Taiwan: Debate Over the ‘Light Novel’ Phenomenon · Global Voices
What is a ‘light novel'? If you are a fan, then you might not completely agree with the English Wikipedia description, or the entry on Uncyclopidia [zht], which tries to literally weigh the ‘lightness’ in question.
Light novels – manga and cosplay books which originated from Japan – are hyper popular in Taiwan, where they have conquered the book market.
Light novels. Photo by Flickr user metalfinally (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Reluctant Readers?
The enthusiastic crowds at this year's Taipei International Book Exhibition are the latest proof of this craze. However, <PERSON>, a well-known columnist, writer and blogger, criticized light novels as a mere social tool invented for students [all zht], which reflect the younger generation's reluctance to read real challenging novels:
台灣人在讀什麼書？至少照書店通路的年度報表，及公立圖書館的借閱統計看來，台灣人最常看、看得最多的書，是「輕小說」。是一些在網路上流傳，沒有什麼特定作者身分，通常內容大量重複，也很容易預期的小說。
What are Taiwanese reading nowadays? According to the annual statistics from bookstores and public libraries, the most-read books are ‘light novels’, which are distributed online without particular authorship, and are usually repetitive in nature with a predictable storyline.
這種趨勢其實過去早有跡象，只是現在更加清楚、更加嚴重。「輕小說」成為年輕人閱讀的主流，沒有什麼好意外的，其來有自。
This trend has been emerging for a long time, but it is getting more obvious and severe now. 368
It is not surprising that ‘light novels’ have become the mainstream reading among young people. There is a reason behind this.
最主要的根源，在於台灣教育當中看待閱讀的態度。閱讀是一件重要的事，但教育體系裡教導閱讀的重點，不在於掌握閱讀作為一種學習的能力，而在於藉閱讀獲取標準答案。也就是說，閱讀不是為了碰觸、摸索廣大外界的豐富知識與經驗，而是簡單地從文字寫的東西上單純接收答案。
It is rooted in the Taiwanese education system, in particular the way the way in which it cultivates students’ attitudes toward reading. Reading is important, but our education system does not regard reading as a tool to learn, but as a means to get standard answers. That is to say, the objective of reading, under the education system, is not to connect to and explore knowledge and experience of the enormous world, but to get answers from written texts. 368