摘 要

仙侠网络小说作为中国网络原创文学的重要类型，近年来广受英语读者的青睐。以Wuxiaworld 为代表的翻译网站成为了中国仙侠网络小说在海外传播的根据地。它们创新性地采用翻译-捐助-分享体系，使仙侠网络小说翻译从译者的自发行为转变为商业活动。作为一种充满中国文化特色的通俗小说，仙侠网络小说为英语读者带来新鲜的阅读体验。针对这一新变化，国内仅有以吉云飞为代表的北京大学网络文学研究论坛尝试进行解读，然而他们的研究着墨于探究形成这一文学盛况的历史渊源，得出的结论也偏向于社会意识形态层面。本文第一部分将比较中外网络文学产业的不同商业模式及其影响；第二部分分析中国仙侠网络小说的文学特色，其与武侠文化的联系，以及英语读者所独有的文化新鲜感；第三部分根据当下中国网络原创文学的流行趋向为仙侠网络小说的海外传播未来作出判断。

关键词：仙侠网络小说；网络原创文学；武侠；翻译

Abstract

Recently, as a main genre of Chinese original internet literature, immortal and chivalrous online novel is highly-sought by an increasing number of English readers. Translational websites like Wuxiaworld have become the propagating stronghold of Chinese immortal and chivalrous online novel. Their creative adoption of the Translating-Donating-Sharing model drives the translation from voluntary individual act to commercial initiative. As a genre of light novel which is full of Chinese cultural characteristics, immortal and chivalrous online novel is a breath of fresh air to the English readers. In Chinese literary circles, there is only the Peking University Tribune of Network Literature who is represented by Ji Yunfei that has attempted to analyze the new change. Nevertheless, their studies concentrate more on the historical origins and attribute the unexpected popularity to social ideological differences. Section one of this thesis will compare the different network literary commercial models of China and foreign countries and tell the effects. And section two will analyze the characteristics of Chinese immortal and chivalrous online novel, the relation between martial arts and Chinese immortal and chivalrous online novel and the feeling of cultural freshness which only English readers have. Last but not least, section three will give the expectations for the future of Chinese immortal and chivalrous online novel on the basis of the trends of Chinese original internet literature.

Key Words: Immortal and chivalrous online novel; original internet literature; martial arts; translation

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. The Popularity of Chinese immortal and Chivalrous Online Novels 4
   1. Wuxiaworld and RWX 4
   2. The Paying for Reading Model and the Translating-Donating-Sharing model 5
   3. The Bestsellers 7
3. The Factors Leading to Popularity 8
   1. Wicked Heroes and Eastern Values 8
   2. Weird and Wonderful Magic and Myth 8
   3. Mountains Beyond Mountains - the Structure of a Typical Chinese Immortal and Chivalrous Online Novel 9
   4. The Feeling of Freshness 10
   5. Kung fu Novel and The Plain and Simple Style of Description 11
   6. The Reading Pleasure of Chinese Immortal and Chivalrous Online Novel 12
4. The Vision of the Future of Chinese Immortal and Chivalrous Online Novel Abroad 13
   1. The Original English Immortal and Chivalrous Online Novels Will Increase 13
   2. The Growth Rate of Readers May Decline 13
   3. More Genres May Emerge 14

References 16

Acknowledgements 18

A Survey of Factors Making Chinese Immortal and Chivalrous

Online Novels Popular in the Western World

Introduction

As is known to all, there is a boom of network literary in China within the context of the internet revolution. Internet literature appeared for the first time in the 1990’s but was not widely known by the public until the famous online novel The First Intimate Contact(1998) was published. Since then there has been a 20-years of historically market boom. Simultaneously many relevant literary researches have been conducted. Its cultural concept, origin and development, art features and social impact are studied extensively. There is an argument that people should discuss the network literature from an ontological perspective. The representative literary critics of this theory are Xunhuan Li and Youquan Ouyang. As the leading figure of the first generation of internet writers in China, Li was reputed as one of the "Three Carriages" on the Internet. Ouyang is a Doctor of literature in Central South University, and regarded as the founder of the discipline of Chinese Network Literature. They tend to emphasize the cyber feature in their researches. In the article My Network Literary Viewpoints, Li sums up three main characteristics of network literature which make it different from traditional literature. Firstly, the readers are netizens. Secondly, the distribution channel is internet. Last but not least, the writing motivation is not expressing the writer’s thoughts, but to please the readers. Typically his opinion is from the cultural perspective of theme, transmission and originality, and lays stress on the decisive role which internet plays. Ouyang expresses assent. Meanwhile, there are many literary critics who hold the opposite views. Jiefei Li is a research fellow who works in the institute of literature of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He insists that it is the aesthetic values that made network special, and the core of literature is the appreciation of beauty, rather than writing medium. In the article Free and Online Writing, he makes an appeal to the Chinese literary circles to get rid of the internet features when people conduct the research on network literature. He insists that both traditional literature and network literature have the common writing motivation:

aesthetic appreciation.