科幻小說是一個窗口

Science Fiction Is a Window——Abstract of Liu Cixin'sInterview im Germany

劉慈欣因其廣獲贊譽科幻小說而為人所知，但他本人比較低調(diào)。較少在公眾面前出現(xiàn)的他，于去年10月13日，首次亮相于海外書展的劉慈欣攜科幻小說《三體》系列第二部《黑暗森林》德文版與讀者見面，并與德國演員Mark Bremer分別用中文和德文朗讀了書中的片段，在社交媒體上收獲了德國書迷的熱烈反響。

德國書迷喬納森說：“朋友推薦我看的《三體》和我以前讀過的科幻小說很不一樣，我非常喜歡。除了科幻情節(jié)之外，還可以深入了解中國的思維方式和歷史，包括中國人對西方文化的看法，這很有趣。小說遠遠超出了純粹的科幻故事。”

德國漢學家、文學翻譯阿克曼表示：“大多數(shù)中國作家在德國甚至整個西方并不為人所熟知，但劉慈欣先生非常有名，不僅在英語世界，在德國也是大家認可的非常重要的科幻小說家。他的科幻小說引起了不同文化背景下人們的共鳴。”在被問到是否想到《三體》會在西方引起轟動時，劉慈欣坦承，當初把《三體》翻譯成英文，只是想讓英語世界知道中國也有科幻小說，因為以前在國外交流時總被問到中國也有科幻小說嗎，對于今天的市場反響，他表示“的確出乎預料”。

對于這場由孔子學院總部與法蘭克福書展、德國蘭登書屋旗下Heyne出版社共同策劃的“劉慈欣科幻文學德國之旅”，許多讀者已經(jīng)從媒體渠道了解，但仍表示希望了解他與阿克曼和《法蘭克福匯報》記者達特對談的內(nèi)容。為此，特整理精彩話語摘要如下：

科學本身在西方和在中國很不一樣。在西方，已經(jīng)經(jīng)過了科學發(fā)展的階段，它已經(jīng)到了一個可以看到很多方面的階段，而在中國它的工業(yè)化進程才剛剛開始。在這種情況下，科學在中國可能具有更多的話語權(quán)。科學的發(fā)展創(chuàng)造的負面效應，在中國所產(chǎn)生的危險可能比西方更大。因為在中國，不論在大眾中還是在政府中，科學始終有著很高的話語權(quán)，這個話語權(quán)足夠使整個社會忽視其負面效應。但是從中國目前的發(fā)展狀況來看，發(fā)展科學是唯一的選擇。這個狀況也或多或少地反映在我的科幻小說里，因為目前的西方小說里描寫的科學有很多的負面形象，而由這些負面形象產(chǎn)生的未來也是十分昏暗的。我的科幻小說中，科學未來是存在的，它有危險的一面，昏暗的一面，也有光明的一面，這可能是我的科幻小說和西方的科幻小說的一個區(qū)別。

我覺得理智地對待科學發(fā)展的唯一選擇就是我們應該勇敢地去面對負面效應，并且去克服它，回避并不是一個特別明智的態(tài)度。

科幻小說和以前的理解不同，它不是預測未來而是排列未來，把未來的每一種可能性都排列出來。 《黑暗森林》排列的恰恰是最壞的可能性。

我的短篇小說的框架和場景都很大，每一個短篇小說都相當于是長篇小說的梗概，但是這些東西都沒能寫成長篇小說，確實是作為一個作家感到十分遺憾的事情。我也曾不止一次地想過，假如我的三十多篇短篇小說都變成長篇小說，會是什么樣子呢？

我認為對待未來要抱著一種理性，所謂理性就是說我們相信人類可能會有一個美好的未來，但是也要時刻警醒自己的選擇，如果做出了錯誤的選擇，未來可能會是科幻小說中的黑暗的世界，關鍵就是一句話，未來取決于我們現(xiàn)在。

政治家、經(jīng)濟學家或其他領域的人士，他們能看到的距離并不是因為他們本人缺乏遠見，而是因為他受到的制約比我們多得多。他們不得不把自己的注意力放在一般來說不超過半個世紀，否則的話很難實現(xiàn)自身的行為。但科幻小說不受現(xiàn)實的制約，這也是它作為文學體裁的優(yōu)勢。

科幻小說是一個窗口，讓我們能夠看到超出生活之外的時間和空間。科學家看得是很遠的，他比科幻小說看得都遠，實際上科幻小說能看到的最大距離也不會超過科學的距離。比如：宇宙末日，我們不可能超過宇宙末日看得更遠，但是科學家是看得很遠的。

科幻小說本身就是一種超越人類自身所在時空的一個文學體裁，既超越空間，進入遙遠的宇宙，也超越時間。所以寫科幻小說時，我總是在故事框架允許的范圍內(nèi)，盡可能地把這個時間空間范圍擴大一些。

不同國家科幻小說的共同之處要遠大于不同之處。

Liu Cixin is well-known for his widely acclaimed science fiction but he is a low- key and little seen writer. On October 13 lastyear， Liu， who made his debut on an overseas bookexhibition， together with the German version ofThe Three-Body Problem H： The Dark Forest， metwith readers. Liu and German actor Mark Bremerread some paragraphs in the novel in Chinese andGerman respectively， evoking wild enthusiasmamong German fans on social media.

A German book fan Jonathan said， \"My friendrecommended The Three-Body Problem to me andit is very different from those I have read before.I love it very much. Besides the sci-fi plots， I canalso gain an in-depth understanding of the Chinesemode of thinking and Chinese history， includingChinese people's perceptions about westernculture. This is very interesting. This novel goes farbeyond a pure science fiction.\"

Ackermann （German scholar of Chinesestudies， renowned translator） said， \"Most Chinesewriters are unknown in Germany or even in theWest. But Liu Cixin is a household name. He is avery important science novelist recognized notonly in English-speaking countries but also inGermany. His science fiction strikes a chord amongpeople from different cultural backgrounds.\" Whenasked whether he had expected The Three-BodyProblem to be a hit in the West， Liu admitted thatwhen The Three-Body Problem was translatedinto English， he just wanted the English readersto know that there also were sci-fi novels comingfrom China. In his previous overseas exchanges，Liu used to be asked whether China had its ownscience fiction. But now， Liu said that today'smarket response is \"surely beyond expectation\".

Through media， many readers have known \"ATour of Liu Cixin's Science Fiction in Germany\" co-organized by the Confucius Institute Headquartersand Heyne affiliated to Random House. But theystill hope to know more about Liu's interviewwith Michael Kahn-Ackermannand Dart， Correspondent ofFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.To this end， we list the abstract ofthis interview as below：

\"Science itself differs both inthe West and China. In the West，people have gone through thestage of scientific development andstand at a stage where many sub-sectors bloom. In China， however，the country's industrializationstands at its very beginning.Under such a case， Chinese peoplemay have more floors talkingabout science. Because in China，the risks caused by the negativeeffect resulted from scientificdevelopment may be greater thanthat in the West， and science， notonly in the public but also in thegovernment， has been placedunprecedented importance， whichis tremendous enough to make thewhole society neglect its negativeeffect，Considering the status quoof China's development， however，scientific development is the onlychoice. This situation is also moreor less reflected in my sciencefiction as the science describedin current Western novelstakes on many negative images.Furthermore， the future formedby those images is quite gloomy.In my science fiction， science，in the future， boasts dangerous，gloomy and bright aspects， whichmay draw a difference between myscience fiction and the Westerncounterparts.\"

\"Science fiction， unlikeprevious understanding， isarranging the future and its everypossibility instead of predicting it.The DarkForest exactly lists theworst possibilities.\"

\"I think the only choice toreasonably deal with scientificdevelopmentis to bravely face and thenovercome its negative effect. Avoidanceis not a wise choice.\"

\"As my short stories have grandframeworks and scenes， each one ofthem is tantamount to the outline of afull-length novel. However， these shortstories fail to develop into full-lengthnovels， which is surely my regret. I havemore than once thought if all my 30 plusshort stories become full-length novels，what on earth it would be.\"

\"I think that we should be rationalabout the future， which means thatwe believe human beings may havea bright future but we should also bevigilant about our own choices. A wrongchoice made， the future may crash in tothe dark side described in the sciencefiction. In one word， future depends onthe present.\"

\"What politicians， economistsor people from other fields can see isnot because they are short-sighted butthey have more restrictions. In general，they have to focus themselves on atime range of less than half a century，or it will be very difficult for them torealize themselves. But science fictionis not restricted by realiy which is anadvantage for it to serve as a literarytheme.\"

\"Science fiction is a windowthrough which we can see the time andspace beyond life. Scientists always takea long view， a view even longer thanwhat science fiction could take. In fact，the furthest distance that science fictioncan see will not go beyond the scopeof science. Take the cosmic doomsdayas an example： we cannot see what willcome after the cosmic doomsday， butscientists can.\"

\"Science fiction itself is a litera rytheme that transcends time and space，entering the remote universe. Therefore，whenever l write science fiction， Iexpand the scope of time and space asmuch as possible within the frameworkof story.\"

\"Science fiction from differentcountries shares much more in common，which far outweighs the differences.\"

Excerpt by Lyuyan-Wanqian