The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'

The advent of the internet has significantly impacted Sinophone literature. However, when discussing the relationship between the internet and literature, most scholars focus on genre fiction, whereas Jin Yucheng’s (金宇澄, 1952-) novel Blossoms (繁花) stands as an exception to this paradigm despite bein...

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Main Author: Bingbing Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: White Rose University Press 2024-12-01
Series:Writing Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature
Online Access:https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/71
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author Bingbing Shi
author_facet Bingbing Shi
author_sort Bingbing Shi
collection DOAJ
description The advent of the internet has significantly impacted Sinophone literature. However, when discussing the relationship between the internet and literature, most scholars focus on genre fiction, whereas Jin Yucheng’s (金宇澄, 1952-) novel Blossoms (繁花) stands as an exception to this paradigm despite being first posted online. Focusing on the societal conditions and human relationships in Shanghai during both the 1960s and 1990s, the novel Blossoms was recognised as a literary classic by officials, academics, and general readers, and was adapted into a TV drama by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai (王家卫,1958-) in 2024. This article uses Blossoms as an example to explore how the internet has influenced literary creation, especially in creating a new genre and style of Shanghaiese novels (沪语小说). Combing textual analysis and memory studies, this article also shows that the internet has transformed literature into a digital memory space, allowing readers to actively participate in reading, discussing, and posting. The novel Blossoms in digital age has become a memory space for Shanghai nostalgia which resonates with the cultural symptoms in contemporary China.
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spelling doaj-art-adda3ec9f0984b7693aaca793b4366a52025-08-20T03:18:52ZengWhite Rose University PressWriting Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature2633-88152024-12-0131537510.22599/wcj.7148The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'Bingbing Shi0University of St AndrewsThe advent of the internet has significantly impacted Sinophone literature. However, when discussing the relationship between the internet and literature, most scholars focus on genre fiction, whereas Jin Yucheng’s (金宇澄, 1952-) novel Blossoms (繁花) stands as an exception to this paradigm despite being first posted online. Focusing on the societal conditions and human relationships in Shanghai during both the 1960s and 1990s, the novel Blossoms was recognised as a literary classic by officials, academics, and general readers, and was adapted into a TV drama by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai (王家卫,1958-) in 2024. This article uses Blossoms as an example to explore how the internet has influenced literary creation, especially in creating a new genre and style of Shanghaiese novels (沪语小说). Combing textual analysis and memory studies, this article also shows that the internet has transformed literature into a digital memory space, allowing readers to actively participate in reading, discussing, and posting. The novel Blossoms in digital age has become a memory space for Shanghai nostalgia which resonates with the cultural symptoms in contemporary China.https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/71
spellingShingle Bingbing Shi
The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
Writing Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature
title The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
title_full The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
title_fullStr The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
title_full_unstemmed The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
title_short The Internet, Shanghaiese Novel, and the Literary Memory of 'Blossoms'
title_sort internet shanghaiese novel and the literary memory of blossoms
url https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/71
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