Over the past 20 years, the network literature has evolved from the initial spark to the current size and amazing scale of the prairie, which has become a phenomenal "cultural spectacle" of contemporary Chinese society. Network literature is not only a direct beneficiary of reform and opening up, but also an active participant and builder of literature and socialist culture in the new era. However, there are some people who have a solidified prejudice against online literature. This is related to the vision and value scale of the outsiders, as well as the historical narrative of the network literature itself.
The profound changes in the network literature ecology
Most commentators basically follow the trajectory of online literature to grasp the historical process of online literature, that is, the literary website as the main clue to the development process of online literature: from the initial literary forum (BBS) to independent Vertical literature websites, and now online clients. In this linear description process, the commercial market factor, which holds the technical power, seems to have become the main or even the only driving force for the development of network literature. The commercial "market" has never been seen as contrary to the taste of pure literature.
It is undeniable that these internal changes in the production logic of online literature, such as the iteration of online technology, the establishment of a commercial literature website, the pioneering of the VIP fee system, the implementation of the net text classification model, and the fan reward model, constitute the key to the development of online literature History node. But in fact, the rapid development of online literature has never been a breakthrough of technical and commercial forces. Especially since the online literature gradually became a climate, the living soil and institutional environment in which the online literature is placed also constitute an important variable parameter that affects the evolution of the online literature. As a new literary form, Internet literature, as an emerging literary group, is not different from the directional conventions of the socialist literary system.
In 2009, the online novel "Large River Going East" won the "Five One Projects" award for the construction of spiritual civilization organized by the Central Propaganda Department. The Chinese Writers' Association led the establishment of a national joint conference on key online literature fields composed of major literary websites. Lu Xun College of Literature The first "Network Literature Writers Training Course" was held. In January 2014, the first provincial network writers association Zhejiang Network writers Association was established; in March, the first prefecture-level network writers association Ningbo Network writers Association was established; in July, the "National Network Literature Theory Seminar" in Hebei Held. This shows that the degree of organization of network literature is accelerating.
The “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Prosperity and Development of Socialist Literature and Art” issued in October 2015 specifically emphasized the implementation of a network literary art creation and dissemination plan, encouraging the launch of excellent online original works, promoting online literature, online music, online dramas, micro-films, Emerging literary and artistic types such as online performances and online animations are prosperous and orderly, promoting the innovative integration of traditional literary and online literary and artistic genres, and encouraging writers and artists to actively use network creation to spread excellent works. This means that the development of online literature has policy support at the central level.
In 2016, at the 9th National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association, online writer Tang Jiasan was elected as a member of the Bureau of the Chinese Writers Association. In 2017, the Chinese Writers Association set up a network literature center, and the network literature business has a special organization to coordinate and take charge.
These important nodes all indicate that the network literature ecology has undergone profound changes. In the field of socialist literature, network literature has its place. On the basis of consciously following the development direction of socialist literature, network literature still continues its usual logic of leading commercial capital, and effectively enriches the content form of literature through its own practice.
Realistic theme creation and reconstruction of online literature
When online literature was created, disseminated, and read from the initial literature online, a literary genre with certain network characteristics was born on the Internet, that is, the later fantasy literature became a synonym for online literature by the business model of the literary website. The openness of literature was gradually replaced by exclusivity.
In recent years, under the leadership of the Chinese Writers Association, the creation of realistic themes of online literature is on the rise. As far as the trend of genre novels inherent in online literature is concerned, the rise of the real theme of online literature has effectively expanded the territory of online literature. It has the meaning of genre supplementation and perfection, and contains a value of "magic" rather than "positive". The creation of realistic themes in network literature has fundamentally changed the unique pattern of fantasy in network literature, breaking the lock of a single type of literature on the concept of network literature, and thus giving network literature a variety of possibilities to recover.
The online novel "Great River East" was classified as "urban entertainment" on the literary website, and some commentators referred to it as a "financial business warfare" novel at the time. In fact, "Great River East" focuses on the history of reform and opening up, trying to show the magnificent panorama of the reform with the change of the fate of the three young people. Such a categorization of "Great River East" belongs to the wrong topic.
Before the discovery of "realistic themes", the original classification of network literature could not include grand narratives with rural characteristics such as rural reforms and state-owned enterprise reforms. Works such as "Going to the East" and "Road to Revival" have all overflowed the original settings of network literature and redefined "network literature".
Since it is a "reality subject" of network literature, it is naturally different from the "reality subject" in the traditional sense, but it also takes into account the characteristics of network literature, and also has the grand intention of traditional reality subject. Typical examples of realistic themes of online literature, in addition to such grand narrative works as "Great Rivers Going East", "Road to Revival", "Great Power" and "Great Power Aviation", there are also such as "For You, I Will Love the World" and "To Us "The Lost Youth" "Sugar Marriage" and other novels about the love of children. The meaning of the topic of the real theme of network literature is broader and the extension is more flexible.
The sudden emergence of realistic subjects has enabled Internet literature to complete a "self-revolution" in the sense of subject matter type, deconsumerization, de-entertainment, re-correction and enrichment of its own spiritual lineage, thus internally matching the realistic demands of socialist literature . However, it should be pointed out that this does not mean that the real subject matter of online literature has never been respected, and it does not even mean that the real subject matter has a comparative advantage over fantasy subjects since then. It is foreseeable that for a long period of time in the future, the coexistence and co-existence of the real theme and the fantasy theme will be independent of each other, which will definitely bring another new picture of network literature.
The development direction of socialist literature in network literature does not necessarily resort to some mandatory provisions of the content of network literature, nor does it impose certain rigid restrictions on the creation methods, but sticks to the people-centeredness in the virtual network space 1. The value of socialist literature serving socialism.
(Author: Timothy W. Tong: China Writers Association Network Literature Center)