5分鐘偷閒時間別浪費 來讀微小說吧

Chinese author Lao Ma has a simple approach to his short stories: In the face of life, everything is funny.
對於中國作家勞馬來說，寫短篇小故事有一個很簡單的竅門：在生活面前，一切事情都很有趣。

Mr. Lao, the pen name of Renmin University of China professor Ma Junjie, says there are plenty of laughable things in daily life that fuel his satirical stories, which often span only a page or two.
“勞馬”是中國人民大學(Renmin University of China)教授馬俊傑的筆名。他說，日常生活中有許許多多令人捧腹大笑的事情，爲他的諷刺小故事（通常只有一兩頁）提供了豐富的創作素材。

His work is part of a rising literary genre called flash fiction, in which stories are told in 300 to 1,000 words. In an era of Sina Weibo and WeChat, flash fiction is becoming fertile ground for China, with its brevity and humor.
他的作品隸屬一個崛起中的文學流派――微小說，微小說的篇幅在300至1,000字之間。在新浪微博(Sina Weibo)和微信(WeChat)稱雄的時代，微小說以其簡潔和幽默而成爲一塊沃土。

'A lot of people are drawn to it because the era we're in is an age of short stories rather than the novels of Tolstoy,' said Chinese contemporary author Yan Lianke, who joined Mr. Lao in discussing flash fiction at the Bookworm Literary Festival in Beijing on Saturday.
在上週六的北京書蟲文學節上，中國當代作家閻連科就“微小說”與勞馬進行了討論。他說，我們正處於一個短篇小說的時代，而不是托爾斯泰(Tolstoy)小說時代，這也是微小說吸引讀者的原因所在。

Mr. Lao's tales take a humorous look at a variety of societal issues, with characters ranging from farmers to academics to civil servants.
勞馬寫故事擅用戲謔的眼光看各種社會問題，故事中的人物角色從農民到學者再到公務員，範圍廣泛。

In 'Silver Tongue,' one of Mr. Lao's stories from 'Individuals,' a collection of 55 stories that was translated into English last year, he writes about a man who visits an old classmate who is now an admired professor. The professor says he can't talk much because something is wrong with his throat. The man later finds out his old classmate can talk, but only when he's paid large sums of money. In 'A View of the Hills,' a young boy writes a letter to a mayor, describing his desire to view the hills from his balcony, which he can no longer see because of pollution. The mayor is moved by the boy's letter and writes, ' What this child says is very sure to make every effort to restore this child's eyesight!'
勞馬的作品《個別人》中包含55個小故事，去年被譯成英文版。其中一篇題爲《金嘴》的故事中，主人公去拜訪一位如今已是教授、受人尊崇的老同學。兩人見面後，教授稱因喉疾無法多講話。但隨後主人公發現，老同學並非不能多說話，而是唯有付以重金才能開其金口。在《看山》中，一個小男孩給市長寫信，信中說因爲污染嚴重，他無法再從家中的陽臺眺望到遠山。市長被這封信深深地打動，回信寫道，這個孩子說的事情非常重要……一定要竭盡全力恢復他的視力！Mr. Lao's stories provide a refreshing take on a culture that's often mistaken as having no sensor of humor. 'Since I was small, I've been insufficiently serious,' Mr. Lao told a crowd at the festival.
勞馬的小說讓人們對於常常被誤解爲沒有幽默感的中國文化有了全新的認識。他在文學節上對大家說，從小我就是一個不太嚴肅的人。

The allure of micro fiction comes at a time when China's leaders are beginning to worry about the population's interest in reading, as video games, TV shows and movies dominate the entertainment landscape. Mr. Yan, who was last year shortlisted for a Man Booker International Prize, and also writes short stories, joked that China's political leaders are their ideal readership. 'Flash fiction is a good solution if you're sleepy at night and still have work to do,' he said. 'Reading a couple of these stories is as good as a cup of coffee.'
隨着視頻遊戲，電視節目和電影占據人們的消遣時間，就連中國領導人也不禁開始擔心國民的閱讀興趣問題，而微小說的魅力適時綻放。同樣創作短篇小說的閻連科去年獲布克國際文學獎(Man Booker International Prize)提名，他開玩笑說中國政治領導人是微小說的理想讀者。他說，在一個還有工作要做而你已經昏昏欲睡的夜晚，微小說是不錯的提神劑，讀上幾篇微小說的感覺就像喝了杯咖啡。

Mr. Lao traced the origins of Chinese flash fiction to the Qing Dynasty, when Pu Songling wrote hundreds of short stories. But humor is a new addition to the genre, he said, noting that the actual Chinese word for humor -youmo-is relatively new. The younger generation of readers, who have 'sharper tongues and better comedy skills than their predecessors,' has propelled these works.
勞馬將中國微小說的起源追溯至清朝，當時蒲松齡創作了數百篇短篇小說。但是，他說幽默是這種體裁的新元素，同時指出實際上中文的“幽默”一詞出現相對較晚。同前輩相比，年輕一代的讀者言語更尖銳，喜劇技巧也更純熟，正是他們推助了幽默小說的發展。

One of the hurdles flash fiction faces is finding legitimacy in a culture that views the strength of novels by their thickness. Mr. Lao offered up the comparison that full-length novels are tigers, while short stories are 'near rats.' In his forward to 'Individuals,' he cites Chinese writer and 2012 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan as saying a novel with less than 200,000 words lacks dignity. 'I personally do not see direct correlation between the length of fiction and its quality,' Mr. Lao said.
微小說面臨的一個障礙是，在將小說厚度等同於思想深度的文化中尋求正統地位。勞馬將長篇小說比喻爲老虎，短篇小說則是四處躲藏的老鼠。談到對《個別人》的看法，他援引2012年諾貝爾文學獎(Nobel literature)得主中國作家莫言的話說，沒有二十萬字以上的篇幅，長篇小說就缺少應有的威嚴。勞馬說，但我個人並不認爲小說的長度和質量有直接關係。

Mr. Yan echoed Mr. Lao's sentiments, adding that the real death of civilization comes when it no longer has laughter. 'Xi Jinping is asking where the time has gone,' Mr. Yan said. 'What he should be asking is where all the laughter has gone.'
閻連科對勞馬的觀點表示贊同，並說如果不再有笑聲，那纔是文明真正死去的時刻。他說，習近平問：時間都去哪兒了？我覺得他應該問：幽默去哪兒了？