低俗小說 馬來西亞年輕人的閱讀新寵

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — When Anis Suhaila wants a cheap thrill, she turns to Instagram and Twitter to learn about the latest Malaysian paperback releases. But she does not buy them in ordinary bookstores here, some of which do not carry the titles she is most interested in.

馬來西亞，吉隆坡——阿妮絲·蘇海拉(Anis Suhaila)如果想來點廉價的刺激，就會到Instagram和Twitter上去了解點馬來西亞平裝書最新的出版情況，但她不會到普通的書店去買書，有些書店裏根本沒有她最感興趣的書。

Instead, she usually heads to one of the “pop up” book markets that appear occasionally, almost randomly, on the streets in Kuala Lumpur to find what she is looking for: risqué tales of crime, horror and gritty young love that are written in Malay and aimed at young Muslim Malaysians.

她一般都到“快閃”書市去買書，它們不時出現在吉隆坡街頭，幾乎沒有規律可循。她要找的則是那些近乎淫穢的犯罪、恐怖小說，以及內容露骨的青春戀愛故事，這些書都是用馬來西亞語寫的，專門針對年輕的馬來西亞穆斯林讀者。

The writing can be patchy, but it is fresh and edgy, said Ms. Anis, 24, a manager at an education company, adding that the stories sometimes touch on “something that is relevant” to Malaysia’s political scene. She devours four books a month, she said, the most recent a tale of a boy who can see ghosts.

24歲的阿妮絲是一家教育公司的經理，她說，這些小說可能是東拼西湊的，但是內容清新尖銳，故事有時候會涉及和馬來西亞政界“相關的內容”。這樣的書她一個月能狼吞虎嚥看完四本，最新看完的一本講的是一個能看見鬼魂的男孩。

This new-style pulp fiction, much of it by first-time authors who got their start blogging, is the product of an independent, irreverent publishing industry that has sprung up over the past four years and has tapped into a desire for escapism among younger Malaysians as their country has become more socially conservative.

這種新形式的低級小說大都是由寫博客出身的新手作家創作，過去四年來，不懼權威的獨立出版業繁榮發展，它利用馬來西亞青年人對日趨保守的社會的逃避心理，推出了這些小說。

In recent years, Malaysia’s laid-back style of Islam has taken on more Arab overtones. And the government, controlled by the same coalition since the nation’s independence from Britain in 1957, has reacted to a fledging political opposition by tightening restrictions on everything from academic freedom to personal liberties.

近年來，馬來西亞無爲而治的穆斯林風格開始日益接受阿拉伯世界的暗示。自1957年從英國獨立以來，馬來西亞政府一直由同一個政治派別控制，爲了遏制羽翼未豐的反對派，它開始收緊對社會方方面面的控制，從學術自由到個人自由。

Young people are told how to behave not only by their teachers and parents but also, increasingly, by the government and religious authorities. Recent decrees have included prohibitions on yoga, the celebration of Halloween and smoking shisha, or water pipes. Newspapers and television shows are routinely censored, and in February, both the film and the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” were banned, even though the book had been sold openly for three years.

不僅是老師和家長們諄諄告誡年輕人應該怎樣做，政府和宗教權威也愈來愈多地教誨他們。最近政府頒佈法令，禁止練瑜伽、慶祝萬聖節和抽水菸袋。報紙和電視節目經常遭到審查，二月，《五十度灰》(Fifty Shades of Grey)的小說和電影都被禁了，此前三年裏這本書一直都在公開發售。

In Malaysia, writers and readers “don’t have much freedom, but on print, in a book, they can basically go naked,” said Wani Ardy, 31, the proprietor of a pop-up book market where Ms. Anis was browsing one recent Saturday afternoon under a sweltering tent.

在馬來西亞，作家和讀者們“沒有多少自由，但在書裏，他們基本上可以赤裸示人，”31歲的快閃書市經營者瓦尼·阿爾迪(Wani Ardy)說，他的書攤用帳篷遮着，非常悶熱，最近的一個星期六下午，阿妮絲也曾經去過那裏。

Ms. Wani, who also teaches creative writing at a university, set up her first pop-up book market in 2011, just as independent publishing was taking off. She named it Boco, the Javanese word for “read.” On this Saturday, about 200 people — young women in head scarves and young men in tight jeans — were milling around some 40 stalls set up in Kuala Lumpur’s old colonial quarter. As vendors hawked grilled chicken and cold drinks, two young women took to the stage to recite angst-ridden poetry to the chords of an acoustic guitar. Other stalls dealt in secondhand clothes and comic books, but the main attraction was paperbacks.

瓦尼也在大學裏教授創意寫作，2011年，她第一次開了一處快閃書市，當時馬來西亞的獨立出版業剛剛起步。她給書市起名“Boco”，這是爪哇語的“閱讀”的意思。這個星期六，大約有200人來到這個開設在吉隆坡老殖民區的書市，繞着四十多個攤位打轉，大都是戴頭巾的年輕女人和穿緊身牛仔褲的年輕男人。小販們到處兜售烤雞和冷飲，兩個年輕女人在舞臺上彈着木吉他，朗誦充滿焦慮的詩歌。有些攤位賣舊衣服和漫畫，但最主要的還是平裝書。

More than 10 Malay-language publishers have burst onto the scene in the past four years. Most of them produce pulp fiction, but some specialize in social criticism and poetry. They have churned out hundreds of titles and estimate that they have sold more than a million books through pop-up stalls, online vendors and some traditional bookstores.

過去四年間涌現了十幾個馬來西亞語獨立出版社，造成了這一盛況。大多數出版社都出品低級小說，也有些專攻社會批評領域與詩歌。它們推出了幾百本書，通過快閃書攤、網店和若干傳統書店，賣出了一百萬多冊。

The books can be riddled with typos, but they have slick covers, and some young Malaysians regard them as cool fashion accessories. Unlike traditional pulp fiction in Malaysia, mostly soppy romance novels, the new works are written in the street slang favored by the young and often feature story lines that flirt with taboo topics such as sexual promiscuity and communism.

書中可能充滿印刷錯誤，但總有漂亮的封面，有些馬來西亞年輕人把它們當做很酷的配飾。馬來西亞傳統的低級小說大都是多愁善感的愛情小說，這些新的作品卻有所不同，它們用年輕人喜歡的街頭俗語寫成，故事通常會挑戰禁忌題材，比如濫交和共產主義。

“Newspapers are subject to censorship and things like libel law, whereas with fiction, you can then create scenarios people kind of recognize,” said Amir Muhammad, 42, who started one of the country’s biggest independent publishing companies, Buku Fixi, four years ago and has produced more than 100 titles.

“報紙經常遭到審查，受到誹謗法之類東西的影響，但在小說裏，你可以創造出人們能辨認出來的情景，”42歲的阿米爾·穆罕默德(Amir Muhammad)說，四年前，他創建了全國最大的獨立出版公司之一Buku Fixi，已經出版了100多本書。

Before publishing, Mr. Amir made films, including two documentaries about Malaysia’s decades-long struggle with a communist insurgency until the late 1980s. The first film, in 2006, was banned without explanation; the second, a year later, was banned because it portrayed the government in a bad light, according to Mr. Amir.

涉足出版業之前，阿米爾是拍電影的，曾經拍攝過兩部反映馬來西亞與共產主義暴動組織鬥爭的紀錄片，這場鬥爭持續幾十年，直到80年代末才告終。第一部影片在2006年遭禁，並且沒有給出任何解釋。一年後，第二部影片也被禁止放映，阿米爾說，因爲它呈現了政府的負面形象。

When he started publishing, Mr. Amir said, “bookshops told me Malays only read romance, religion and cooking. I thought, ‘There’s got to be more to life than that.’ ” His two best sellers have been “Kelabu,” a racy love story in which a girl hires a fake boyfriend to make her real one jealous, and “Asrama,” a horror story set in a girls’ school.

阿米爾說，自己剛開始從事出版業時，“書店老闆告訴我，馬來西亞人只讀愛情小說、宗教書和烹飪書。我想，‘生活中還應該有其他東西。’”他最暢銷的兩本書一本是《克拉布》(Kelabu)，這是一本情色愛情小說，講述一個女孩僱來假男友，好讓她真正的男朋友妒忌，另一本名叫《阿斯拉瑪》(Asrama)，講述發生在女子學校裏的恐怖故事。

A rival publisher, Lejen Press, has had one of the biggest hits so far, a novel called “Awek Chuck Taylor.” Written in a combination of street slang and text messages, it has sold about 40,000 copies, making it a superstar of independent publishing here.

阿米爾的競爭對手，勒耶出版社(Lejen Press)推出過迄今最暢銷的書籍之一——《穿查克·泰勒的阿維克》(Awek Chuck Taylor)。它結合了街頭俗語和手機信息語言，賣出了四萬冊，成爲獨立出版界的超級巨星。

The narrator, Hafiz, is a Malay slacker, a college dropout who is usually broke, is often profane and recounts his adventures chasing multiple girls at the same time. “Awek” is slang for girl, and Chuck Taylor refers to the Converse sneakers worn by a character who declares herself an agnostic and a fan of books on communism and anarchy.

小說的敘事者哈菲茲(Hafiz)是馬來西亞人，一個懶傢伙，從大學退了學，手頭總是沒錢，不怎麼虔誠，在故事中講述自己同時追求一堆女孩的冒險故事。“阿維克”是“女孩”的俗語，“查克·泰勒”是指書中一個女孩穿的匡威鞋，她說自己是個不可知論者，喜歡共產主義和無政府主義的書。

The novel does not explore such concepts in any depth. But openly talking of abandoning Islam in Malaysia could lead the religious authorities to impose a stint of rehabilitation.

這本小說沒有探討什麼深刻的觀念，但在馬來西亞，公開談及放棄伊斯蘭教信仰可能會引起宗教權威施加的一些懲戒。

The author of “Awek Chuck Taylor,” Nomy Nozwir, 31, who writes as Nami Cob Nobbler, said it was based loosely on his own life. “There are people who tell me off,” he said in a phone interview. “They say my writing is too vulgar. But the fact is, I am not hiding anything.”

《穿查克·泰勒的阿維克》的作者諾米·諾茲沃(Nomy Nozwir)31歲，筆名納米·科布·諾布勒(Nami Cob Nobbler)，他說小說是粗略地根據他的生活寫成的。“有人譴責我，”他在接受電話採訪時說，“他們說我寫的寫作太粗俗。但我只是沒有遮遮掩掩而已。

Though some officials have voiced concerns that this tide of cheap fiction will have an adverse effect on Malay grammar, the government appears to be paying little attention.

儘管有些官員對這股廉價小說的風潮表示關切，覺得它們可能對馬來西亞語文有不良影響，但總的來說，政府似乎並沒怎麼注意它們。

Last year, Lejen became the first of the independent publishers to open a brick-and-mortar outlet: a shop in a Kuala Lumpur suburb that hosts readings and book releases, often with live bands, and sells T-shirts emblazoned with its logo.

去年，勒耶成了第一家開辦實體店的獨立出版社，店面位於吉隆坡郊區，主辦閱讀與圖書發行活動，常常邀請樂隊現場表演，還發售帶有出版社標識的T恤。

Aisamuddin Asri, a former semiconductor engineer who founded Lejen, said officers from the Home Ministry had come by several times, following up on public complaints. But they left without taking any action.

勒耶的創建者阿薩馬丁·阿斯里(Aisamuddin Asri)之前是半導體工程師，他說在一些公開投訴之後，內務部的官員來過幾次，但他們沒有采取任何行動就離開了。

Mr. Amir, the former filmmaker, who just opened his own physical store, quipped of the authorities, “Let’s hope they continue not to read.”

拍過電影的阿米爾也剛剛開了自己的實體店，他用俏皮話嘲弄官方：“希望他們今後也像以前一樣，從來不讀書。”