讲故事与叙事2022spectator.co.uk
最早的童话从来就不是为孩子写的
The first fairy stories were never intended for children
导读
这篇文章讨论童话的起源：它们并非为儿童创作，而是面向混合年龄的听众，其中包含暴力、恐怖与道德教训。对写作者而言，它提醒我们：预设读者是孩子只是一种现代观念，故事不必回避阴暗面；同时，词语的含义会随时代漂移，选词时的联想值得警惕。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别默认故事必须适合儿童，童话最初讲给火边或饭后的混合年龄听众，写作者可以放心处理困难与阴暗的主题。
- 02
给孩子看的虚构故事不必刻意美化，那些不回避世界艰难的叙事，相当于在安全距离内帮读者预演真实处境。
- 03
写作用词要留意词义漂移：像 glamour 这类词的联想会随时间变化，词背后的历史会悄悄影响读者感受。
- 04
老故事是从口头讲述里长出来的，写作时可以让文本保留讲述者的声音、节奏和直接对听众说话的语气。
HN 评论精选
不回避艰难的故事，是给孩子安全地预演真实世界的方式。
我认为，很多现代心理问题都源于这种观念：把某些故事当成专门写给儿童看的。儿童时期，大脑和身体的可塑性远高于成年后；孩子在年幼时是在为一个真实世界做准备，却生活在一个与成年后将面对的世界截然不同的人造环境里。那些在人为环境里形成的反馈回路，等到人长大、适应能力下降之后，面对真实世界就应付不来。讲述不回避世界之艰难的虚构故事，可能正是一种进化上的特征：它让孩子在不必真正置身危险的情况下，为危险的世界做好准备。
colechristensen查看英文原文
I think “intended for children” is the source of quite a lot of modern mental illness. Your brain and body are quite plastic in different ways when you are young and become much more rigid as you grow out of childhood. Children are preparing for the world when they’re young and living in an artificial world much different than the one they will face as an adult. Those feedback loops that were programmed when young in an artificial setting then just don’t deal well with the real world presented long after their ability to adapt has diminished. Telling fictional stories that don’t pull punches which reflect the difficulties of the world might well be an evolutionary trait which helped prepare children for a dangerous world without exposing them to much of the actual danger.
“儿童专属”和“童年”都是现代概念，口传故事本就是混合年龄场合的产物。
我倒认为它们本来就是给孩子看的；而且，说某个故事是否“为孩子而写”，本身就是一种现代人的时代错置。在这些故事起源的口传时代，它们靠口头流传，多半是在火边、饭中或饭后，由长辈讲给晚辈听。当时恐怕没有严格的年龄分隔，孩子就在听众里，甚至很可能就是讲述者的目标对象；你只要看看祖父母带孙辈就知道，即使父母在场，很多话也是说给孙辈听的。此外，我们今天所说的“童年”是较晚才出现的概念。孩子很可能刚会走路就被卷入农耕、采集、狩猎、战斗等成人活动；女孩往往在青春期后不久（也就是十几岁出头）就出嫁；少年男子常被早早纳入成年男性的团体，接受战士训练（斯巴达是极端例子，犹太教的 Bar Mitzvah 则是男孩满十三岁即被视为社群成年成员）。而且，我不认为当时有“保护孩子免受生活阴暗面影响”的观念。死亡就在他们身边：许多孩子失去了死于难产的母亲；许多甚至大多数孩子都经历过婴儿期夭折的兄弟姐妹。因此，古老童话中那些我们今天视为“成人”的暴力与恐怖，与当时的日常生活大概并无太大差别，也就不被认为……
RcouF1uZ4gsC查看英文原文
I would argue that they were, and in any sense, saying stories were or were not intended for children is a modern anachronism. In preliterate times, in which many of these stories originate, these stories were passed orally, likely around a fire or during/after a meal, where the elders told these stories to the youngers. There was likely not much segregation by age, which meant that children would be among the audience, and very likely, may have even been the target of the storyteller (if you ever watch grandparents with grandkids, even when the parents are in the room, much of the conversation may be addressed to the grandkids). In addition, "childhood" as we have now is relatively recent. Likely as soon as they could walk, children were being involved in the adult activities of farming/gathering/hunting/fighting etc. Girls were often married shortly after puberty (so early teens). Young men were often inducted into the tribe of men early and trained as warriors (see Sparta for an extreme example, or the Jewish Bar Mitzvah where a boy is seen as an adult member of the community at age 13). In addition, I don't think there was the concept of shielding children from the unpleasantness of life. Death was all around them. Many of them had lost mothers in childbirth. Many if not most had at least lost 1 sibling in infancy. Thus the violence and horror in the old fairy tales which we consider "adult" today, was likely not all that different from everyday life and thus not considered unsuitable for children. As an example, think of the Roman practice of crucifixion. You could be a kid headed to market, and come upon a bunch of naked men, who were screaming in agony as they were being nailed to crosses by soldiers. Even in the modern age, hangings at Old Bailey in London were public affairs. Thus, just because a story contains themese and/or scenes that we would consider not suitable for children today, does not mean that children were not an important part of the audience when the story was actually a folk tale being told in communities.
词语的含义会像蛇一样扭曲，选词时要警惕它背后已经变化的联想。
“精灵是奇妙的，它们激起惊奇。精灵是绝妙的，它们制造惊叹。精灵是奇幻的，它们创造幻象。精灵是迷人的，它们散发魅力。精灵是蛊惑的，它们编织魅惑。精灵是骇人的，它们招致恐惧。词语的要害在于，含义会像蛇一样扭曲；你若想找蛇，就去那些含义已经改变了的词语背后找。从来没有人说过精灵是善良的。精灵是坏的。”——引自特里·普拉切特《Lords and Ladies》
Rygian查看英文原文
"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad." (Quote from Terry Pratchett's "Lords and Ladies")
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