小说与文学2020nytimes.com编辑精选
为什么我们正处在历史小说的黄金时代？
Why Are We Living in a Golden Age of Historical Fiction? (2019)
导读
这是《纽约时报》2019年的一篇讨论历史小说为何繁荣的文章，评论围绕“过去”对写作者的价值展开：历史背景自带一套与我们不同、却足够细腻的道德体系，让故事更丰满；回望过去还能帮读者理解因果、看清前路。同时也有评论质疑“黄金时代”的说法，指出现实是阅读率下降与市场性主导。对写作者来说，这组讨论提供了关于世界构建、道德复杂性与读者现实的具体启发。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
利用历史背景自带的、与我们不同的深刻道德体系，能让人物动机更丰满、故事更有层次。
- 02
避免为虚构世界设计单一维度的道德法则，让角色的道德冲突保持真实生活的复杂和暧昧。
- 03
用过去的因果链条让读者理解当下，为故事赋予方向感（“历史不会重演，但总会押韵”）。
- 04
正视可读性与读者现实：好书未必有人读，写作要面对市场与阅读习惯的变化。
HN 评论精选
历史背景自带一套深刻且与我们不同的道德体系，让故事更丰富、可信。
在历史背景中，你可以免费获得一种与我们不同、又深刻而细腻的道德设定。写外星人当然也行，但要把他们的道德体系写得细腻丰满非常难——角色在人类与克林贡人的道德准则间挣扎，往往比现实生活扁平得多，动机更明确、更单一维度。虚构的荣誉准则通常比真实的更好懂。回到过去（哪怕是《权力的游戏》《指环王》这样的虚构过去），你就免费得到一种道德对照。虽然仍有套路陷阱，比如给“好人”安上能引起共鸣的现代异议道德观，但总体而言，作家可以让一个19世纪的修女拥有既足够深刻、又与我们足够不同的世界观；而在未来或奇幻设定里，你更容易得到“兽人和沃贡人”式的哲学。
netcan查看英文原文
One element you get for free in a historical setting is a deep & nuanced moral setting that is different from ours. You can certainly write a novel about aliens and their moral codes can play a role. It's very hard to make it nuanced and fleshed out though. Sure, a character can be conflicted between human and Klingon moral codes... but it tends to be a lot flatter than real life. The motivations are more explicit and single dimensional. Fictional honour codes and such tend to be much more legible than real ones. If we go to a past (including fictional ones like game of thrones or lotr), we get a moral contrast for free. There are still trope traps like giving the "good guys" a relatable, dissenting, modern moral sense. But on average, a writer can give a 19th century nun a worldview that is both sufficiently deep and sufficiently different to ours. In a futuristic or fantasy setting, you tend to get a lot more "orcs and vogons" philosophy.
读者借过去理解因果、获得方向感，这是历史叙事吸引人的心理基础。
原因是世界的复杂性在增加，问题的规模也在扩大。面对海量信息很难洞察秋毫，因此回望一个可以推断和理解因果的过去，会让人感到安慰和希望。换句话说，我们也许是在挖掘逝去时代的本质，试图借此看清前进的方向。“历史不会重演，但总会押韵。”
defterGoose查看英文原文
The reason is that the complexity of the world is increasing, including the scale of the problems. It is hard to be perspicacious with such a vast influx of information, and it is therefore comforting and hopeful to look back on a past from which one can extrapolate and understand causality. In other words, we may be trying to unearth the essence of bygone eras in an attempt to see the way forward. "History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes"
阅读率下滑、市场性主导出版，写作者需正视作品的可达性与读者现实。
对小说“真正黄金时代”的当代版本是回忆录：29岁的人写的回忆录、名人回忆录。历史小说（其实是关于自己的虚构）是更好卖的形式，至少对真正买书读书的人如此。过去五年读书量下降得惊人。如果人们不读书，任何小说还能有黄金时代吗？如果你不读书，能知道我说的是哪些29岁人的回忆录吗？根本不可能。有一点确定无疑：玛格丽特·阿特伍德写《使女的故事》续集是因为电视剧，这恰恰说明归根结底是市场性。奥凌格、怀特海德、桑德斯、伯恩斯、詹姆斯、阿波斯托尔、吉亚西、弗兰岑……都是伟大作家，可就像很多奥斯卡获奖导演的电影一样，几乎没人读过他们的书。这很糟，但不能否定他们的作品。
an_opabinia查看英文原文
A contemporary take on the real golden age of fiction: memoirs. (1) Memoirs by 29 year olds. Memoirs by celebrities. Historical fiction is the more marketable form of historical fiction (fiction about oneself), at least for people who actually buy and read books. Reading of books has declined really crazily in the last 5 years. (2) (3) Can there be a golden age of fiction of any kind if people aren't reading? Would you have any idea what memoirs by 29 year olds I'm referring to if you don't read? No, of course not. How is anyone here supposed to have that conversation, if they don't read? One thing's for sure. Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel to Handmaid's Tale because of the TV show. Seems like a pretty meaningful omission of fact. It's still fundamentally about marketability. Julie Orringer, Colson Whitehead, George Saunders, Anna Burns, Marlon James, Gina Apostol, Yaa Gyasi, Jonathan Franzen... Great authors, yes, but like many Academy winning filmmakers' movies, hardly anyone has read their books. That sucks, it's not a refutation of their work. (1) https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=zg_bs_nav_0 (2) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/29/leisure-reading-in-the-u-s-is-at-an-all-time-low/ (3) https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research
事实与虚构的边界由权威体系塑造，写作者可有意利用或质疑这种权威。
我们拥有故事已有数千年，而事实、虚构、宣传与谎言之间的区分，一直建立在部落式的权威体系之上。部落更大、权威更僵化，而我们现在以为这种区分真的重要。
jl2718查看英文原文
We’ve had stories for thousands of years, and the distinction between fact, fiction, propaganda, and lies, has always been based in tribal systems of authority. The tribes are bigger, the authorities more rigid, and we now think that the difference actually matters.
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