魏大鍋

中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)培育出整整一代讀者，開(kāi)創(chuàng)了寫(xiě)作、閱讀、再出版的新型“生態(tài)性”鏈接，為中國(guó)當(dāng)代文化的進(jìn)一步繁榮，開(kāi)辟了有意義的新路子。

一

知道網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的風(fēng)靡是在修電腦時(shí)，當(dāng)時(shí)年輕的技術(shù)員正利用點(diǎn)滴閑暇在手機(jī)上看小說(shuō)。聊天中，他說(shuō)他瀏覽過(guò)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)有好幾百部，驚訝之余，我覺(jué)得所謂現(xiàn)在人不讀書(shū)之類(lèi)的話，其正確性有待驗(yàn)證。

后來(lái)，聽(tīng)說(shuō)有些網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)有上億點(diǎn)擊量，有時(shí)在路上看見(jiàn)人聚精會(huì)神地看手機(jī)，就自然聯(lián)想那是在看小說(shuō)。這些讀者也許不習(xí)慣踏進(jìn)書(shū)店，但原始而真實(shí)的閱讀故事的欲望同樣存在，因此，對(duì)中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的風(fēng)生水起，大可以解讀為一批不入文學(xué)史的作者為大群不入大歷史的讀者寫(xiě)書(shū)的現(xiàn)象，作者和作品的境遇，就像當(dāng)年自生自滅的鄉(xiāng)村小戲。

中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)文學(xué)的萌芽、成長(zhǎng)，屬于“有一點(diǎn)陽(yáng)光就燦爛”。在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上發(fā)表作品，讓會(huì)寫(xiě)能寫(xiě)的人繞過(guò)了紙質(zhì)圖書(shū)的出版，使閱讀極為方便、自由，而且花費(fèi)也非常小。中國(guó)大陸網(wǎng)絡(luò)文學(xué)的“開(kāi)山人物”是一個(gè)名叫“圖雅”的人。他于1993年到1996年間，在中文網(wǎng)絡(luò)上發(fā)表短篇小說(shuō)、散文、寓言，被網(wǎng)友追讀。之后，他神秘消失，至今身份依然是個(gè)謎。不過(guò)，“圖雅”的作品主題和寫(xiě)作手法，依然歸于“正統(tǒng)”文學(xué)的風(fēng)格。

到了21世紀(jì)初，中國(guó)大陸文學(xué)網(wǎng)站星星點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)漸漸成為主流。這些文學(xué)網(wǎng)站成功找到了生存的盈利模式：作者按章寫(xiě)作、上傳更新，讀者免費(fèi)試讀、付費(fèi)續(xù)讀。在這種模式下，讀者與作者持續(xù)互動(dòng)，作者會(huì)根據(jù)讀者的口味不斷調(diào)整寫(xiě)作。不能得到讀者點(diǎn)擊的作品，就會(huì)夭折;能夠?qū)懙浇K局的作品，一定是得到讀者青睞的。很多時(shí)候，別說(shuō)讀者，就連作者都不知道故事將如何發(fā)展。這種模式使得各種小說(shuō)比如武俠、言情、宮廷、仙俠、玄幻、都市、異能、穿越等“類(lèi)別”爆發(fā)式出現(xiàn)，但作者與“圖雅”有一個(gè)相同之處：百分之九十九選擇使用筆名。

應(yīng)該看到，中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的蓬勃甚至爆炸式發(fā)展，帶動(dòng)了各具體樣式的文學(xué)回歸大眾閱讀，但毋庸諱言，網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)泥沙俱下，如今，一部一部能轉(zhuǎn)為紙質(zhì)圖書(shū)出版的優(yōu)秀作品依然不多，因?yàn)閮?nèi)中有一些只是借助“浪潮”發(fā)行，絕無(wú)再版可能。

不過(guò)，網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的影響所及，不僅在文學(xué)一端，當(dāng)下，被讀者追捧的作品，題材主要涉及玄幻、仙俠、穿越以及后宮等，也有大量基于現(xiàn)實(shí)的職場(chǎng)、商務(wù)、破案、言情等，里面有一些被改編成影視劇、動(dòng)畫(huà)片，或者游戲、動(dòng)漫等，成為各種文化產(chǎn)品的一大靈感來(lái)源，影響力可見(jiàn)一斑。

二

有國(guó)際評(píng)論說(shuō)，中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)文學(xué)是當(dāng)代文化的顯揚(yáng)現(xiàn)象之一。中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)在世界范圍內(nèi)有一大批讀者，從21世紀(jì)起，在東南亞華文圈流行。影響所及，從2009年到2013年，越南翻譯出版了800多種中國(guó)文學(xué)作品，其中500多種為網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)。最近幾年，美國(guó)和加拿大大約有700部中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)有全譯或節(jié)譯，在“小說(shuō)更新”等100多個(gè)網(wǎng)站和論壇刊登。最初，志愿者及贊助者參與翻譯一些章節(jié)，而后，讀者愿意付費(fèi)就繼續(xù)翻譯。這個(gè)模式類(lèi)似于中國(guó)文學(xué)網(wǎng)站的運(yùn)行方式。

在海外，中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)以玄幻類(lèi)別的最受追捧。玄幻小說(shuō)并非中國(guó)首創(chuàng)，它是各國(guó)古代神話傳說(shuō)的現(xiàn)代延續(xù)。中國(guó)進(jìn)入現(xiàn)代以來(lái)，玄幻小說(shuō)幾乎絕跡，只在武俠小說(shuō)中或隱或現(xiàn)。在歐美，玄幻小說(shuō)雖然說(shuō)不上繁榮，但一直有作品出現(xiàn)，并與科幻、恐怖等小說(shuō)有著廣泛的聯(lián)系?！豆げㄌ亍贰吨腑h(huán)王》《暮光之城》《冰與火》等，中國(guó)讀者也可以讀到。在美國(guó)電視連續(xù)劇中，玄幻的故事一直是一個(gè)很大的類(lèi)別，受眾很廣。最近正在播放的根據(jù)同名小說(shuō)改編的電視劇《美國(guó)眾神》，就是一部典型的玄幻劇。我們大概可以說(shuō)，網(wǎng)絡(luò)上玄幻小說(shuō)的大量出現(xiàn)，為中國(guó)現(xiàn)代文學(xué)的多樣性和豐富性填補(bǔ)了一個(gè)空白，也為中國(guó)文學(xué)的浪漫想象傳統(tǒng)續(xù)上了新鮮血脈。

在中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的世界傳播中，“武俠世界”網(wǎng)站是首屈一指的。該網(wǎng)站由美籍華裔賴靜平創(chuàng)建，于2014年12月上線。之前，此人是外交官，他在翻譯“我吃番茄”撰寫(xiě)的《盤(pán)龍》一書(shū)時(shí)，感覺(jué)無(wú)法兼顧，遂辭職專心經(jīng)營(yíng)網(wǎng)站。兩年多時(shí)間里，“武俠世界”已成為最大的中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)英譯平臺(tái)，每月有超過(guò)320萬(wàn)的點(diǎn)擊，總計(jì)超過(guò)20億的訪問(wèn)量，粉絲遍布世界100多個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)。賴靜平對(duì)網(wǎng)站的定位十分清楚：他從事的是文化交流。很多國(guó)外讀者之前看過(guò)中國(guó)的功夫片，對(duì)中國(guó)略有了解，讀中國(guó)的玄幻小說(shuō)，算是續(xù)上了與中國(guó)的前緣。網(wǎng)站很多訪問(wèn)者對(duì)中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)的生活、社會(huì)、文化、思想的第一次了解，都來(lái)自這些小說(shuō)。網(wǎng)站為之打開(kāi)了一扇大門(mén)。

有閱讀就有交流，就會(huì)生發(fā)各種后續(xù)文化行為。“武俠世界”運(yùn)行，留言有50多萬(wàn)條，有人贊揚(yáng)中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)的奇異想象力和宏大敘事，也有人表達(dá)想學(xué)中文的愿望。

中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的玄幻小說(shuō)使外國(guó)的有些讀者甚至自己模仿寫(xiě)小說(shuō)。26歲的丹麥人緹娜·林格已經(jīng)寫(xiě)了40多部作品。她創(chuàng)作的《藍(lán)鳳凰》中男主角的名字采用拼音，讀起來(lái)就像是中國(guó)人。此書(shū)的電子版本已在“亞馬遜”上線。

在玄幻小說(shuō)這個(gè)門(mén)類(lèi)里，中國(guó)年輕的作者異軍突起，他們生動(dòng)的靈感和奇異的文學(xué)想象力，并不亞于國(guó)外玄幻作家。能夠吸引國(guó)外讀者，得益于作品能別開(kāi)生面地展示中國(guó)文化和歷史，而宏大敘事也為國(guó)外文學(xué)作品樹(shù)立了榜樣。

（本文圖片由作者提供）

Chinese web novels have nurtured a whole community of readers and cultivated an ecology of writing， reading and publishing. These novels have opened a new and meaningful path to the countrys cultural prosperity.endprint

I learned about the popularity of web novels when I was getting my tabletop computer fixed at a computing mall. A young technician at the shop was reading a novel on his mobile phone. He confessed shyly that he had read hundreds of novels published online. I was surprised to learn he had read so much. The encounter got me into thinking that it is not true that people of today dont read any more. Since then I have noticed people reading on their mobiles and tablets. I suspect that they probably would never visit a bookstore and buy a novel for themselves， but web novels have opened up a new world for them， satisfying the mankinds primitive desire for knowing how other people live. Web novels are a phenomenon： a group of young authors are writing novels and millions of young people are reading. These web novelists， mostly publishing under strange pennames， very probably will never get mentioned in any history of Chinese literature and their readers are certainly part of the silent majority who will never get mentioned in any history. These web novelists and their novels are like rural and regional operas prevalent in China hundreds of years ago， which mostly came out of nowhere and vanished into nowhere. Only a few of them have stayed and some of them are now considered precious cultural heritage at various levels.

Websites which offer novels for readers have found a way to survive and make a profit： writers upload their novels chapter by chapter， readers read first chapters free of charge; if they want to read more， they pay. At these websites readers and writers closely interact and in many cases jointly decide how characters in a certain novel go on. Novels that readers follow are money makers. Novels that fail to attract readers die. Web novels thrive in various genres and subgenres. Fantasies account for the greatest percentage.

Web novels go international

Chinese web novels have long since gone international. A previous survey said that Vietnam translated and published over 800 Chinese novels including 500 web novels from 2009 to 2013. In recent years， over 700 Chinese web novels were translated and published in whole or in part at websites in North America. These websites operate in a similar manner like their Chinese counterparts： some translated chapters are published first. Readers will raise funds through crowd-fund to pay translators to go ahead with more chapters if they decide they like what they have read.

It is understandable Chinese fantasies are welcome by overseas readers. In a sense， fantasies are the modern reincarnations of ancient myths and legends. In modern times， Chinese fantasies almost disappeared and one could only read about them in kungfu novels. Web novels are bringing the fantasy tradition back to Chinese readers， adding a special touch of diversity and richness and imagination to the literary China.

WuxiaWorld is probably the best known internet platform which uploads translated Chinese Wuxia novels. It was founded by RWX， a lover of Chinese martial arts fiction. In Chinese he is known as Lai Jingping. A brief biography says his ancestors came from China and he worked as a USA diplomat before he resigned to set up WuxiaWorld.endprint