"Dime novel" is a term to describe any quickly written, lurid potboiler and as such is generally used as a pejorative to describe a sensationalized yet superficial piece of inexpensive written work.
Dime novel指那些快速寫成、內(nèi)容艷俗、粗制濫造的書籍作品,一般用來統(tǒng)指內(nèi)容聳人聽聞又膚淺的廉價作品,具有貶義。
Penny dreadfulsandshilling shockersare genres similar to the dime novel, which both refer to inexpensive novels of violent adventure or crime that was especially popular in mid-to-late Victorian England.
Penny dreadful和shilling shocker都與有dime novel類似的意思,二者都指那些維多利亞統(tǒng)指的后后期社會上廣為流傳的那些內(nèi)容包含暴力和犯罪的廉價小說。
這三個表達中的dime,penny和shilling都是英美貨幣中的小額面值單位,其中,dime指十分之一美元,也就是我們說的“一角”,penny 指英國的“便士”,是一英鎊的百分之一,相當于我們所說的“一分”,shilling是英國1971年以前的貨幣單位,相當于一英鎊的二十分之一。由此可以看出,用小額面值的貨幣就能買下的小說,自然就是“廉價小說”了。