. (probably one of few good points of a daily chapter system)我喜歡仙俠小說的地方是，儘管故事非常簡單又淺薄，但他們還是在不斷前進。作為一個吃了很多日本動畫/漫畫/輕小說的人，主角第一、不斷前進的故事和強大主角的帶來的巨大差異，就好像溺水的時候呼吸到了空氣。另外，不像英文小說，小強反派的數量很少（就是說反派身上沒有狗屎一樣的情節盔甲），而且主角的成長和強大貫穿全文而不是只是在結尾。（講真，我們看到的是一整個戲劇性的故事，然後在最後兩章主角表現得跟人渣差不多）所以基本上我喜歡仙俠小說的地方是，儘管故事很膚淺，主角有點殺人過頭/讓人難受（雙關語你懂的），情節不靠譜，但大概就是主角「乾的那些狗日的事」讓我對仙俠小說著迷。（可能這也是日更機製為數不多的好處之一）

這正是最早被中國讀者介紹到國內的經典評論之一。和大行其道的日本動漫相比，中國網路小說的競爭力究竟何在？這或許能為我們提供一些參考。

性別歧視？種族歧視？——中國網路小說的爭議話題

在中國網路小說走紅的同時，也引發了不少國外讀者的爭論。仙俠小說中男主角開後宮左擁右抱的情況，和對女性角色描寫的欠缺，常常是外國讀者爭論的焦點。如何看待這部分小白文的「性別歧視」？Vexram並不否認這個問題的存在，但是他也有自己的觀點：

the fact is, china and most of the world are still highly sexist when it comes to things like this. and china being china is even more extreme than more progressive countries like the US and Britain, and others, so the ratio of men to women in wuxia/xianxia is always going to be extreme. asking IET to write a more sexually equal story would be the equivalent of asking him to forget all the bias and racism thats been built into him since he was born. so all i can say is, give up and accept it, this probably wont change for a long time.事實是，中國和世界上大多數地方在這種事情上還是很性別歧視。中國作為中國在這方面比美國英國等其他發達國家更加嚴重，所以武俠/仙俠小說里的男女比例都很極端。你要番茄去寫個性別平等的故事，等於是在強行要求他忘掉他出生以來被灌輸的偏見和歧視。

Vexram之所以對這一現象容忍度高，最主要還是因為感情戲在中國網路小說中的佔比很小，和日本後宮動漫不一樣：

but overall, i dont mind xianxia harems. since romance as a whole is pretty poor, it doesnt matter if its a single pair relationship or of the person has a whole squad of parterners. i try not to think about such things and just enjoy the story.now japanese harems on the other hand. now thoses are some seriously shitty harems. freaking dickless dudes surrounded by women. annoys the hell out of me. it was fine at first but once it became standard and common it just became annoying to read. the early ones before they became run of the mill were pretty decent with good characterization and decent romantic drama. but by the time highschool D&D came around the quality had dropped to the point where the only thing that kept them published is fanservice.但總的來說，我並不介意仙俠小說開後宮。因為感情戲整體上是很稀少的。1v1或者開後宮根本不重要。我盡量不去想這樣的事情，享受故事就好了。現在日本後宮動漫是另一回事。現在，那些都是一坨翔一樣的後宮，該死的沒丁丁的男主被妹子包圍。我要被煩死了。起初這樣還好，但一旦這變成了標準的普遍的，讀起來就很煩。在它們成為千篇一律的東西之前，早期的作品還挺不錯，有著良好的人物和浪漫的故事。但當等到Highschool DxD出的時候，質量已下降到這種地步：唯一讓他們維持出版的就是粉絲殺必死。

《吞噬星空》漫畫：女主？女主叫什麼來著？

總而言之，無論是哪種歧視，只要沒有達到直接影響故事情節發展的程度，Vexram似乎都能夠包容。此前，由於種族歧視問題，《神魔系統》的譯者決定棄坑，引發了一部分讀者的不滿。Vexram的看法是這樣的：

……from what ive heard of this story its basically one racist fest after another, like the whole story is just a massive ball of racism. and this translator has to not only read this, but has to translate it to english. so hes spending 10x the time dealing with it than us readers. hell id quit too, and i dont even care about racism. itd be one thing if the author just portrayed it as humans being humans, but instead he blames it on race, sorry but this is why i dropped the story way early on. it just ended up focusing too much on racism. this is why xianxia are great, everyones an asshole and its never a race issue, (of course there are devil and immortal types in some stories but at least in those its both sides being shown to equally hate each other and neither side is shown as better than the other)……從我聽說的內容來看它基本是一個種族歧視接著另一個，好像整個故事就是一個巨大的種族歧視的球。這個譯者不僅要讀還要翻譯成英文，他比我們讀者花了十倍的時間去處理。我也會棄坑，儘管我根本不關心種族歧視。如果作者只是把人類描繪成人類，這是一回事，但他卻把它歸咎於「種族」，遺憾的是這就是為什麼我很早就放棄了這個故事的原因。它在種族歧視上用力過猛了。這就是仙俠小說很好的地方，每個人都是混蛋，並不是什麼「種族」問題。（當然也有惡魔和不死族，但是至少在這些故事裡兩個陣營平等地憎惡對方，沒有一方被寫成比另一方好。）

相比於這些爭論，Vexram很不能理解的地方卻是出在讀者的身上。

2016年3月左右，真武世界的作者更新不穩定，對此，有人在評論科普說，在中國網路小說的競爭壓力下，斷更一個月甚至兩個星期，對作者的人氣而言都是可能致命的。Vexram非常不能理解這樣的現象。

ah i see, sorry, even after reading so many xianxia, im still used to quality over quantity. i forget that the chinese prefer the opposite. even if its horrible its good as long as theres a lot of it.still if a single month break in between stories is enough to kill all your readers momentum, then either youre stories are so generic people forget them as soon as they finish or people are just reading your story for the sake of reading it. the fact that a good story cant bring them back sounds amazing to me because that sounds impossible to happen. but then again im not chinese so i dont think like them.……also im talking about dropping the author not a particular story. if someone drops a novel because the author takes a bunch of breaks, that i can understand. but if an author takes a month break after finishing a story and everyone decides his stories arent worth reading anymore, then what the hell is wrong with the chinese. do they not have any fan loyalty or something? hell in western society, we got authors who take years to put out new books and yet we still rip em off the shelves the moment they come out. so i find it odd that these chinese readers just dry up if an author doesnt put out story after story without breaks.好吧我懂了，抱歉，儘管我看了這麼多仙俠小說，我還是認為質優於量。我忘了中國人是反過來的，儘管很可怕但只要這樣的人多了就行。如果兩個故事之間一個月的休息就足夠殺死你所有讀者的勢頭，那要麼是你的故事太爛俗，人們看完就忘，要麼是人們只是為了讀它而讀你的故事。好的故事還不能把讀者帶回來這件事對我而言很震驚，因為聽起來就不可能發生。但是再說一次我不是中國人，我跟他們想法不一樣。……並且我覺得放棄一個作者本身不是多特別的事。如果一個人因為作者斷更好多次而棄了一本小說，我能理解。但是如果一個作者在寫完一個故事之後休息了一個月然後每個人就都覺得他的故事再也不值一讀了，那中國人到底出了什麼毛病？他們沒有粉絲忠誠之類的嗎？在西方社會，我們還有要花上幾年才能出版新書的作家，但一出版我們仍然會從書架上把它搶回來。所以，如果一個作者不在一個故事之後馬上接著寫另一個故事，中國讀者就跟被掏空了一樣，這真是太奇怪了。

總而言之，Vexram始終更關心小說即「故事」本身。不妨害到故事情節的不足之處，他大多可以接受。同樣也是因為對情節的忠實，他不太能理解中國讀者因何棄坑。回想他對仙俠小說什麼地方吸引他的評價，可以看出Vexram始終以情節優劣為最主要的作品判斷標準。

中國網文VS日本動漫？

那麼，問題來了，中國網路小說和日本動漫、輕小說，究竟哪家強呢？

儘管Vexram是中國網路小說的忠實粉絲，但是在這個問題上，他似乎並沒有投中國網路小說一票：

although i have much more to say on the subject, it keeps coming out too long-winded, so ill keep it short and simple.no matter where the story is from china/japan/korea/US/UK/ect. all have their good and bad points. it just depends on what you like.are the current chinese WN better than the current Jap WN/LN? not really, you could even say no on most cases. there are lots of reasons for this but im keeping this short and simple. (this is from a literary standpoint)now, i do prefer chinese WNs over Jap novels, but thats mostly because im sick of the jap style. ive spent a good 15+ years watching anime, reading manga, and finally picking up LNs and later WNs, and frankly im sick of the same shit. the stories might be different but the characters are all the same. dumbass, dickless MC, and damn near mandatory loli tsundere character with other staple characters just recycled from previous stories. in the recent years WNs have thankfully moved in more original directions but sadly are still heavily influenced by the jap culture.so back to the topic, jap vs chinese. just depends on your mood. and whether or not they have a story you like.儘管在這個問題上我有N多話要說，但是說出來會太冗長，所以我會保持簡短。不管這個故事來自中國、日本、韓國、美國、英國還是哪裡，都有自己的長處和短處，這取決於你喜歡什麼。 如今的中國網路小說比日本輕小說更好嗎？未必，在大部分問題上你甚至可以說不。這裡有很多理由，但是我必須保持簡短（這是從文學的角度來看）。現在，我確實喜歡中國網路小說勝過日本輕小說，但是那大部分是因為我討厭日本風格。我看了十五年多的動畫、漫畫，最後開始看輕小說然後是網路小說，坦白地說，我已經厭倦了這些千篇一律的垃圾。故事可能是不同的，但人物都是一樣的。廢柴沒屌的主角，該死的傲嬌蘿莉，和從之前的故事裡回收利用的固定角色。謝天謝地，最近幾年網路小說往更具原創性的方向進步了，但不幸的是依然受到日本文化的嚴重影響。所以回到這個話題，日本動漫VS中國網文，僅僅取決於你的心情，和它們之中是否有你喜歡的故事。

《真武世界》封面：Vexram中意的小說之一

對於Vexram而言，他認為自己對中國網路小說的偏愛，更多是出於個人的興趣。事實上，他一方面對劇情的討論非常認真，另一方面也從未避諱過中國網路小說的缺點，哪怕是他最喜歡的番茄的作品。他的批評給我們以一個警示：如果中國網路小說的發展及其翻譯沒有進一步提高質量，那麼隨著翻譯到海外的數量逐漸增加，Vexram這樣的老白讀者也許終有一天也會審美疲勞。但至少，我們可以從他的看法中讀出，相比日本ACGN文化而言，中國網路小說的吸引力究竟獨特在哪兒，這顯然對網路小說的發展不無意義。

參考文獻：

http://forum.wuxiaworld.com/profile/comments/23/Vexram，Vexram – Wuxiaworld，引用日期：2017年6月7日。

（整理/李皓穎 本文首發北大網路文學論壇微信公眾號：媒後台）

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