Literary Media Entertainment

Robinson, Della

doi:10.4324/9781003124160-21

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This could be attributed to the creative origin of webnovels as a process of literary democratisation that amplified grassroots voices through playful writing. Webnovels, since their inception, have challenged the Chinese literary elites who uphold traditional notions of moral or aesthetic enrichment through literature, and who dismiss webnovels as inferior (Shao, 2023). Further, the rising popularity of ‘feel-good’ novels (shuang wen), characterised by rags-to-riches or wish-fulfilment narratives (Zhong, 2019), resonates with younger generations through the moral vacuity of some protagonists and their dealignment with traditional or official values.…”

Section: From ‘Chineseness’ To Cultural Hybridity and Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping globalised Chinese webnovels: Genre blending, cultural hybridity, and the complexity of transcultural storytelling

Ren

2023

International Journal of Cultural Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent years have seen a significant surge in the global popularity of Chinese webnovels as an emerging form of participatory transcultural storytelling. This research combines computational and interpretive textual analysis to map the cultural features embedded in webnovel content, aiming to identify the genre elements, common lexicon, and story themes of 4040 translated Chinese webnovels on global platforms. The analysis shows the hybridisation of Chinese cultures, digital cultures, and genre fiction elements in webnovel storytelling, contributing to the growing spectrum of diverse voices in international self-publishing. Simultaneously, webnovels depict a varied mosaic of imagined China, based on both cultural sharing and nonsharing within today's complex Chinese society and beyond the notion of ‘Chineseness’ rooted in common heritage or official values, amplifying diverse perspectives like subcultures and resistances in transcultural storytelling. While webnovels bear witness to China's cultural outreach and digital prowess converging in a new storytelling form, this research posits that their cultural production remains bound within a material process where borderless digital cultures collide with the imposed boundaries of platformed publishing and government control.

show abstract

Section: From ‘Chineseness’ To Cultural Hybridity and Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping globalised Chinese webnovels: Genre blending, cultural hybridity, and the complexity of transcultural storytelling

Ren

2023

International Journal of Cultural Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Literary Media Entertainment

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Mapping globalised Chinese webnovels: Genre blending, cultural hybridity, and the complexity of transcultural storytelling

Mapping globalised Chinese webnovels: Genre blending, cultural hybridity, and the complexity of transcultural storytelling

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About