Sources of Fantasy奇幻之源

译/黄灏扬审订/辛勤

Though the fantasy genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its sources have a long and distinguished history. Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were an element of literature from its beginning.

Ancient Near East1

TheEpic of Gilgameshwas written over generations following the supposed reign of King Gilgamesh, and is seen as a mythologized version of his life. This figure is sometimes an influence and, more rarely, a figure in modern fantasy.

Ancient India

India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology. Several modern fantasy works such asRG Veda2指日本漫画团体CLAMP创作的幻想少女漫画《圣传》，以古印度神话为背景，人物原型取自印度神话《梨俱吠陀》等经典。draw on theRig-Vedaas a source. Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters,particularly in the Indian epics, such as theMahabharataby Vyasa, and theRamayanaby Valmiki, both of which were influential in Asia.ThePanchatantra(Fables of Bidpai)was in fluential in Europe and the Middle East. It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science.Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy.

Greco-Roman

Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer. The philosophy of Plato has had great in fluence on the fantasy genre. In the Christian-Platonic tradition, the reality of other worlds,and an overarching structure of great metaphysical and moral importance, has lent substance to the fantasy worlds of modern works.

East Asia

The figures of Chinese dragons were influential on the modern fantasy use of the dragon, tempering the greedy,thoroughly evil, even diabolical Western dragon; many modern fantasy dragons are humane and wise. Chinese traditions have been particularly in fluential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie, including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart. Taoist beliefs about neijing and its influence on martial arts have been a major influence on wuxia, a subgenre of the martial arts film that is sometimes fantasy, when the practice of wuxia is used fictitiously to achieve super-human feats, as inCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Islamic Middle East

The most well known fiction from the Islamic world wasThe Book of One Thousand and One Nights(Arabian Nights), which was a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales.This epic has been in fluential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century,first by Antoine Galland. Many imitations were written, especially in France. Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture,such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba.A number of elements from Persian and Arabian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts3通译为巴哈姆特，是阿拉伯神话中的重要形象，外形似一条巨大的鱼，背上支撑着大地。, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc.

Medieval Europe

Medieval European sources of fantasy occurred primarily in epic poetry and in the Fornaldarsagas4字面意义是“过去时代的故事”，又被称为legendary saga，是一种出现于欧洲人定居冰岛之前的挪威萨迦，比后来13世纪的萨迦时间更早，因此译为“古代萨迦”。, Norse and Icelandic sagas5saga通译为“萨迦”，原意是“言语，叙述”，后特指13世纪前后由冰岛人或挪威人记载的民间故事，主要记载了北欧的历史与传说。, both of which are based on ancient oral tradition. The in fluence of these works on the German Romantics and J. R. R. Tolkien means that their in fluence on later fantasy has been large.

Anglo-Saxon

Beowulfis among the best known of the Nordic tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep in fluence on the fantasy genre; although it was unknown for centuries and so not developed in medieval legend and romance, several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner’sGrendel.

Norse

Norse mythology, as found in theElder Eddaand theYounger Edda,includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir, and dwarves, elves, dragons,and giants. These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works, and have deeply in fluenced others,both on their own and through their in fluence on Nordic sagas, Romanticism,and early fantasy writers.

Celtic

Celtic folklore and legend has been an inspiration for many fantasy works.The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales,and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for “Celtic” fantasy,sometimes with great effect; other writers have distinguished to use a single source.

Finnish

The Finnish epic, theKalevala,although not published until the 19th century, is compiled from oral tradition dating back to an earlier period. J. R.R. Tolkien cited it, with the Finnish language he learned from it, as a major inspiration behind theSilmarillion.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, Giovanni Francesco Straparola wrote and publishedThe Facetious Nights of Straparola, a collection of stories,many of which are literary fairy tales. Giambattista Basile wrote and published thePentamerone, a collection of literary fairy tales, the first collection of stories to contain solely the stories later to be known as fairy tales. Both of these works includes the oldest recorded form of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day.Although witchcraft and wizardry were both believed to be actual at the time,such motifs as the fairies in William Shakespeare’sA Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Weird Sisters inMacbethand Prospero inThe Tempestwould be deeply in fluential on later works of fantasy.

Romanticism

Romanticism, a movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was a dramatic reaction to Rationalism, challenging the priority of reason and promoting the importance of imagination and spirituality. Its success in rehabilitating imagination was of fundamental importance to the evolution of fantasy, and its interest in medieval romances providing many motifs to modern fantasy. In the later part of the Romantic tradition, in reaction to the spirit of the Enlightenment,folklorists collected folktales, epic poems, and ballads, and brought them out in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired in their collection,Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by the movement of German Romanticism. Many other collectors were inspired by the Grimms and the similar sentiments. Frequently their motives stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism, in that many were inspired to save their own country’s folklore.These works, whether fairy tale, ballads,or folk epics, were a major source for later fantasy works.

虽然现代意义的奇幻小说出现不到两个世纪，其源头却有着悠久而卓越的历史。超自然与奇幻的元素自文学之初便是其要素之一。

古代近东地区

《吉尔伽美什史诗》的创作延续了几代人，记述了传说中吉尔伽美什国王的统治，这部史诗被认为是这位国王生平的神化版。这个人物在现代奇幻小说中有时依然具有影响力，极个别情况下还成为小说角色之一。

古印度

印度有着悠久的奇幻故事与人物传统，可追溯至吠陀神话。一些现代奇幻文学，例如《圣传》，便是从《梨俱吠陀》吸取的养分。印度神话是从早期吠陀神话演变而来，有更多的奇幻故事和人物，特别是印度史诗，例如毗耶娑的《摩诃婆罗多》、跋弥的《摩罗衍那》，这两部作品在亚洲很有影响力。而《五卷书》（即《比德帕伊寓言》）则在欧洲和中东地区影响广泛。这部作品采用各种动物寓言和魔法故事来阐述印度政治学的核心准则。拟人的会说话动物已经成为现代奇幻小说的常见元素。

希腊—罗马

古典神话充满了奇幻故事与人物，最为著名的（可能也是与现代奇幻小说关系最密切的）要数荷马史诗。柏拉图哲学也对奇幻小说产生了巨大的影响。基督教-柏拉图主义传统中，彼岸世界的真实性，以及形而上学与道德意义深厚的主体架构，为现代作品中的奇幻世界提供了灵感。

东亚

中国龙的形象影响了现代奇幻小说中对龙的描绘，调和了西方龙那种贪婪、邪恶透顶甚至如恶魔般的形象；许多现代奇幻小说中的龙都仁慈而智慧。中国传统还对奇幻小说中的中国风一脉产生了独特的影响，包括恩尼斯·布拉玛和巴里·胡格哈特等作家。道教对《内经》的信仰以及它对武术的影响，一直是武侠故事的重要来源，而武侠作为武术电影的亚种，在被虚构来叙述超人的壮举时就属于奇幻了，比如电影《卧虎藏龙》。

中东伊斯兰地区

伊斯兰世界最为著名的虚构作品是《一千零一夜》（即《天方夜谭》），是对古代与中世纪许多民间故事的汇编。这部作品在18世纪被安托万·加朗首次翻译到西方，从此便一直具有影响力。有许多仿作出现，特别是在法国。这部作品中的各种角色本身已经成为西方文化中的文化偶像，比如阿拉丁、辛巴达和阿里巴巴。波斯神话与阿拉伯神话的许多元素如今在现代奇幻小说中十分常见，例如精灵、巴哈姆特、魔毯、神灯，等等。

中世纪欧洲

奇幻小说的中世纪欧洲源头主要是史诗和古代萨迦（即挪威和冰岛的萨迦），这两者都根植于古老的口述传统。这些作品影响了德国浪漫主义和J.R.R.托尔金，意味着它们对后来的奇幻小说的影响力不容小觑。

盎格鲁—撒克逊

《贝奥武甫》是英语世界最知名的北欧传奇之一，对奇幻小说有着深远的影响；虽然这部作品几个世纪都默默无闻，没有在中世纪传说和传奇故事中取得发展，但是不少奇幻作品翻新了这部传说，例如约翰·加德纳的《格伦德尔》。

挪威

《老埃达》与《新埃达》中的挪威神话囊括了诸如奥丁和他的阿萨神族，以及侏儒族、精灵族、龙族和巨人族等角色。这些元素被直接引入各种奇幻作品，并且深深影响了其他作品，既有它们自身的直接影响，也有北欧萨迦、浪漫主义以及早期奇幻小说作家的间接影响。

凯尔特

凯尔特的民间文学和传奇故事一直是许多奇幻作品的灵感来源。爱尔兰、威尔士和苏格兰各自独立的民间故事有时候被不加区别地称为“凯尔特”奇幻文学，有时这种叫法很有效力；有些作者则区别采用独立的源头。

芬兰

虽然芬兰史诗《英雄国》（亦称《凯莱维拉》）直到19世纪才正式出版，但它所汇编的口述传统故事可追溯到更早的时期。J.R.R.托尔金从这部作品中学习了芬兰语，因而将其视为《精灵宝钻》的一大灵感来源。

文艺复兴

在文艺复兴期间，乔万尼·弗朗切斯科·斯特拉帕罗拉编写出版了故事集《愉快的夜晚》，其中有许多文学童话。吉姆巴地斯达·巴西耳编写出版了童话集《五日谈》，这是第一本收录的全部是童话的故事集。许多著名（以及更多无名）的欧洲童话最早就记载在这两部作品中。这开创了一种传统，这种传统后来影响了奇幻小说，也被奇幻小说所吸纳，正如今天面世的许多童话奇幻作品。虽然巫术与魔法那时都被当成真实存在的，但像威廉·莎士比亚《仲夏夜之梦》中的仙女们、《麦克白》中的女巫三姐妹以及《暴风雨》中的普洛斯彼罗这些魔法主题对后来的奇幻作品都会产生深远影响。

浪漫主义

18世纪末至19世纪初的浪漫主义运动是一场对理性主义的剧烈反抗，挑战了理性的主导地位，提高了想象与灵性的重要性。它在复兴想象力方面取得的成功，成为奇幻文学演进的重要基础，而它对中世纪传奇的关注则为现代奇幻小说提供了诸多主题。在浪漫主义传统的后期，民俗学家收集了民间故事、史诗与民歌，并将它们出版成册，以此作为对启蒙精神的回应。受到德国浪漫主义运动的启发，格林兄弟编撰了故事集《格林童话》。其他许多收集者也被格林兄弟以及同样的情感所激励。他们的动机常常不只源于浪漫主义，更是源于浪漫民族主义，这种民族主义激励许多人去保存自己国家的民间文学。这些作品，无论是童话、民歌还是民间史诗，都构成了后世奇幻小说的重要源头。 □

（译者单位：复旦大学奇境译坊）