Webnovels: Found in Translation
The dominant perception of cultural exchange between the East and the West has long been a mostly one-sided export of western culture. But the tide is turning. In fact, thanks to the Internet, it has been gradually turning for years now.
Technology allows people from all over the world to connect and bond over shared interests, giving rise to large, multinational fandoms for popular artists, books, movies, and more. The landscape of pop culture here in the U.S. is now, more than ever, reflecting the growth of western fandoms of a variety of Asian media—K-pop and anime to name a few.
One fandom that’s still a bit obscure here in the west is the Asian webnovels fandom. If you have no clue what a “webnovel” is, think Wattpad; sites where people can self-publish their own stories online or read those written by others. Those online stories are essentially what webnovels are. The western webnovel fandom focuses primarily on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean webnovels, because those countries have the most prolific and established webnovel industries. In these countries webnovels are a booming business. Successful hits can be picked up by publishers, get their own print runs, and even be adapted into comics, TV shows or movies.
A typical isekai webnovel protagonist:
Overpowered, magic/sword user, usually comes with a large harem.
Considering the popularity of webnovels in East Asia, one wonders why the western webnovel fandom is still so niche. There are many reasons, but the main difficulty for western readers is, of course, the language barrier. Webnovels are entirely text-based. To be able to understand them at all, translation is required. And it can be pretty difficult to translate Chinese, Korean, or Japanese to English. These aren’t easy languages to master for native English speakers.
Furthermore, not only do translators need a good understanding of the language, they also need to know a lot of Internet slang and idioms. And given the lack of a substantial English-speaking market, most of the translations are unofficial, made by fans, amateurs, and small translation groups. Which admittedly leaves them in a pretty grey legal area. Adding to this, translating entire webnovels can take months, even years, of unpaid, arduous work. Some webnovels’ chapter counts stretch into the thousands, and most are at least a hundred or so long.
However, the fact that the community is still persisting, and even thriving, is a testament to the charm of webnovels. What makes them so appealing? As a fan myself, I think I am qualified to answer.
First, I’ll be honest: the majority of webnovels are fast-food literature. Easy to digest storylines, overpowered protagonists decked out in plot armor, “cannon fodder” villains shallower than a puddle, as much face-slapping as those palace harem dramas your mom likes to watch… I could go on. Part of me reads webnovels simply as mindless entertainment. But webnovels also have their own merits, which they gain from their unique place as literature written for the Internet masses, by the Internet masses. Webnovel authors are often more than willing to take crazy liberties. It’s not often that you’ll read a paperback novel with references to Internet memes, plots that take heavy inspiration from modern media (like video games), or meta parodies of the webnovel fandom itself. Authors constantly take liberal inspiration from others, which leads to a kind of rapid, constant refinement of webnovel trends and popular tropes. Ever finished a great story and thought, “Man, I wish I could read/watch that all over again”? With webnovels, more often than not, you pretty much can.
Second, I would be doing webnovels a disservice if I didn’t also mention their merits as a vehicle for cultural exchange. They open up new perspectives, revealing pieces of their authors’ lives and mindsets that we as westerners would otherwise be hard-pressed to encounter. For example, webnovels that are set in historical times can give us a glimpse into the history of their author’s country. Some just take general inspiration from the ancient past, but others may insert their characters directly into an actual historical period. On the other hand, those set in the modern day reveal more about what it’s like to live in their faraway countries of origin. Last but not least, webnovels can tell us what their author, and by extension an average person, thinks of their culture, history, society, and more. Other forms of media like TV shows, movies, and songs no doubt have the ability to do the same, but webnovels are unique because of how comparatively humble their origins usually are as literature written largely by amateurs. I believe this makes them a bit more genuine, even if it also means they are less polished.
A typical villainess noble girls novel protagonist:
Intelligent, beautiful, powerful family backing, wears a lot of red dresses for some reason…
A typical cultivation/wuxia novel protagonist:
Cool-headed, Very hard worker, prone to sudden leaps in power-level when facing life-or-death situations.
And finally, as an international fandom, the webnovel community creates opportunities for fans across the world to connect. One of my favorite examples of this is a pair of forum threads from a few years back. It started when a bilingual fan translated webnovel reviews and comments from English readers into Chinese and posted it on a Chinese forum. The reactions and comments from Chinese fans were then translated back into English by another person and posted on an English forum. This resulted in much hilarity as both sides learned more about each other and uncovered the common causes and experiences that united them as webnovel fans. As the webnovel community grows in size and diversity, moments of cross-cultural connection like these are becoming more and more common. Webnovels are only one facet of the recent rise of international fandom culture, but I believe they are a prime example of how a good story transcends lingual and geographic divides to bring people together.
A Selection of Favorites:
Sansheng, Wangchuan Wu Shang by 九鹭非香 (Jiu Lu Fei Xiang)
Beautifully written, tragic xianxia romance. Xianxia is like the Chinese equivalent high fantasy, with immortal deities and evil spirits.
Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter by Futaba Hazuki
A noble villainess girls novel with a focus on politics, business, and kingdom-building. This genre usually involves the character being transmigrated into a generic romance plot as the evil villainess character.
Log Horizon by Mamare Touno
My favorite isekai novel, has amazing world-building. Isekai is a genre where characters are transported to other fantasy worlds, which are often heavily traditional rpg-inspired. The isekai genre has exploded in popularity recently.
Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint by 싱숑
An action-packed korean isekai novel with an intriguing plot and solid world-building. Has a more modern-day setting, which in my experience is more typical of korean isekai novels.
Coiling Dragon by I Eat Tomatoes
My first, extremely memorable exposure to wuxia/cultivation novels. This popular genre is typically action-packed with fighting and adventure, and has a primarily male target audience. Does get a bit repetitive though.
Illustrations by Elizabeth Zu