讲故事与叙事2021quillette.com编辑精选
讲故事的普遍结构
The Universal Structure of Storytelling
导读
这篇文章主张故事存在一种跨文化的"普适结构"，核心是"好人—坏人"式的对抗张力。评论区从多个角度拆解了这套说法：日本的起承转合、希腊神话、非好莱坞电影都提示所谓"普适"也许只是西方（乃至好莱坞）叙事习惯的过度推广。对写作者来说，这篇文章值得一读，原因不在于接受结论，而在于学会检验任何结构理论的适用边界，并把"冲突之外"的叙事手段纳入工具箱。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别把"没有冲突就没有故事"当铁律：可以试试起承转合式结构，用层层铺垫与前后对比来制造张力，而非正邪对抗。
- 02
看到"人类普适"的说法先查样本来源：如果例子全来自同一文化圈，就要警惕把局部经验当成通律。
- 03
故事不一定需要反派，也不一定需要"好人"（希腊神话即是例证），冲突只是制造张力的一种方式。
- 04
系统学习叙事理论（母题索引、故事与情节之分、情节推进方式）能实实在在提升写作，连技术写作和解释性写作都受益，因为把一套方法讲清楚和讲好一个故事高度重叠。
HN 评论精选
起承转合是无需冲突的成熟结构，"冲突必然论"只是西方写作教条的自我循环。
一个反例是日韩的"起承转合"（kishōtenketsu）结构：当代写作班和网络写作指南把"冲突必不可少"当成教条，认为没有冲突的情节就是乏味的，甚至说这不可能。但这种信念只是西方视野封闭的产物——千百年来中国和日本的作者一直在用不内置冲突的结构，靠铺陈和对比来制造趣味。此外还有不少备受推崇的非好莱坞电影并不依赖传统的对抗式弧线，比如《杀羊人》和《帕特森》。所以"叙事的普适结构"这个说法有点吹过头了。
jelling查看英文原文
Counterpoint argument based on the Japanese/Korean story structure called kishōtenketsu: > The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general–arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to this belief? Does plot necessarily hinge on conflict? No. Such claims are a product of the West’s insularity. For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in”, so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu. https://stilleatingoranges.tumblr.com/post/25153960313/the-significance-of-plot-without-conflict Also, there are numerous highly regarded, non-Hollywood films that do not rely on the traditional confrontational story arc. "Killer of Sheep" and "Patterson" are two off the top of my head. So "Universal Structure of Storytelling" seems a bit over-sold.
作者的例证几乎全来自同一文化传统，"普适"结论下得太快。
作者说从童谣到八卦、从古代民间故事到圣经、从低俗真人秀到获奖纪录片，多数故事都在讲"好人—坏人"的动态，然后问为什么。答案是：这些例子其实都出自同一种文化——文章本身就读得出来。作者太快地把这称为"普适"了。它可能比"世界大赛"（美国棒球赛却叫世界大赛）更普适一点，但也仅此而已。有很多故事没有坏人，也有故事没有好人（比如希腊神话）。
bambax查看英文原文
> From one point of view, it’s obvious that, despite exceptions, most stories portray “goody-baddy” dynamics—from nursery rhymes to juicy gossip, from ancient folktales to Holy Scripture, from lowbrow reality shows to award-winning documentaries. The question is, why? Because they are all, actually, from the same culture, as becomes obvious when reading the article. The author is a little quick to call this universal. It may be a little more "universal" than the World Series, but not much. There are many stories where there are no baddies, and others where there are no goodies (such as Greek Mythology for instance).
深读叙事理论能实际提升写作，解释方法与讲故事共享同一套技艺。
我早年做过互动叙事系统的研究，特别关注如何保证情节具备某些性质，还用约束求解建过模型，读了不少情节结构、阿尔奈—汤普森母题索引、普罗普这类奠基性著作。不假谦虚地说，我从小写作有点天分，但深入研究叙事之后——研究故事共享什么、如何推进、故事素材（fabula）与叙述方式（syuzhet）的区分——我成了明显更好的作者，连技术写作都变好了。把一套形式化方法解释清楚，和讲一个故事其实有很多相通之处，哪天我想把这个重合点写出来。另附一个好资源：叙事理论 wiki。
gota查看英文原文
A bit unrelated to the article - An (initial) portion of my academic experience was researching Interactive Storytelling systems[1]. I was particularly interested in the methods for ensuring certain qualities of the plots, and modeled some constraint solving problems - but I did had the absolutely outstanding opportunity to interact with researchers in this area, and to read the seminal works on plot structure, Aarne-Thompson's index, Propp and other very, very, very cool stuff With no false modesty I can say that I had a 'knack' for writing from a young age, but after studying narratives in-depth, what they share, how they 'move', fabula and syuhzet, I became a much better writer - even a technical writer. Turns out explaining a formal method shares a lot in common with telling a story. One of this days I'll try to pinpoint that overlap and write about it. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_storytelling P.S.: this is a good resource: http://tecfalabs.unige.ch/mediawiki-narrative/index.php/Narrative_Theories
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