On the evening of October 21st, the 2023 Hugo Awards were announced at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention. Chinese science fiction writer Hai Ya won the Best Novelette Award for his novel"The Space-Time Painter".

The Hugo Award is one of the highest international awards in the field of science fiction. "I am so blessed and so lucky that my dream has come true," Hai said during his acceptance speech on stage.

The rise of science fiction is not necessarily related to winning awards

Yangcheng Evening News: In recent years, Chinese writers have won many awards in science fiction literature. Many people see it as the rise of Chinese science fiction. What do you think of that?

Hai Ya: I think Chinese science fiction literature has indeed made great progress in recent years, but it is not necessarily related to winning awards. I don't think one or two awards can determine the rise of science fiction. We need more quality works and a wider community of writers and readers. As long as the work is recognized by the market and readers, it is considered successful even without winning awards.

Yangcheng Evening News: In your opinion, what is the reason for the rapid development of science fiction in recent years?

Hai Ya: The first is the development of science. Science and technology have brought rapid changes to our real lives and promoted our imagination about the future. Another is that with the improvement of the scientific literacy of the people, the audience of science fiction works will rapidly rise. In the future, science and technology will further develop, and we already have the material and environment for creation, though I cannot predict how China's science fiction literature will explode.

Defining "science fiction" with a more inclusive mind

Yangcheng Evening News: The first feeling after reading "The Space-Time Painter" is that it is very different from science fiction in the traditional sense, and the content of science fiction is very small in the story. How did you understand and define science fiction when you were writing it?

Hai Ya: In my opinion, as long as you write science fiction following a kind of reverence for science fiction and science and write it with scientific belief, even if the conclusion you make may not be correct, there is no problem. At least, I think I should use a more inclusive attitude to look at these similar works. In my opinion, the emergence of different voices in literary creation or literary criticism is normal, and it reflects the flourishing and healthy ecology of this literary style.

We should not emphasize solely the literariness of science fiction

Yangcheng Evening News: I noticed that in "The Space-Time Painter", the narration of ancient and modern is completely intertwined. What is your consideration of this idea?

Hai Ya: I think it makes the plot and the threads flow more smoothly. If the novel were completely placed in ancient times, then such switching would not exist, and it might be based on the clues of several characters. Some of my works will choose only ancient times as the background, and some will choose to switch between ancient and modern times, mainly depending on the historical record. I can give full play to my imagination for the history that is vague or even blank. In the case of a well-documented history, I seek to conform as much as possible to the existing historical record. As for those events with vague historical records, my introduction can be introduced.

Yangcheng Evening News: What do you think about the literariness and language of science fiction?

Hai Ya: I think science fiction is popular literature, and the literariness of which should not be emphasized blindly, and literature should not be separated from the masses. If people like to read a work, it doesn't matter if it's literary. Some people may also analyze the values in science fiction. I think there is no need to have a very unified interpretation and cognition. The fun of literature is that everyone has different views and interpretations.

雨果奖得主海漄：用更包容的心态定义“科幻文学”

10月21日晚，“2023雨果奖”在2023成都世界科幻大会上揭晓，中国科幻作家海漄凭借小说《时空画师》获得最佳短中篇小说奖。

雨果奖是世界科幻领域的国际最高奖项之一。海漄在台上发表获奖感言时说：“理想照进了现实，我是如此的幸福，也是如此的幸运。”

科幻文学的崛起跟拿奖没有必然的关联

羊城晚报：这几年，中国作家在科幻文学方面屡获大奖。很多人将其视为中国科幻文学的崛起，对此，您是如何看待的？

海漄：我觉得中国科幻文学近年来确实有很大的发展，但是这跟得不得奖没有必然的关系。对于科幻文学的崛起，我觉得不是一两个奖项就能决定的。我们需要更多高质量的作品、更广大的作家群体和读者群体。哪怕写出的很多作品不拿奖，但是能得到市场的认可、读者的认可，那也是成功的表现。

羊城晚报：那在您看来，科幻文学在这几年得以迅速发展的原因是什么？

海漄：第一个就是科学的发展，科技给我们的现实生活带来了日新月异的改变，也促进了我们对未来的畅想。再一个就是随着全民科学素养的提高，科幻作品的受众会越来越多。未来科技会进一步发展，创作的素材、环境我们已经具备了，至于科幻文学会爆发成什么样子，我无法断言。

用更包容的心态定义“科幻文学”

羊城晚报：读完《时空画师》第一感觉就是跟传统意义上的科幻小说区别很大，科幻的含量在文中占比很小。您在创作的时候是怎么理解和定义科幻小说的？

海漄：在我看来，所谓的科幻小说，只要你写的时候，你是遵循一种对科幻的、科学的崇敬，怀着科学的信仰写出来，哪怕你写出来的结论未必是正确的，都没有问题。至少我自己认为应该用一种更宽容的心态去看待这些类似的作品。文学创作或文学评论，出现多元的声音，我觉得是正常的，而且是这种文学样式生态很繁荣、很健康的表现。

不能一味强调科幻小说的文学性

羊城晚报：我注意到《时空画师》中，对于古今的叙述是完全交织的，这种构思是出于何种考虑？

海漄：我觉得这种方式会让情节和线索更加顺畅地延续下去。这篇小说如果完全放在古代，那这种切换就不存在，就可能依据几个人物的线索展开。我有的作品会选择全古代作为背景，有的会选择古今切换的写法，主要取决于历史记载的情况。对于记载很少很模糊甚至空白的历史，我可以充分发挥想象的空间；对于记载很详尽的历史，我追求的是尽量与现有历史记载的内容相符。至于有历史记载但是又不是非常详尽的，模糊地带就可以引入我的想象。

羊城晚报：您是如何看待科幻小说的文学性和语言的？

海漄：我觉得科幻小说是通俗文学，不能一味强调文学性，而且文学也不能脱离人民群众。如果一部作品大家喜欢读，那所谓的文学性并不重要。也有人会分析科幻小说中价值观，我觉得这个不需要有一个非常统一的解读和认知，文学的乐趣就在于大家都有不同的看法，解读出不同的东西。

文｜记者 孙磊
图｜新华社
翻译 | 白心怡
责编 | 王瑜瑛