GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education
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This module aims at introducing Chinese Internet Literature through reading, classroom lecturing, debate, group project and team presentation. It uses outstanding cases in digital humanities to illustrate different aspects of the development of internet reading and writing as a modern way of life and business model in the market economy.
It looks at the contemporary humanistic value of internet literature in writing, reading, interaction, as being experientially unlike most of the contents of humanities in terms of substance and the way it is conducted. It examines humanities in action in current society, rather than accounting for past records. It shows to the students how basic humanistic values are carried out and performed.
By adopting ‘Romance and Heroes’ as both the conceptual tool and substantive bridge to connect cultural roots and historical background to the current developments and evolving strategies in Internet Literature, it is designed to analyze the human experience and civilizational values behind the rapid development and significant influence of internet literature on Chinese society.
From a humanistic perspective, the module focuses on introducing and discussing internet literature through academic reading, lecture, debate and projects, to illustrate various aspects of the unfolding of internet reading and writing as a modern way of life at the personal and collective levels in humanistic terms.
By the end of the study period, students should be able to grasp the background and evolution of internet literature as they relate to such issues as the formation of literary taste, cultural roots of important genres, sociological make-up of the readership, professional mentoring and nurturing of talents, managerial goals and concerns, business risks and strategies, as well as comparative and global implications of contemporary Chinese developments.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. Establish an educated understanding of internet literature via literary and visual classics;
b. Develop an academic knowledge of internet literature, gaining a clear vocabulary and broad understanding in digital humanities;
c. Recognize different approaches to the discussion of internet literature in humanities such as its history, philosophy, narrative style, and visual representations;
d. Reflect upon the design, management, and professional operations of internet literature in China by connecting internet literature as a humanities subject with training in communication, translation, as well as arts and social studies.
1. The values and humanistic world of modern Chinese literature
1.1 The serial and continuous narratology (連載章回) of Chinese fictions
1.2 Publishing of newspapers and magazines as media of literary expression
1.3 Cultivation of reading and writing on the internet
2. Reading habitat of romance literature online:
2.1 The penetration of the youthful romantic love
2.2 The transcendence of Chinese romanticism in personable terms (西廂記 to贅婿)
2.3 The specifics of interactive romantic sentiments online
3. The rejuvenation of martial arts novels
3.1 Heroes in pursuit of social justice: an eternal attraction (水滸 傳 to慶餘年)
3.2 Knight Errant on the internet
3.3 Martial arts empowered by modern ethics and post-modern instruments
4. The magic of online fantasy lands
4.1 Fairy tales that travel through human admiration of the imagined
4.2 Science fiction character of the human sentiments
4.3 Human transformation created by imaginative internet technology
5. The Power of Historical Novels
5.1 The everlasting charm of Chinese history in fiction
5.2 Historical drama that cuts across gender and ideology
5.3 Translocation and literary leap that fulfils human dreams
6. Chinese internet literature alive
6.1 Literary creation taking on the wings of the human heart
6.2 Online technology and modern consumption that enable and challenge
6.3 Daily unfolding of humanistic possibilities on the internet
1. Class attendances and Participation in Discussion (20%)
2. Group Project and Presentation in Class (30%)
3. Term Paper (50%)
Required Reading
1 Hockx, M. (2015). “Introduction.” In Internet literature in China, 1-23. New York: Columbia University Press.
2 蔡智恆，〈網路小說之寫作〉。成功大學文學院第三屆「實用中文寫作策略」學 術研討會。 2007 年 6 月 2日。 http://203.64.138.3/~webadmin/tsite/data/user/chinese/files/200902161134060.pdf
3 歐陽友權 ，〈第一章 中國網路文學的時代隆起〉《中國網路文學二十年》，頁 852。南京: 江蘇鳳凰文藝出版社，2019年。
4 歐陽友權 ，〈第五章 網路文學產業經營〉《中國網路文學二十年》，頁 177-217 南京: 江蘇鳳凰文藝出社，2019年。
5 金鑫，〈第五編 文學與網絡傳播〉《文學與影視 網路傳播研究綜論》，頁 199231。沈陽: 遼寧人民出版社 2014年。
Recommended Reading:
1. 邵燕君,《網絡時代的文學引渡》(廣西師範大學出版社， 2017)
2. 邵燕君主編。《破壁書——網路文化關鍵字》北京: 生活書店出版有限公司， 2018。
3. 田小軍、夏宜君、 王洋。〈網路文學 “走出去” 的時代機遇、 現實困境與發展 建議〉《互聯網前沿》期 17 (2017年 5月 21日)。https://www.tisi.org/16037。
4. 中國音像著作權集體管理協會。“2017 年中國網路文學發展報告” http://www.mouse0232.cn/2017zhongguowangluowenxuefazhanbaogao.html (2021 年 3月 3日讀取)。
5. 比達網，“2019 年 度 中 國 數 字 閱 讀 市 場 研 究 報 告” http://www.bigdataresearch.cn/content/202001/1065.html (2021年 3月 2日讀取)。
6. 楊鷗。 “從內容輸出到模式輸出 閱 文 集 團 出 海 ， 起 點 歡 迎 你” http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2019/1223/c40606-31517432.html (2021年 3月 2日 讀取)。
7. 李順興，〈當文學和 AR 相遇 －AR 應用於文學傳播與創作的初步觀察〉《台灣 文學研究學報》2020。
8. 畢磊，夏曉倫責編。人民閱讀攜手閱文集團構建“閱讀認知實驗室” http://finance.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2020/0602/c1004-31732679.html (2021年 3 月 3日讀取)。
9. Bennetts, R. (2017). Distracted to Attention: On Digital Reading. In The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online, edited by Barekat Houman, Barry Robert, and Winters David, 188-99. New York; London: OR Books.
10. Feng, J. (2013). Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance. Brill.
11. Hayles, N. K. (2007). Electronic Literature: What is it?. Doing Digital Humanities, 197-226.
12. Hockx, M. (2015). Internet literature in China. Columbia University Press.
13. van Van Looy, J., & Baetens, J. (Eds.). (2003). Close reading new media: Analyzing electronic literature (Vol. 16). Leuven University Press.
14. Inwood, H. (2014). Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance, by Jin Feng. Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.
15. Inwood, H. (2016). Internet Literature: From YY to Mook. In The Columbia Companion to Modern Chinese Literature (pp. 436-440). Columbia University Press.
16. Inwood, H. (2020). What’s in a Game? Transmedia Storytelling and the Web-Game Genre of Online Chinese Popular Fiction. Asia Pacific: Perspectives 12 (2), 6-29
17. Landow, G. P. (2006). Hypertext 3.0: Critical theory and new media in an era of globalization. JHU Press.
18. Li, G. (2019). “Chinese Online Literature Steps Into Overseas Market With AI Translation.” Pandaily, August 13, 2019. https://pandaily.com/chinese-online literature-steps-into-overseas-market-with-ai-translation/.
19. Ni, Z. (2015). The Pagan Writes Back: When World Religion Meets World Literature. University of Virginia Press.
20. Ni, Z. (2020). Reimagining daoist alchemy, decolonizing transhumanism: The fantasy of immortality cultivation in twenty‐first century china. Zygon, 55(3), 748-771.
21. Ni, Z. (2020). Xiuzhen (Immortality Cultivation) Fantasy: Science, Religion, and the Novels of Magic/Superstition in Contemporary China. Religions, 11(1), 25.
22. Tabbi, J. (2010). Electronic literature as world literature; or, the universality of writing under constraint. Poetics Today, 31(1), 17-50.
23. Tse, M. S., & Gong, M. Z. (2012). Online communities and commercialization of Chinese internet literature. Journal of Internet Commerce, 11(2), 100-116.
