雙語閱讀：日本耽美文學作品受中國女性追捧

摘要:“耽美”是一種日本文學流派，這種文學描述的是男人之間的愛情，在中國許多年輕異性戀女性成了“耽美文學”的鐵粉。

Tanbi is a form of Japanese literature depicting love between men that its hardcore following of young, heterosexual women can't get enough of.

In the literary world of tanbi, a Japanese term meaning "the pursuit of beauty" and often used to refer to two good-looking men in a romantic relationship, there are answers to what a heterosexual woman wants in love and life.

日本耽美文學作品受中國女性追捧

At least, this is the case for Cici Zhou, a 25-year-old real estate agent who has devoured 1,200 tanbi books over the past 10 years, drawn to them by the strong characters and their fighting spirit.

“耽美”是一種日本文學流派，這種文學描述的是男人之間的愛情，在中國許多年輕異性戀女性成了“耽美文學”的鐵粉。

在日本文化裏，“耽美”的文學釋義是“對美的追求”，並且常用來形容兩個俊美男子之間的浪漫情感。女性異性戀者也能在其中讀到對感情和生活的追求。

就拿25歲的房產中介周慈慈(音)來說，在過去的十年裏，她已經閱覽了近1200件關於“耽美”的作品，並被主人公堅強勇敢的性格所打動。

Zhou's favorite, Tianxiadiyi (translated to English means "No 1 in the world"), is the story of two opposing majestic kings who are mutually attracted but have to fight against each other and their desire.

"You can't find these characters in normal chick-lit," she says. "They're both strong, outstanding men. There are dramatic ups and downs and greater obstacles to overcome."

There is no official tally, but there are an estimated one million readers of tanbi stories in China, according to Yang Ling, associate professor with Xiamen University who studies tanbi sub-culture.

周最喜歡的作品是《天下第一》，它講述了兩位偉大的帝王之間的爭鬥和彼此的慾望。

她說，在通俗小說裏我們是讀不到這樣的人物的，他們都很堅強、傑出，生命起起伏伏，需要越過一個又一個障礙。

據廈門大學研究“耽美”文化的助理教授楊玲說，雖然沒有官方統計數據，但據估計在中國“耽美”文學有近百萬的讀者。

The scene is dominated by work from Japan and China's Taiwan, but tanbi lovers are also putting out original stories in forums, podcasts, custom-made books and other items that target hardcore fans.

Jinjiang Literature, one of the more popular websites that features original tanbi stories, clocks two million log-ins a day. Ninety percent of its users are female, and 80 percent are in the 18 to 35 age group, according to a report the company provided to China Daily.

Tanbi borders on gay fiction, but the readership is predominantly heterosexual women.

作品場景大多設置在日本和中國臺灣，但是“耽美”愛好者們也會在論壇、播客、專門的書籍裏或其它工具上分享一些原創作品，以此來吸引忠實粉絲們。

“耽美”文學接近男同小說，但讀者中女異性戀卻佔大多數。

周慈慈說：“我不覺得兩個男性成爲伴侶很奇怪，我們讀這些關於男人的故事只是因爲我們喜歡男孩子。”

"I never thought it strange when two men become a couple," Zhou says. "We are reading about two guys together exactly because we like boys."

"They're reading for the variety tanbi offers," Yang says.

The genre is broken down into a gamut of sub genres, that touch on a wide variety of themes from apocalyptic tales, star wars, martial arts, and fan fiction. The stories can be "clear-water" (platonic) or x-rated. Tanbi is written in so many styles that there are stories told in dialects from northeastern China to Cantonese.

"Whatever subject you like, you can find it there," Yang says. "It's like a small literary kingdom."

And then there is the love story at the core.

楊玲說道，讀者喜愛耽美文學的多樣性。

“耽美”體裁多樣，涉及到啓示錄故事、星球大戰、武打、以及同人小說。故事可以是柏拉圖式的或略帶色情的。耽美文學風格多種多樣，有的以中國東北方言寫成，也有些以廣東話寫成。

楊玲說，不管你喜歡什麼樣的主題，在這樣的故事王國裏你都能找到。

而且愛永遠是故事的核心。

"In tanbi, love and relationships have no set patterns like in Cinderella, where a hero rescues a beauty in danger," Yang says. "Both sides can be strong. Or they can take different roles in different circumstances. There are many more possibilities to explore."

That is perhaps one of the reasons why these readers are more open-minded when setting their own terms, and more understanding to others, Yang says, who has interviewed many tanbi fans in recent years.

"These are definitely positive influences. When they are open to different types of relationships, they are also open to other discussions, such as staying single for longer, or raising a child on their own," Yang says.

楊玲說，在耽美故事中，愛情並不像灰姑娘童話那樣有着固定模式，比如英雄救美等等。雙方都可以很強大，或者在不同場合裏他們扮演着不同的角色。要去闡釋的可能性無窮無盡。

楊玲在近年採訪了衆多耽美粉絲，她說，當涉及到自身時，這些讀者往往很開明而且善解人意，這也許就是原因之一。

楊玲說：“耽美文學當然會帶來積極影響。當人們開始接受不同的戀愛方式時，人們也漸漸會對一些爭議採取包容態度，比如長期單身、自己認養小孩兒等等。”

According to Ducky, another seasoned reader of 10 years, who will only reveal the name she uses online, "I'm an independent woman, I get to make my own decisions in work as well as in life." She says she prefers stories where both members of the couple are standing on their own two feet and fighting for what they want in love.

"However, we still like alpha males better," she says. "When there are two of them, there is the tension we want. Especially now that boys are becoming feminine and girls have somehow turned aggressive."

In the strong male characters, the female readers find their most desired kind of romance.

據粉齡已達十年之久網友Ducky說，“我是一個獨立的女性，不論在工作還是生活中我一直追求自我。”她還說，她喜歡那些故事，故事裏的主人公遺世獨立、爲愛獻身。

她說，“然而，我們還是更喜歡具有男子漢氣概的男人，當出現兩個男性時，我們往往不知道該選哪一個。而且當下男孩子越來越女性化，而女孩們卻似乎更有闖勁兒。”

故事中的男子漢，往往就是女性心中最理想的男神形象。

"I believe tanbi describes the purest kind of love," says Jodie Cheng, who first discovered tanbi when looking for news of her idols, the Korean pop group Super Junior, in 2010. In a fictional account, written by tanbi fans, band members become lovers.

"But as long as a story has a modicum of realism, two men together means trouble, and giving up everything for love," Cheng says. "That's rare in our real life, therefore, we look for it."

With the rise of Weibo and Wechat, two major instant messaging platforms in China, tanbi is no longer the cult genre it was a decade ago. There has been a growing number of girls, or fojoshi (a Japanese term for girls who endorse male homosexual love), who have started to write fan fiction that moves tanbi into the world of mainstream literature.

2010年，Jodie Cheng在搜尋偶像男團“Super Junior”的最新動態時，偶然發現了耽美文學作品，講的是男團成員之間的愛。

Jodie Cheng說：“我認爲耽美描述了純粹的愛，但是隻要故事中加入一點現實元素，兩個男人在一起就意味着接踵而至的問題、意味着爲愛放棄一切。而這些在我們生活中是很少見的，因此，我們一直在書中尋找着這些。”

隨着微博和微信這兩大即時通訊平臺的興起，耽美這一體裁也不再像十年前那樣小衆，萬千女孩開始撰寫耽美小說，由此推動其成爲一種主流文學形式。

A recent work pairs two X-men, Magneto and Professor X, powerful opponents who care about each other, at least in the Hollywood megahit X-Men: Days of Future Past.

"There are so many fojoshi that it's almost a selling point now," Yang, the researcher says.

"But whatever the girls are attracted to, they are after the true, good, beautiful human feelings that have always been at the center of literature."

最近上映的《X戰警---逆轉未來》是一個巨大成功，在影片裏，萬磁王和X教授是兩個惺惺相惜的對手。

楊玲說，“如今有太多喜歡耽美文學的女孩們，這儼然已成爲一大賣點。”

“但是不管女孩們到底是被什麼所吸引，這背後真實的、美好的人性將永遠是耽美文學的核心。”