Goodreads书评之二:刘慈欣最新登陆海外的短篇小说集《擎天》
To Hold Up the Sky译文简介
作者把人类从神坛上打了下来,却依然承认其文明的价值。
正文翻译
书名:《擎天》(To Hold Up the Sky),刘慈欣著
简介:
2020年10月20日由Tor Books出版,页数336;
亚马逊精装版售价:$21.1;Kindle电子书售价:$14.99;
《黑暗森林》的翻译者参与了翻译,刘宇昆未参与~
打星情况:
五星 22%
四星 43%
三星 28%
二星 5%
一星 0%
收录11个短篇:
《乡村教师》
《时间移民》
《2018年4月1日》
《地火》
《坍缩》
《镜子》
《欢乐颂》
《全频带阻塞干扰》
《梦之海》
《诗云》
《思想者》
评论翻译
很赞 ( 2 )
收藏
【四星】Justine,26岁,女,法国,2020/9
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
四星半
Before To Hold Up the Sky, I had never read Cixin Liu. I wanted to read The Three-Body Problem , but I was so afraid of misunderstanding it that I didn't dare. Then I received this ARC from NetGalley, so I decided to finally dive in.
在《擎天》之前,我从未读过刘慈欣的作品。我本来想去读《三体》,但我很怕曲解了它,所以不敢碰。然后我就从NetGalley上收到了它的高级读者副本(译注:即受邀撰写书评),所以我最终还是决定沉下心来一探究竟了。
These stories are intelligent and push the reader to think and to challenge his ordinary thoughts and beliefs. Here, they will encounter alien life, spaceships, existential questions, and so on. All the stories aren't coming from the same SF subgenres: I'm not an expert, but some of them are "harder" than others which seem "softer". Most of them take place in the future, but some picture the present, or, at least, start in the present!
The subjects are varied but they all focus on reflection, on questioning the world, our perception. It was surprising, even astonishing sometimes. I was on the verge of laughing sometimes, because it was so unbelievable.
These stories are also quite striking and leave the reader to ponder after they read them.
这些故事透着股聪明劲儿,也能推着读者去思考,还能挑战读者那些日常的想法和信念。在本书中,他们会遭遇外星生命、宇宙飞船、存在主义问题等等。所有这些故事所属的科幻子类型都各不相同:我也不是专家,但其中有些故事,在观感上比另一些“偏软”的故事更“硬”。大部分故事发生在未来,但也有一些描述了现在,至少也是始于现在的!涵盖各种形形色色的主题,但它们的重点全都落在反思上,落在对这个世界、对我们知觉的质疑上。这就挺意外的了,有时候甚至还会让人大为震惊。有几次,我差一点就要笑出来了,因为实在这太不可思议了。
这些故事相当高能,会让读者在读完后陷入沉思。
As for the writing-style, and considering it is a translation, I have nothing special to say: not particularly good, but not bad either.
至于写作风格,鉴于这是一本翻译作品,我没有什么特别的可说:不算特别好,但也不差。
So much as I loved these stories and was surprised by them, it was sometimes hard to follow for me due to the vocabulary used or the scientific precisions. I'm not sure I 100% understood everything, but I still enjoyed this collection.
尽管我很喜欢这些故事,它们也出乎了我的意料,但书中使用的词汇,以及在科学角度上追求精确的那些表述,我有时候还是很难理解。我不确定我是否100%理解了所有的内容,但我还是很喜欢这本集子。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
I'll try to talk about each of the stories now:
现在我会试着谈一谈每一个故事:
"The Village Teacher"
A story that particularly moved me because it focuses on a teacher who tries, before he dies, to pass knowledge to his young pupils. The reader understands that the village doesn't value what the teacher brings, but that he persists through hardship.
In the beginning, I didn't understand why this story was in this collection because the first part has nothing to do with SF; I understood a few pages later.
Strangely, and in a small amount of pages, I got attached to the characters
When I finished this story - I have to precise I am a teacher myself -, I felt proud to do my job. It was heartwarming to read, and, at the same time, a bit sad, because the teacher is an outcast in the village.
《乡村教师》
一个特别感动我的故事,因为它聚焦的是一位老师,他在死前竭尽所能地把知识传给了他那些年轻的学生。读者很清楚村子里的人并不珍视这位老师带来的东西,但他在艰困中坚持了下来。
一开始,我不明白这个集子为什么要收录这个故事,因为本篇的第一部分和科幻无关;但又读了几页之后我就明白了。
奇怪的是,只消短短的几页,我就对这些人物产生了感情。
当我读完这个故事时,我必须说明白我自己就是一名教师,我为自己的工作感到自豪。这篇读起来让人暖心,同时也有点伤感,因为在这个村子里。老师是那个被排斥的人。
"The Time Migration"
One of my favorite stories in this collection!
People decide to migrate in time because there is not enough ressources for everyone on Earth during their lifetime.
It was interesting to see Earth changing hundreds of years after the immigrants left. It was a bit frustrating because we do not have the details and we don't understand how they got here, but it was interesting to be in an immigrant's skin and to see Earth through their eyes, without any other explanation.
The ending was both sad and beautiful - but I feel like it might be one of the author's specialties!
《时间移民》
是这本集子里我最喜欢的故事之一!
人们决定在时间中进行移民,因为在他们的有生之年中,地球上没有足够的资源供所有人使用。
能看到地球在移民们离开了几百年后发生的变化,还是很有意思的。这有点让人沮丧,因为我们没有看到细节,我们也不明白他们到底是如何穿越到这里的,但在没有其他任何解释的情况下,以移民的身份,通过移民的视角来审视地球还是很有意思的。
结局既悲伤又美丽,但我感觉这可能是作者的特长之一!
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
"2018-04-01"
Here, we follow a man who has a difficult choice to make: he can choose the woman he loves or something everyone dreams about.
This story, like "The Time Migration", is more focused on the future and mostly on new technologies. The reader gets a glimpse of what the human future could be. It is both fascinating and frightening:
《2018年4月1日》
在本篇中,我们一路追随一个须作出艰难抉择的男人:他可以选择他爱的女人,也可以选择每个人做梦都想要的东西。
这个故事和《时间移民》一样,更关注未来,而且关注的大都是新技术。读者得以一窥人类未来的可能样貌。它既引人入胜又教人胆寒。
"Fire in the Earth"
This is one of the stories I was less interested in, but it's still stuck in my mind for some reason. It deals with mines, a subject I know practically nothing about.
It was immersive because it was long, and it was long because there were explanations about the change the main character wants to make. I'm sure I didn't understand everything, but it was still striking and vivid to read. I was there, with the characters.
The ending stroke me, I wasn't expecting this at all!
《地火》
这是我不太感兴趣的几个故事之一,但出于某种原因,它仍然驻留在我的脑海中。它涉及矿山,这个领域我基本上是一无所知。
故事带来了很强的沉浸感,因为它篇幅很长,而篇幅长是因为对主人公想要做出的改变作出了各种解释。我可以确定我并没有完全理解,但读来仍很震撼,而且鲜活得很。我就在故事里,和那些人物在一起。
结局把我给震住了,我完全没有料到会是这样的结果!
"Contraction"
One of my favorites: a scientist greets a politician who will witness the contraction of the universe after its long expansion.
I didn't expect the revelation at all, just like the other characters! I really loved the main character, who seems to be a mad man among his peers. I can't say too much because this story is really short compared with the others, but it was... shaking I'd say, because it contradicts our perception!
《坍缩》
是我最喜欢的作品之一:一位科学家向一位政治家致意,而他将见证宇宙在长期膨胀后出现的收缩。
这个被揭露出来的真相是我完全没有料到的,其他人物也是一样!我真的很喜欢这个主角,他在自己的同行之中似乎是个疯癫之徒。我不能说太多,因为相比于其他故事,这个故事真的很短,可它却…嗯,我会用震撼这个词,因为它与我们的认知相矛盾!
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
"Mirror"
One of the most disturbing stories of the whole collection.
A man is arrested, the reader doesn't know why. Another seems to know too much, it's not humanly possible. It worries the Senior Official. How can this man know unknowable things?
This story is focused on knowledge, surveillance and "evil".
It was striking because it questioned what "evil" is, if everything can be known, if it is wise if it is possible. I really loved this one, even if it disturbed me.
It made me think of Black Mirror, even more with the title and ... something in the story which has "mirror" in its name!
《镜子》
是整部集子中最让人不安的故事之一。
有个人被逮捕了,而读者不知道原委。另一个人似乎知道得太多了,在人间就不可能发生这样的事。这就引发了那个高级官员的担忧。这个人怎么可能知晓他不可能知晓的事情?
这个故事关注的重点是知识、监视和“邪恶”。
它之所以那么震撼,是因为它在质疑什么才是“邪恶”,如果一切都能被知晓,如果这有可能做到,那这么做是否是明智的。我真的很喜欢这一篇,尽管它让我感到不安。
这个故事让我想到了《黑镜》,而这个标题能让我想到的就更多了,就那些在标题和故事内容中包含“镜子”的作品!
"Ode to Joy"
During my reading of this one, I was like: "but... am I reading?" It was strange, but still fascinating and giving food for thought.
It was also terrifying in a way: (view spoiler)
Once more, original and thought-provoking: I wasn't expecting this and it opened up new horizons! Last thing: it deals with music, as you might have guessed with the title of the story!
(I won't say more and let you discover it!)
《欢乐颂》
在我阅读这篇的过程中,我心里在说:“我是真的在读吗?” 它很奇怪,但依然很勾人,还给了人思考的素材。
某种程度上说它也令人恐惧。
作者又一次做到了很强的原创性和发人深省。这是我没有预料到的,它打开了新的视野!
最后我要说:它涉及音乐,这一点你从故事的标题中可能已经猜到了!(我就不再多说了,你们自己去发现吧!)
"Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming"
This one is quite like "Fire in the Earth" for me: I wasn't interested in the subject and didn't think I would like it - well, I was gripped, but still wasn't a huge fan.
It starts on a battlefield and ends in space. It deals with war, with Russia and NATO, with scientific things I didn't entirely understood, even if I got what it did to end armies win the war.
I loved the relationship father/son the reader gets to discover; I didn't like the political side of it - which is really rare!
《全频带阻塞干扰》
这部作品在我看来很像《地火》。我对这个主题不感兴趣,当时也不觉得自己会喜欢上它,好吧,它还是抓住了我的心,但我终究是不怎么中意它。
它始于战场,终于太空。它涉及战争,涉及俄罗斯和北约,涉及我不完全理解的科学内容,即使我知道它在终结敌人赢得战争中起到的作用。
我很喜欢被读者自己逐渐揭示的父子关系;但我不喜欢其中有关政治的内容,而这种情况真的很罕见!
"Sea of Dreams"
Same as "Ode to Joy": what am I actually reading? Quite strange, and still interesting because this story focuses on art, what it means, what it is worth. (view spoiler) it also pushes the reader to think about art in a way you might not think about: to live for art is beautiful, but does it justify (view spoiler)
《梦之海》
和《欢乐颂》一样:我到底在读什么玩意儿?相当古怪,但仍然很有趣,因为这个故事聚焦于艺术,聚焦于艺术意味着什么以及艺术的价值。它也推着读者以一种你可能想不到的方式去思考艺术:为艺术而活是美好的,但这种活法是否正当呢。
"Cloud of Poems"
This story also focuses on art, but, this time, on poetry and human civilisation. It was, once more, strange to discover that human beings are here lesser creatures. I thought about how we treat animals in our societies: it clearly echoes the situation in the story. I also thought about how we consider ourselves as super-evolved compared to other species we know: the author knocks humans off their pedestal, while still recognizing the worth of their civilisation.
《诗云》
这个故事也聚焦于艺术,但这次说的是诗歌与人类文明。我又一次发现,在本篇中人类是低等生物,这也太奇怪了。我想到了我们的社会对待动物的方式:显然这和故事中的情况相呼应。另外我还想到,和我们认识的其他物种相比,我们如此深信自己是进化之路上的超级物种:作者把人类从神坛上打了下来,却依然承认其文明的价值。
"The Thinker"
To end this collection, this story is located on Earth, with humans discovering something strange in the twinkling of stars.
I liked the relationship between the characters and the mention of fate: it was a good way to show how life is, indeed, short and bitter, but also beautiful and surprising. Kind of a sweet story to leave the collection.
《思想者》
是这本集子的收尾篇,这个故事是发生在地球上的,人类在星星的闪烁中发现了一些奇怪的东西。
我喜欢的是人物之间的关系以及对命运的提及:这绝妙地说明了生命确实苦短,但也是美丽且令人惊讶的。貌似是用了一个略圆满的故事结束了这本集子。
TW: suicide, gore, violence.
警告:含自杀、血腥、暴力内容。
So, I'm glad I read Cixin Liu; I think I'll read his trilogy Remembrance of Earth's Past one day!
我很高兴读到了刘慈欣的作品,我觉得有朝一日我会去读他的地球往事系列三部曲的!
【三星】Nusrat Farzana,女,孟加拉国,2021/6
这是第一次刘慈欣的作品没达到我的期望值。有时候点子的重复使用会让人觉得无聊。
【四星】David Agranoff,美国,2020/12
个人认为,我们应该感激刘慈欣,因为他奉献出了这么一种独一无二的风格。在身为工程师的他写出的科幻作品中,宏大又烧脑的史诗级概念,和听上去很有道理的硬科幻之间的界限得到了弥合。如果说刘慈欣的配方有什么秘诀的话,那就是这些深邃的哲思、历史视角下的思维和假想出来的古怪科学。我不觉得他的人物刻画很强,但这点无碍。这些故事的核心思想相当高能。故事背景始终是中国,但我觉得,它吸引到我的部分原因正是这种国际化的感觉和对另一种文化的看法。
There is a limitless feel to Cixin Liu’s ideas. As this is a short story collection I preferred some stories more than others. One of the stories that showed his engineering mind is the story “Fire in the Earth.” This was almost a short novel and this one didn’t hook me. Even though I didn’t like this story the setting in a Chinese mine did have some interesting implications that bubbled under the surface.
刘慈欣的点子感觉是无穷无尽的。由于这是一本短篇小说集,我是更偏爱其中几篇的。其中有一个故事展现了他的工程师思维,那就是《地火》。这篇勉强可以算作短篇小说,但对我没啥吸引力。虽然我不喜欢这个故事,但故事是设定在了中国的一处矿场,在表面之下确实暗含着一些有趣的意味。
The second story is my favorite in the collection “Time Migration” could and should be an episode of Black Mirror. This story uses a technological hook to force the characters to address epic timespans of many thousands of years in a few short pages and it works. The closing notes reminding us of conclusions not new in science fiction but done in a totally original way. For a real beautiful closing paragraph, this story is incredible.
第二个故事是这个集子中我的最爱,《时间移民》可以成为也应该成为英剧《黑镜》中的一集。这个故事利用技术来牵引并迫使一干人物在短短几页中去应付几千年史诗一般的时间跨度,而且这种做法奏效了。结束语部分让我们想起了一些在科幻小说中并不新鲜,但以完全原创的方式得出的结论。考虑到出奇美好的那个结尾段落,这个故事真是不可思议啊。
【五星】Nilesh,2021/2
刘慈欣是有史以来最有想象力的作家之一,这本集子即是他大才的明证。他可以像变戏法一样在硅基和碳基的银河系文明之间变出一场战争,简直不费吹灰之力,就像在地球上的美利坚帝国和俄罗斯帝国之间变出一场战争一样。我们的艺术技能得到了更为多棱的赞美:在其中一个故事中,他关注的是我们的雕塑能力,而在另一个故事中,则是写诗的能力。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Mr. Liu's extraordinary fancies and cute stories shadow his wonderful writing style. In a few short paragraphs, he is able to paint his exotic worlds in rich detail while introducing a bevy of characters. In general, every story has interesting philosophical angles on existence - either as individuals or societies. The Time Migration and Mirror are two, for instance, on which some philosopher can write tombs on.
刘先生非凡的狂想以及可爱的故事,掩盖了他那奇妙的写作风格。在短短的几段文字中,他能够以极丰富的细节描绘他的异星世界,同时还引介了大量的人物。总的来看,每个故事都以颇有意趣的哲学视角对存在作了观照,无论是个体的存在还是社会的存在。《时间移民》和 《镜子》就是其中的两个例子,是那种哲学家可以刻在墓碑上的话。
Somebody should make a TV serial on his stories. Perhaps, Tenet (2020 movie) got the inspiration from the arrow of time U-turn from Contraction.
应该有个人把他笔下的故事拍成电视连续剧。也许,《信条》(2020年的电影)从《坍缩》中能马蹄形拐弯的时间之箭中得到了灵感。
【四星】Hadrian,美国,2021/1
尽管创作这些故事的时点在作家生命中的跨度如此之大,但它们却比我料想的更具连贯性。虽然有些故事比其他的更伤感,但我还是觉得大刘成功地回归到了他那些最常出现的主题,也即,他对事件或自然法则的探索,要重于扫一眼就历历了然的世间人,以及任何与未来沟通的希望(在这种情况下,那个世界本身都无法得到承认)。
【五星】Jose,42岁,男,西雅图,2021/1
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
这本短篇小说集非常棒。刘慈欣的科幻小说风格自带狂野的想象力。他的视野宽广,还很深邃,从哲学主题到艺术和政治,这些故事能让你在优雅而令人愉悦的故事中思考这个宇宙的“大势”。阅读这家伙写的东西一直都是种享受。我最喜欢的故事是《思想者》、《乡村教师》和《时间移民》,有几个故事超级怪异的,比如《梦之海》,还有几个故事的逻辑结论我不一定会赞同,比如《镜子》,但毫无疑问,我很欣赏这类勾人沉思的问题:如果X是有可能发生的,那么会发生什么?
The one story that I enjoyed reading the least was "Full-Sprectrum Barrage Jamming" because I was not comfortable with the romantic depiction of an all out war between Russia and the US, or more accurately a fictional universe where the Soviet unx is still alive in the 21st century and NATO forces were dumb enough to invade it. It was so weird to read about American troops given the same treatment that Western depictions of war give their war enemies. I hate it when war gets romanticized and I could not agree less with the theme and message of the story. Even then I still embrace the opportunity to see things from a different perspective.
读来最不喜欢的一个故事是《全频带阻塞干扰》,因为对俄罗斯和美国之间的全面战争进行浪漫化描述会让我感到不舒服,或者更准确地说,在一个虚构的宇宙中,苏联仍存活于21世纪,而北约部队愚蠢到去入侵了它。当我读到美国军队得到的待遇,和西方战争描写中给予敌方的那种待遇完全一样时,那感觉太奇怪了。我讨厌战争被浪漫化,但我不能不同意这个故事的主题及其传达出的信息。即便如此,这种从不同的视角看待事物的机会,我还是很愿意抓住的。
Overall great collection of short sci-fi stories. Two thumbs up. Recommend.
整体来看,是一部伟大的短篇科幻小说集。十二分好评。推荐。