Literary Critique: Mo Dao Zu Shi
May. 23rd, 2022 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eller....or rather: Notes I took while reading. I’m reading this because everyone is reading it, and also, a friend of mine pointed out that the story has two of my favorite fantasy tropes: necromancy (YAY) and musical instruments as magical weapons (YAY!!!), so, I decided to give it a try. I’m just sharing my impressions; trying to avoid plot spoilers beyond what’s already known from the blurb. (I’m only somewhere in the middle, anyway, so I can’t spoil too much.)
Aaaand... I’m enjoying the story much more than I had expected. I’ve encountered ’cultivation’ stories before, and, so far, bounced off them hard. That’s partly because I don’t have the cultural/spiritual background to fully understand the magic system, and partly because... Uh, this is super-embarrassing to admit, but usually – because everyone in these stories has four or five different names depending on context and I’m not familiar with the Chinese naming system – sooner or later I start to confuse the characters: who the heck is acting right now, what is their relation to this other person again, and why the heck are they doing what they do??? Completely my fault, of course, but the unfortunate fact is that I’ve never managed to finish a ’cultivation’ novel. Whoopsies.
- Actually, this brings me to my first observation: WOOOAAAHHH, this is superb character writing. I needed a bit of time to memorize all those Chinese names (and I’m still not entirely sure how to pronounce them despite the translation having a guide for that), but I never had any doubt who’s doing what and why. The characters all have such distinct personalities, voices, and ways to see the world, that confusing them is absolutely impossible!
- Actually, this is probably what makes the narrative work for me: it’s completely character-centric. And by that I don’t just mean the plot being secondary to the characters. It’s the narrative structure itself that’s treated... quite flexibly, and purely to suit the main character! The protagonist, Wei Wuxian, happens to be a guy whose main skill is empathy. We get most of the story in third-person-limited through his eyes. Also, because he’s a (Chinese version of a) necromancer, he has access to the memories of dead people. (This is, of course, a bit of a simplification, but, whatever.) The storyline of events has to be figured out from these fragments, as well as the protagonist’s own incomplete memories. The result, of course, is completely nonlinear storytelling. (Which would be hopelessly confusing if done badly – but, I mean, it works. That’s some seriously good writing!) It’s also fun.
- Cynical market observation: This may very well also be the reason why the story, unlike most other ’cultivation’ stories, is internationally successful: having the main character being an empath (both in the magic-system and in the social-interaction way!) is clearly helpful when it comes to closing the cultural gap and discerning the feelings and motivations of foreigners-doing-very-foreign-things. (In fact, everyone’s feelings are almost overstated at times. Still: really helpful for readers from outside China!)
- The protagonist’s empathy-based way of perceiving the world also means there are very few graphical descriptions of the scenery. If it’s not people and feelings, Wei Wuxian mostly ignores it – which means that the descriptions are minimalist to the extreme. We only get ‘this is a mountain’ or ‘this is a lake, and there are some pink flowers’. The mood, though? We get THAT. Woah. :) This is masterfully done, and I’m enjoying these descriptions-that-don’t-actually-describe-visually a lot!
- Of course, THE ROMANCE!!!! I mean, we’re all reading it for TWUE LUWW, right? And, of course, Lan Wangji is perfect for Wei Wuxian. Right??? XD I mean, I’m definitely cheering for these two. Along with, uh, half the world. :D
- When it comes to ‘true love’, I’d like to add that if your love interest literally raising armies of corpses doesn’t make you rethink that devotion, clearly, nothing will. Ever. (Remember all those romance novels where couples temporarily break up over suuuper minor stuff that reasonable people would solve in a five-minute conversation? In contrast, these guys actually have a very healthy, solid relationship – which is a bit surprising, all things considered.) Yeah. True love indeed.
- As a fan of character-centric narratives, of course, I’m wondering why these two work so well as a couple. I think it’s... Because they’re outwardly different but actually quite similar?!? Like... They’re clearly designed to appear polar opposites in behavior and speech patterns (actually, here I regret that I don’t read Chinese, but, in the translation, Wei Wuxian speaks colloquially and is quite talkative while Lan Wangji is much more formal and to-the-point; I’m assuming that’s also the case in the original text.), but... Uh. Actually, I think they’re actually pretty identical in world-view and morals and everything. Also, yes, they have some serious chemistry. But, I mean, that's not what makes them so interesting as a couple! (I'm talking here about the difference between a good-but-ultimately-forgettable romantic couple that people will enjoy reading about once, and the kind of relationship that people will be fannish about. This one is clearly in the latter category.)
- The morals thing. Uh. This is suuuuper difficult to pinpoint, actually. (May be that cultural gap at work, again.) But, it’s clear that Wei Wuxian – despite having turned to necromancy – is very unambiguously a ‘good guy’. Not even a case of ‘grey morality’ or ‘antihero’; he’s a straightforward heroic character. He will do stuff that looks really bad, and is (very unsurprisingly) considered a villain in his world, but never actually harms people (who are not attacking him first, anyway). I haven’t finished the whole story yet (I’m somewhere in the middle), but, so far, I have not seen him deviate from his own, very strict, moral code. In fact, I’d say, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are equally rigid when it comes to morals. There’s no deeper moral conflict between them.
- Moral observation, again: being a ‘good guy’ doesn’t keep Wei Wuxian from having some asshole tendencies. (Those are quite fun, actually!) Also, empathy does not imply getting along with everyone. While he’ll be nice when it suits him, in many instances he simply doesn’t care – or even provokes and weaponizes people’s antipathy. I’m, actually, enjoying this more than I should. (Have you ever been an asshole in a hotel lobby to get faster service because people want to be rid of you? Yeah?I have, though only as a last resort when I'm being ignored while the service person is playing on their phone or so. Imagine that attitude amplified a thousandfold. It’s fun! Very personal statement: I love Wei Wuxian, and I’d love to have his nerve!)
- Storytelling observation: obviously, the characters’ baseline personalities have to be fairly static for this narrative style to work. (If you have a nonlinear narrative with large jumps back and forth in the timeline, you need some constant, as to not confuse the audience. Having major shifts in personality would just be too much!) Don’t expect much character development, here! Maybe the story will surprise me when I keep reading, but, uh, while there is clearly relationship development, so far, the characters themselves were really, really fixed.
- Well, maybe the narrative will surprise me at some point. Who knows?
Which means... I have to go and keep reading. RIGHT NOW. (Yeah, I understand now why this story is kind of addictive! I haven't watched the animation or other adaptations yet but will have to do so!)
Aaaand... I’m enjoying the story much more than I had expected. I’ve encountered ’cultivation’ stories before, and, so far, bounced off them hard. That’s partly because I don’t have the cultural/spiritual background to fully understand the magic system, and partly because... Uh, this is super-embarrassing to admit, but usually – because everyone in these stories has four or five different names depending on context and I’m not familiar with the Chinese naming system – sooner or later I start to confuse the characters: who the heck is acting right now, what is their relation to this other person again, and why the heck are they doing what they do??? Completely my fault, of course, but the unfortunate fact is that I’ve never managed to finish a ’cultivation’ novel. Whoopsies.
- Actually, this brings me to my first observation: WOOOAAAHHH, this is superb character writing. I needed a bit of time to memorize all those Chinese names (and I’m still not entirely sure how to pronounce them despite the translation having a guide for that), but I never had any doubt who’s doing what and why. The characters all have such distinct personalities, voices, and ways to see the world, that confusing them is absolutely impossible!
- Actually, this is probably what makes the narrative work for me: it’s completely character-centric. And by that I don’t just mean the plot being secondary to the characters. It’s the narrative structure itself that’s treated... quite flexibly, and purely to suit the main character! The protagonist, Wei Wuxian, happens to be a guy whose main skill is empathy. We get most of the story in third-person-limited through his eyes. Also, because he’s a (Chinese version of a) necromancer, he has access to the memories of dead people. (This is, of course, a bit of a simplification, but, whatever.) The storyline of events has to be figured out from these fragments, as well as the protagonist’s own incomplete memories. The result, of course, is completely nonlinear storytelling. (Which would be hopelessly confusing if done badly – but, I mean, it works. That’s some seriously good writing!) It’s also fun.
- Cynical market observation: This may very well also be the reason why the story, unlike most other ’cultivation’ stories, is internationally successful: having the main character being an empath (both in the magic-system and in the social-interaction way!) is clearly helpful when it comes to closing the cultural gap and discerning the feelings and motivations of foreigners-doing-very-foreign-things. (In fact, everyone’s feelings are almost overstated at times. Still: really helpful for readers from outside China!)
- The protagonist’s empathy-based way of perceiving the world also means there are very few graphical descriptions of the scenery. If it’s not people and feelings, Wei Wuxian mostly ignores it – which means that the descriptions are minimalist to the extreme. We only get ‘this is a mountain’ or ‘this is a lake, and there are some pink flowers’. The mood, though? We get THAT. Woah. :) This is masterfully done, and I’m enjoying these descriptions-that-don’t-actually-describe-visually a lot!
- Of course, THE ROMANCE!!!! I mean, we’re all reading it for TWUE LUWW, right? And, of course, Lan Wangji is perfect for Wei Wuxian. Right??? XD I mean, I’m definitely cheering for these two. Along with, uh, half the world. :D
- When it comes to ‘true love’, I’d like to add that if your love interest literally raising armies of corpses doesn’t make you rethink that devotion, clearly, nothing will. Ever. (Remember all those romance novels where couples temporarily break up over suuuper minor stuff that reasonable people would solve in a five-minute conversation? In contrast, these guys actually have a very healthy, solid relationship – which is a bit surprising, all things considered.) Yeah. True love indeed.
- As a fan of character-centric narratives, of course, I’m wondering why these two work so well as a couple. I think it’s... Because they’re outwardly different but actually quite similar?!? Like... They’re clearly designed to appear polar opposites in behavior and speech patterns (actually, here I regret that I don’t read Chinese, but, in the translation, Wei Wuxian speaks colloquially and is quite talkative while Lan Wangji is much more formal and to-the-point; I’m assuming that’s also the case in the original text.), but... Uh. Actually, I think they’re actually pretty identical in world-view and morals and everything. Also, yes, they have some serious chemistry. But, I mean, that's not what makes them so interesting as a couple! (I'm talking here about the difference between a good-but-ultimately-forgettable romantic couple that people will enjoy reading about once, and the kind of relationship that people will be fannish about. This one is clearly in the latter category.)
- The morals thing. Uh. This is suuuuper difficult to pinpoint, actually. (May be that cultural gap at work, again.) But, it’s clear that Wei Wuxian – despite having turned to necromancy – is very unambiguously a ‘good guy’. Not even a case of ‘grey morality’ or ‘antihero’; he’s a straightforward heroic character. He will do stuff that looks really bad, and is (very unsurprisingly) considered a villain in his world, but never actually harms people (who are not attacking him first, anyway). I haven’t finished the whole story yet (I’m somewhere in the middle), but, so far, I have not seen him deviate from his own, very strict, moral code. In fact, I’d say, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are equally rigid when it comes to morals. There’s no deeper moral conflict between them.
- Moral observation, again: being a ‘good guy’ doesn’t keep Wei Wuxian from having some asshole tendencies. (Those are quite fun, actually!) Also, empathy does not imply getting along with everyone. While he’ll be nice when it suits him, in many instances he simply doesn’t care – or even provokes and weaponizes people’s antipathy. I’m, actually, enjoying this more than I should. (Have you ever been an asshole in a hotel lobby to get faster service because people want to be rid of you? Yeah?
- Storytelling observation: obviously, the characters’ baseline personalities have to be fairly static for this narrative style to work. (If you have a nonlinear narrative with large jumps back and forth in the timeline, you need some constant, as to not confuse the audience. Having major shifts in personality would just be too much!) Don’t expect much character development, here! Maybe the story will surprise me when I keep reading, but, uh, while there is clearly relationship development, so far, the characters themselves were really, really fixed.
- Well, maybe the narrative will surprise me at some point. Who knows?
Which means... I have to go and keep reading. RIGHT NOW. (Yeah, I understand now why this story is kind of addictive! I haven't watched the animation or other adaptations yet but will have to do so!)
no subject
Date: 2022-05-23 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-23 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 12:36 pm (UTC)Huh, that's interesting. I'm enjoying the "novel" immensely! (Maybe the show is even better? In that case, I have to watch it. LOL) Just, the thing is: it's not actually a novel. Not in the European or American sense, anyway. If you're expecting something like a 'hero's journey', a three-act structure and stuff, you will inevitably be disappointed. The narrative structure is... very different, and if a reader applies the quality criteria of a Western-style novel, I can see how they'd conclude it's bad. (I can tell you that, from a German point of view, the episodic, nonlinear storytelling is much closer to, yeah, storytelling, than to what a prose text is supposed to look like.) But, uh, it's clearly intended to be like this, so I'd just see it as a cultural difference in literary forms, not a quality issue. There's no real doubt this author can write.
"How's the translation?"
Eh. To really judge that, I'd have to be able to compare it to the original text - but, unfortunately, I don't speak Chinese. The language sounds a bit clunky at times, especially when it comes to the 'cultivation' stuff, but I think that's due to some Chinese concepts not having an English equivalent, not due to 'bad translation'. I guess talking about Medieval-Chinese Daoist spirituality is kind of difficult in any language that's not Chinese...