Description
Book SynopsisIn Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance, Jin Feng examines the evolution of Chinese popular romance on the Internet. She first provides a brief genealogy of Chinese Web literature and Chinese popular romance, and then investigates how large socio-cultural forces have shaped new writing and reading practices and created new subgenres of popular romance in contemporary China. Integrating ethnographic methods into literary and discursive analyses, Feng offers a gendered, audience-oriented study of Chinese popular culture in the age of the Internet.
Trade Review"Yet, despite the undeniable cultural influence and financial clout of web-based literature, it is only with the 2013 publication of Jin Feng’s Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance, that we have the first English-language book dedicated to a major genre within this hugely significant—as well as simply huge—area of cultural production." Heather Inwood, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Resource Center Publication (August 2014) “Romancing the Internet” is an extremely stimulating read for scholars of gender and women’s studies and for those interested in Chinese popular culture in general and internet literature in particular.” Elisabeth Schleep, University of Freiburg, 1-3 "...Feng undertakes the ambitious but much needed task of examining the immense (and ever-expanding) volume and vibrant culture of Web romance to investigate the ways in which contemporary Chinese women’s reading and writing experiences 'help them to reinvent their gender and cultural identities.' ... this innovative audience-focused literary study adeptly employs various analytical tools, including close reading, linguistic and discourse analysis, sociological data, focus group study, one-on-one interviews, and participant observation." Hui Faye Xiao Asia Pacific Perspectives, Spring/Summer 2014
Table of ContentsIntroduction: This is Not Your Mother's Qiong Yao Fan Production Interdisciplinary Improvisation Organization of Chapters 1. A Short Genealogy The Politics and Economics of Web Publishing The Popular Mind Stud, Farming, and Magic-Space Fiction: Characteristics and Trends The Pleasure of Repetition Romantic Love with Chinese Characteristics 2. Addicted to Beauty Three Players and the Text Textual Poaching Time Travel in Danmei Fiction The Androgynous Reader Conclusion 3. "Men Conquer the World and Women Save Mankind" Clues from Interviews The Supreme Heroine Three Princesses Conclusion 4. Rewriting Classics, Righting Wrongs Tricks of the Trade Rewriting Classics Danmei Fanfic Anti-Qiong Yao Fanfic Conclusion 5. How to Make Mr. Right? Seeking Mr. Right? The Ideal Hero Who Is More "Economical and Serviceable"? Reading Zhifou: Strategies and Negotiations Making Mr. Right Conclusion Coda: What Does Chinese Web Romance Do? Remaking Popular Romance Creating the Self in a Crowd A New Woman Born of the E-Age? Appendix: Glossary of Chinese and Japanese Characters Bibliography Index
