Modern Media Studies

MMS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2025, pp.105-118.

Print ISSN: 3078-3151; Online ISSN: 3104-5049

Journal homepage: https://www.mmsjournal.com 

DOI: Https://doi.org/10.64058/MMS.25.1.10

From “Media Mimicry” to Literary Sublimation

—A Review of Wu Changqing’s Inheritance Paths and Literary Evolution: A Preliminary Discussion on the Creation and Criticism of Chinese Online Genre Literature in the 21st Century

Jiang Xinyan（姜欣言）

Abstract: In the Internet era, online literature exhibits a unique phenomenon of “media mimicry”, which refers to the creative imitation of narrative modes from media such as film, television, and video games, thereby forming an aesthetic landscape that combines visual impact and interactive experience. On the one hand, this phenomenon expands the expressive domain of online literature; on the other hand, it also potentially undermines its literariness. Through the dialectical tension between mediatization and literariness, the “media mimicry” of online literature actually reflects the general paradox of contemporary literary development. To break through this predicament, the key lies in fostering the integration of tradition and modernity, grasping the generative logic of online literature in the dual dimensions of “immersion” and “distance”, and thus achieving the sublimation of aesthetic character and cultural connotation. This requires researchers to engage with an open and inclusive academic perspective, and also calls for online writers to reconstruct the imaginative landscape of literature with cultural self-consciousness of inheritance and innovation. In such a complex cultural context, Wu Changqing’s Inheritance Paths and Literary Transformations: A Preliminary Discussion on the Creation and Criticism of Chinese Online Genre Literature in the 21st Century comes at the right time. This significant work is grounded in the real soil of the development of Chinese online literature, conducting a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the trajectory of change and the aesthetic landscape of online genre literary creation.

Keywords: Chinese Internet Literature; “Media Mimicry”; Tradition and Modernity; Cultural Self-Consciousness; Wu Changqing; Inheritance Paths and Literary Transformations: A Preliminary Discussion on the Creation and Criticism of Chinese Online Genre Literature in the 21st Century

Author Biography: Jiang Xinyan, Ph.D. candidate, at the Center for Literary Theory and Aesthetics of Shandong University, and serves as the Assistant Director of the Chinese Literary Criticism (Shandong University) Base. Research Interests: Literary Aesthetics, Science Fiction Theory, and Cultural Industry. E-mail: 1455321236@qq.com.

标题：从“媒介拟态”到文学升华——评吴长青《传承路径与文学流变：21世纪中国网络类型文学创作与批评刍论》

摘要：互联网时代网络文学呈现出独特的“媒介拟态”现象，即对影视、游戏等媒介叙事方式的创造性模仿，由此形成一种兼具视觉冲击力与互动体验感的美学图景。这一现象一方面拓展了网文的表现疆域，另一方面也对其文学性构成了潜在消解。透过媒介化与文学性的辩证张力，网文“媒介拟态”实则反映了当代文学发展的普遍悖论。要突破这一困局，关键在于立足传统与现代的融通，在“沉浸”与“距离”的双重维度中把握网文的生成逻辑，进而实现审美品格与文化意蕴的升华。这既需要研究者以开放包容的学理视野介入其中，也呼唤网文写作者以传承与创新的文化自觉重构文学的想象力版图。在这样一个复杂的文化语境下，吴长青的《传承路径与文学流变：21世纪中国网络类型文学创作与批评刍论》可谓恰逢其时。这部力作立足于中国网络文学发展的现实土壤，对网络类型文学创作的流变轨迹和美学图景进行了全面而深入的考察。

关键词：网络文学；“媒介拟态”；传统与现代；文化自觉；吴长青；《传承路径与文学流变：21世纪中国网络类型文学创作与批评刍论》

作者简介：姜欣言，山东大学文艺美学研究中心博士生，中国文艺评论（山东大学）基地主任助理。研究方向：文艺美学、科幻理论、文化产业。电邮：1455321236@qq.com。

Received: 18 Jan 2025 / Revised: 27 Mar 2025 / Accepted: 09 Apr 2025 / Published online: 30 Apr 2025 / Print published: 30 May 2025.