8 ms·

Flat characters, unfortunately, are a regular feature of Chinese fiction, and not just sci-fi (though worse in sci-fi). In fact, most of the complaints about Th

by girzel 10y ago

Flat characters, unfortunately, are a regular feature of Chinese fiction, and not just sci-fi (though worse in sci-fi). In fact, most of the complaints about Three Body on this page (weird story structuring, awkward language, huge plot twists in the space of one or two sentences) are broadly applicable to contemporary Chinese fiction in general. If anyone's interested in more Chinese sci-fi, Clarkesworld has been mentioned. I also produce a literary journal of Chinese fiction in translation, called Pathlight, and we did one issue based on sci-fi, with I think some really excellent stories in it. I wonder if posting a link to what is essentially my own product is frowned upon here... Well, hell with it. Here's the ebook if anyone's interested: https://www.amazon.com/Pathlight-Spring-2013-Alice-Xin-ebook/dp/B00D1X7F38/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2 https://www.amazon.com/Pathlight-Spring-2013-Alice-Xin-ebook...

WaxProlix 10y ago
I think people are usually cool with it if there's full disclosure up front. Nobody wants to feel manipulated, but most folks on HN appreciate a timely plug when they see one.
erikb 10y ago
If that is true, then why are people reading Chinese fiction? What do they do better than the western alternatives?
- Barrin92 10y ago
  Talking about the Three Body Series specifically, the sheer scope and the lucidity of the writing was pretty breathtaking. Cixin Liu is like a Chinese Arthur C. Clarke, his novels are just overflowing with ideas. Haven't read anything like it since Clarke or Asimov in Western Science Fiction, with the exception of Ted Chiang.
  - blacksmith_tb 10y ago
    Hmm, comparing Liu to Clarke is fair, but I don't think it's so hard to find more recent western SF bristling with ideas, Iain Banks, for example. Liu does have a very different feel (the 'different perspective') other commenters have mentioned, which certainly makes it worth a read, in spite of the flatness of characters etc. Some of it may be down to the translator, I found Dark Forest to be much more fun, though some of that is developments in the plot, not just Ken Liu's translation, I'm sure.
    - Barrin92 10y ago
      I haven't read Banks in a long time admittedly, but as you point out there's just something different about Liu's voice that I don't think I've read for a long time. Take for example things like this >"One thing in particular that struck him was the total absence of landscapes, the mark of a mature aesthetic sensibility: hanging landscape paintings in a house situated in the Garden of Eden would be as pointless as pouring a bucket of water into the ocean". There's some kind of "humanness" and scale to his writing that's really great. I think his characters are necessarily flat because his characters pretty much always are humanity looking outward, there's really no place for lots of individual development.
jessaustin 10y ago
Flat characters are also a regular feature of sci-fi, so Chinese sci-fi may be getting the a double dose of flat... For example, read most things by Asimov or Herbert. Although I enjoy good characterization, lots of sci-fi works fine without it.
- zem 10y ago
  agreed. i found liu cixin very reminiscent of arthur c clarke, both the good parts and the bad.

by girzel 10y ago

WaxProlix 10y ago

I think people are usually cool with it if there's full disclosure up front. Nobody wants to feel manipulated, but most folks on HN appreciate a timely plug when they see one.

erikb 10y ago

If that is true, then why are people reading Chinese fiction? What do they do better than the western alternatives?

Barrin92 10y ago
Talking about the Three Body Series specifically, the sheer scope and the lucidity of the writing was pretty breathtaking. Cixin Liu is like a Chinese Arthur C. Clarke, his novels are just overflowing with ideas. Haven't read anything like it since Clarke or Asimov in Western Science Fiction, with the exception of Ted Chiang.
- blacksmith_tb 10y ago
  Hmm, comparing Liu to Clarke is fair, but I don't think it's so hard to find more recent western SF bristling with ideas, Iain Banks, for example. Liu does have a very different feel (the 'different perspective') other commenters have mentioned, which certainly makes it worth a read, in spite of the flatness of characters etc. Some of it may be down to the translator, I found Dark Forest to be much more fun, though some of that is developments in the plot, not just Ken Liu's translation, I'm sure.
  - Barrin92 10y ago
    I haven't read Banks in a long time admittedly, but as you point out there's just something different about Liu's voice that I don't think I've read for a long time. Take for example things like this >"One thing in particular that struck him was the total absence of landscapes, the mark of a mature aesthetic sensibility: hanging landscape paintings in a house situated in the Garden of Eden would be as pointless as pouring a bucket of water into the ocean". There's some kind of "humanness" and scale to his writing that's really great. I think his characters are necessarily flat because his characters pretty much always are humanity looking outward, there's really no place for lots of individual development.

jessaustin 10y ago

Flat characters are also a regular feature of sci-fi, so Chinese sci-fi may be getting the a double dose of flat... For example, read most things by Asimov or Herbert. Although I enjoy good characterization, lots of sci-fi works fine without it.

zem 10y ago
agreed. i found liu cixin very reminiscent of arthur c clarke, both the good parts and the bad.