What is subliterature?

Wang Zhigeng Wang Xufeng

I

With the distribution of the market heavily skewed, literature is undergoing an unprecedented movement of mutation. The recent debate about the boundaries of literary theory is in fact a reaction to the unusual movement of literature itself. The symptom of this mutation centers on the fact that the so-called literature we find occupying the market is no longer literature in the traditional sense, but something specious. We are in contact with "literature" every day, even every moment, but we find that this literature is not the other literature. For this reason, some commentators are calling for aesthetic massification, while others are lamenting the degeneration of literature. Our point of view is that, although the existence may not be reasonable, as a theorist, it is unreasonable not to treat the existence with a scientific attitude. Therefore, we should face the literary reality. Obviously, since literary theory became a discipline, it has adopted a complete set of strategies for defining itself and eliminating impurities. Literary works and literary authors are named in the disciplinary violence of literary theory, or rather, it is only through the authentication of certain norms or values that words can be labeled as literature, authors can be covered with the aura of writers, and works can enter the sanctuary of literature and be covered with what Benjamin called the "aura" of art [1]; Without authentication, the text is tantamount to a waste of paper, forever excluded from theoretical and critical narratives. Literature, therefore, can be said to be the result of the historical statutes that give a literary stamp to a given text, which, as Derrida puts it, "is the product of an intentional relation to the text, which is self-contained as a constituent or level of intention, a comparison of traditional or institutional - in a word, social laws - and a comparison of the laws of the social nature". In short, a more implicit awareness of the laws of sociality." [2] Today, however, we have to deal with more complex and problematic naming objects, in an era dominated by mass culture, where the renewal of communication media and the operation of market mechanisms have forced our long-accustomed naming statutes out of line. In this case, we propose that we may temporarily use "subliterature" to refer to these works between literature and non-literature, and make a judgment on them in a theoretical manner.

The so-called "subliterature" can be categorized into three types: paper media, network media, and cell phone messaging media from the perspective of communication media.

In paper media, subliterature is very close to traditional literature, mainly referring to a variety of popular novels that are neither recognized by critics as popular literature nor as elegant literature, such as Shikang's Shaky and Messy, which has been named by critics as "beautiful writing", "lower-body writing" by critics, such as Shanghai Baby and La La La, and the so-called "post-80s" youth writing, such as Han Han, Guo Jingming, Li Dumou, Shui Ge, and others. Although paper-based subliterature is published and distributed in an officially recognized way, it is still heavily criticized by critics.

Network subliterature is the main form of subliterature in existence. In fact, a lot of paper-media literature was first circulated on the Internet. The main forms of subliterature that cannot enter the paper media but can only exist on the network are as follows: one is erotic novels with a lot of pornographic descriptions, which cannot enter the paper media because of its nature and the constraints of the book management system; the second is the existence of a large number of forums, which is too fragmented and dispersed to enter the paper media; and then there is a large number of different jingles circulating on the Internet, which is fragmentary and some of them are too sensitive, so they can only stay in the network. The first is that the first time I saw the movie, I was able to see it on the Internet.

The last category is cell phone SMS subliterature, also known as SMS literature or thumb literature. In recent years, the development of SMS literature has been extremely rapid under the capital operation of telecommunication companies. All kinds of SMS literature award activities, many famous writers also joined the ranks of the judges. For example, "Tianya" magazine and Hainan Online "Tianya Community" and other units have jointly organized a number of national SMS literature contest. Guangdong writer Chifu Chang's 4,200-word cell phone novel "Outside the City" was bought out by a telecom operator at a high price of 180,000 yuan and published by Spring Breeze Literature and Art Publishing House. SMS writer Dai Pengfei's "Who Made You Fall in Love with Onions", which he called "China's First SMS Novel", was also published by China Film Publishing House, and Sina.com bought the wireless copyright for two years. Chifu Chang, who wrote Outside the City, says that his current state of life is to write long novels, but he knows that in this era of enjoying material life, it is really a bit cruel for us to take all kinds of tactics to solicit readers to read a heavy long novel. Chifuyu said, "The present time will surely form an era of creating and reading cell phone novels, which are literature determined by advanced technology and a new way of reading for the whole information age of mankind." [3] Currently, due to the popularity of MMS, MMS literature, a subcategory of SMS literature, has also emerged. The first MMS Literature Competition of 2005, organized by telecom operators, has reportedly been unveiled. [

Two

Subliterature has become one of the most widely read texts today with its strong eye appeal, which makes it necessary for us to seriously consider its value as "literature". Or rather, we must see that subliterature is not a complete anomaly in the traditional literary vision, and that it still conforms in several ways to the prescriptions of literary nomenclature.

Literature is a game of language, which is a literary prescriptive recognized since the emergence of formalism. Subliterature has a clear advantage in this regard, as its proximity to its audience necessitates a "shocking" effect in terms of the strangeness of language. In fact, the popularity of many popular novels depends on their deconstructive contents and their affinity with public acceptance, but the "from life, above life" character of the language is also an important factor in winning readers. For example, Shi Kang's novels, slightly youthful decadent tone from time to time burst out of the wonderful sparks of thinking about life, Anne Baby's writing, the quiet euphemistic confession reveals the modern city women's subtle inner feelings, slightly a sad aesthetic style, and Han Han's writing, the language of the sharp, sharp and slightly bantering discussion highlights the depth of thinking of the contemporary teenagers, their grasp of the language expression Their grasp of language expression has reached a fairly high level. In contrast, network literature and SMS literature are more of a pure word game, which is characterized by its sophistication and wisdom. For example, the heterogeneous jingle in network literature, "Don't be crazy with me! It's easy to die! Don't pretend with me! Easy to get hurt! No one can beat you up in a group! You can't fight alone! I'll beat you up like Zhang Haidi! Or I'll mummify you! I'll give you some face! I'll beat you to the point that you can't take care of yourself", etc., is characterized by obvious game language, and its grasp of language rhythm is not inferior to some literary works. Another example is the playful change of the poetry classics, "the cross-eyed cold to the examination paper, the eyes straight to the pen tip, the hero is not afraid of playing zero eggs, straight chest to hand in the blank paper", the playfulness reveals the sharpness of the wit. Another example is some famous network followers, with obvious simulation and irony characteristics, gratifying. As for the cell phone text message novel, it can be called a kind of extremely short micro-novel. For example, this next text message novel: "The neighbor's father and daughter quarreled, adults screamed, children howled, shaking the whole building. Neighbors rushed to the fight, this side to stop the father, the other side to pull the daughter, a war finally came to an end. They asked: What's going on here? What can't the two of them talk about? The father said first: this child is no good, even eat diet pills! What else does she not dare to eat? What? She'd swallow a bomb if I gave it to her! Neighbors are dumbfounded, look at each other: the father, the Department of a diet drug business manager ...... "Hundred words or so to complete the storytelling, but also a twist, its high degree of refinement of the plot, but also in line with the understanding of the typical literary structure.

Literature is the unfamiliar treatment of human beings to their own status quo, through the catharsis and the promotion of personal feelings to achieve the purpose of escaping from reality. In this sense, the popularity of subliterature is the result of readers' recognition that it reflects the real situation of human existence. Whether it's "Triple Door" or "Shanghai Baby", no matter how they show the young generation's decadence and absurdity, they always contain the reality of this generation's "perplexity". Even the creators of Internet subliterature and SMS subliterature, which are more often used as language games, mostly start from their own subtle feelings, and express some kind of rebellious will and critical stance through satirical, ironic, or exaggerated techniques. For example, a piece of SMS subliterature reads, "Dear user: your phone bill balance is less than 0.1 yuan, please pay your phone bill within the next few days: sell your children, sell your daughter, sell your rice, sell your iron, sell your blood, sell your house, sell your land, sell your wife. Thank you for your cooperation! China Telecom." The author vents his dissatisfaction with high telecom charges by parodying China Telecom's working language; and then there is the following Internet post: "The world knows that 'pouring' is good for the master, and all the money is sent back and forth. As long as you can make a lot of money, you don't need to have a moral conscience. The world knows that the 'back door' is good, and this road is used to walking. No matter how difficult things are, they all work out in the end. The world knows that banquets are good, and 'four dishes and one soup' make you fat. You invite me to come and I will invite you, anyway, the public reimbursement. The world knows it's good to get involved, it doesn't take much effort or brain power. After three years and five years, all the problems are gone." The author directly borrowed and adapted the "Good Song" from "Red Dreams" to express his skepticism and satire on the ugly phenomenon in the society, which is not a bad intention.

Three

Of course, the reason why we put forward the term "subliterature" and do not include it directly in the field of "standard literature" is that these textual phenomena are still different from traditional literature in many essential provisions.

These are the most important features of the literature of the world.

As far as aesthetic form is concerned, subliterature is the "de-haloing" of traditional literature, which can be said to be the literature of the "post-aesthetic era". Traditional literature, even popular literature and folklore, will form some kind of cult value under the illumination of artistic halo. According to Benjamin, art with a halo is a kind of inaccessible art, and "inaccessibility actually forms a major nature of the worship of the image" [5], and in the writing of subliterature, this inaccessibility of literature has disappeared. On the one hand, subliterature has become an exhibit in the era of mechanical reproduction - a phenomenon most obvious in online subliterature, especially in blog writing; on the other hand, subliterature, through its universal participation and network interactivity, has made creative writing a commonplace event for everyone - a phenomenon that is evident in various forums and postings. On the other hand, through its universal participation and online interaction, subliterature has made creative writing a commonplace event for everyone - a phenomenon that is most evident in the follow-up posts on various forums. In terms of literary reception, subliterature has not only accomplished the transformation from the "gaze-attention type" to the "pastime type", as Benjamin called it, but also made the receivers really participate in the re-creation of literature. In subliterature, literary acceptance becomes a real sense of DIY (Do It Yourself). On the aesthetic level, Benjamin once proposed that along with the transformation of art from "art with a halo" to art in the age of mechanical reproduction is the transformation of the art of beauty (Asthetische Kunst) to the post-aesthetic art (nach-Asthetische Kunst). For Benjamin, the so-called art of beauty "refers primarily to art that has aesthetic attributes and values in itself, which has an autonomous appearance," whereas post-aesthetic art "does not have such direct aesthetic attributes in itself," but rather its aesthetic attributes are indirect and additional. . [6] In subliterature, the independent aesthetic function of traditional literature is sharply degraded, and the spiritual aesthetic nature of literature is gradually replaced by intense sensory stimulation and laugh-out-loud effects. Literary aesthetic attributes become more and more dependent on this actual function of the work and become an add-on. In this sense, subliterature is really driving literary aesthetics into what Benjamin called the post-aesthetic era.

From the level of social significance of creation, subliterature is essentially a kind of dissolving writing. The subliterature does not pursue meaning, and even intentionally dissolves meaning. The first is that it is not the case that the first is a "good" one, but the second is that the second is a "good" one, and the third is that the third is a "bad" one. For example, "I wrote your name in the sky, but it was taken away by the wind; I wrote your name on the beach, but it was taken away by the waves; so I wrote your name on every corner of the street ...... Damn, I was taken away by the police!"; In addition, classic works have become subliterature. In addition, classical works have become the deconstructed objects of subliterary language games, such as "bright moonlight in front of the bed, two pairs of shoes on the ground ......" and other Internet jingles, which playfully disintegrate the serious themes in classical poems and transform them into modern vulgar jokes. The dissolution of meaning inevitably leads to the dilution of the educational function of literature. In fact, the expectation of the function of literature as a means of indoctrination exists in both Chinese and Western cultures. Plato said in the Ideal State that our education should "begin with fictional literature" and that "the works must be beneficial to us; they must imitate only the words of good men"; [7] Aristotle also believed that tragedy "arouses pity and fear and makes the feelings of Aristotle also believed that tragedy "by arousing pity and fear and making the feelings tempered"; [8] Even Horace, who emphasized the function of literary entertainment, did not forget to "teach and entertain, both to persuade the readers, and to make them love, in order to conform to the public's expectations" [9] to sum up his understanding of the educational function of literature. In China, the educational function of literature has been emphasized to a degree that is beyond compare. Zuozhuan" said "too on the establishment of morality, followed by the establishment of speech", the text of the road, as clear as the sun and moon of the Ming, away from the line as the stars. The highest ideal of the Chinese literati has always been through the articles, "to establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a life for the people, to continue the learning of the past saints, and to open up peace for the world". In the subliterary writing, the educational function of literature has been abandoned, and "teaching for pleasure" has become "pleasure without teaching". There is no sense of responsibility of "carrying moral justice on one's iron shoulder and writing articles with a wonderful brush", nor the serious attitude that writers are the conscience of the society, but only the joyful revelry after cutting down the significance and removing the educational function. The jokes, erotic stories, alien jingles, and meaningless language games that appear in a large number of subliterature are the inevitable result of the departure of the educational function of literature and the entrance of the entertainment function.

From the point of view of the relationship between creation and social ethics, an important feature of subliterature is the dissolution of traditional moral norms, so as to complete the direct catharsis of desire. An important function of traditional literature is to pass on the core human value norms and moral codes. In the excellent literary works of the past and present, one can find everywhere the glorification and praise of love, friendship, honesty, bravery, loyalty and other excellent qualities. It can be said that there is no other carrier that can better preserve and pass on these most basic human ethical norms than literature. Sub-literature, however, generally does not consider itself responsible in this regard; on the contrary, it tries to establish a certain kind of alternative ethics with its anti-conventional gesture. For example, in dealing with the issue of "sex", it is not true that there are no sexual depictions in traditional literature, from the ancient Jin Ping Mei and Jade Jiao Li to the modern Zhang Xianliang's Half of a Man is a Woman, Chen Zhongshi's White Deer Plains, and Jia Pingwa's The Wasted City, and so on, all of which contain a large number of sexual depictions. However, the attitude of traditional writers in dealing with "sex" is different from that of subliterary authors. While the former are more serious inquiries about humanity and meaning, the latter are more concerned with exposure and exhibitionism, and basically write for the sake of sexual excitement. Another example is the issue of "body writing" in Asian literature. In the Western theoretical context, "body writing" is a description of a particular mode of literary expression in Western feminist literature. Its main point is to emphasize the female perspective and female position in literary writing, as well as women's unique feelings about life. Implicit in this expression is a gesture of defiance against the male-dominated socio-historical narrative, and the belief that the private narrative is as important as the historical grand narrative. "Body writing" is, for Western feminists, an expression of the female position, a resistance to the fact that female feelings are covered by male discourse in the literary field, and are not limited to women's physical feelings, let alone to the feelings of specific female body organs.[10] Instead, it is a gesture of resistance against the male-meaningful socio-historical narratives, and the idea that private narratives are as important as historical grand narratives. [10] The "body writing" of some subliterature has basically become "lower body writing", which pays more attention to women's hidden physiological feelings and psychological experiences, and contains a lot of detailed descriptions of women's sexual experiences. From Wei Hui to Cotton, from Jiu Dan to Hong Ying, from Mu Zimei to Bamboo Shadow, the so-called "beautiful writers" in the contemporary literary world have recklessly and frantically exposed the details of their bodies and absolute privacy. All of them compete to play the card of female "body parts", which is not vulgar enough to win the buyers, and not revealing enough to show the vanguard. In the subliterature of the "beauty writing" and "lower body writer", writing has become a direct catharsis of desire, and writing has become a physiological event rather than a spiritual event.

From the relationship between the text and the reader, an important feature of Asian literature that differs from traditional literature is the tendency of Asian literature to "abuse" the reader. This is most evident in the types of subliterature such as cell phone text messages and Internet follow-up posts. For example, this kind of cell phone text message: "Not every flower can represent love, but the rose does; not every kind of tree can withstand thirst, but the poplar does; not every pig can read short messages, but you do. Congratulations." Another example is: "In a sea of people, when you receive this sincere blessing, please use all your strength to bang your head against the wall - see? The countless stars in front of you are my infinite love!" Such a text message is not actual malicious abuse, nor is it really a personal attack, but rather a playful abuse with strong folk carnival colors. In the illusory abuse, the author and the reader are in a carnival atmosphere to dissolve the dullness and depression brought by the boring and serious daily life. Another example is certain Internet follow-up posts, in which the followers often dissolve a serious topic into a carnivalesque banter and mockery with a high degree of writing skill, making the readers laugh and cry. [11] In addition, the act of "digging holes" in Internet forums is inherently associated with a certain kind of masochistic expectation; in the process of digging holes and inviting people to fill them with water, the owner of the forum not only gains a sense of accomplishment because the topic has received attention - because such topics often do not receive attention because of some kind of creativity - but also because of the fact that the topic has received attention from others. Some of these topics often do not get attention because of some kind of creativity - but also in the process of being "brickbats" to obtain the pleasure of masochism. For example, the topic "Please name someone", which has appeared in many forums, is a typical example of a masochistic theme of anticipation. In this type of topic, participants give full play to their own knowledge reserves and imagination, the owner of the wisdom of the abuse. For example, when naming twins with the surname "Jia", the following posts are "Jia Ren Jia Yi, Jia Mode Jia Style", and when naming twins with the surname "Shu", there are "Comfortable Jia, Shu Lei, Schumacher" and so on. For the surname Shu, there are names like "Comfortable Jia", "Shu Lei", "Shu Mahe", and so on. We do not rule out the possibility that there are serious helpers among the initiators of such themes, but its actual effect is to create a space for verbal abuse, and in the exchange between the abuser and the abused, it constitutes a readable form of subliterature.

As subliterary writing has become a cultural phenomenon that cannot be ignored, literary theory should never turn a blind eye to it and take an evasive attitude. We believe that subliterature is the popular literature of the postmodern era and the age of consumption. Although subliterature has popularity and popularity, it is different from popular literature and popular literature. Firstly, from the point of view of moral bearing, the spiritual ideals of popular and mass literature are embodied in the support, confirmation and reproduction of traditional values, while subliterature is mostly negative and deconstructive towards traditional values. Secondly, subliterature is more commercialized and consumerized than popular and popular literature. According to Zheng Zhenduo, popular literature's "first quality is popular. She is born of the people, writes for the people, and survives for the people." [12] Mao Dun also believed that "'popular' should be in the form of 'known to women and children' and in the content of popular emotions and thoughts." [13] They all emphasized the accessible and widely disseminated nature of popular literature, which has not yet been characterized by commerciality and consumption. Jameson points out that in the postmodern era, "culture has become completely popularized" and "the entry of commodities into culture means that art is becoming a commodity" [14], which precisely points out the unique commercial and consumer qualities of subliterature, which are different from those of popular literature. The qualities of subliterature are different from those of popular literature in terms of commerciality and consumerism. In the writing of subliterature, the self-regulation of traditional literature breaks down, and commercial capital directly intervenes in the evaluation of literature with its own logic. Literature and commercial power work hand in hand to bring subliterature into the literary writing of the capital era. Sub-literary forms such as body writing, youth writing, and text message literature are all wandering like ghosts between literature and commercial capital operation, producing and consuming in the name of literature and under the domination of commercial logic. SMS literature writer Chifuyu once confessed that SMS literature is "both for literary innovation and for operating the work as a commodity." [15] In addition, subliterature's use of new communication media, its insight into and exploitation of the consumer psychology of modern readers, its influence on the aesthetics of literature towards daily life and post-aestheticization, and its unique role in relieving the pressure of modern life, etc., will make subliterature a new and important field in the study of literary theory.

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[1]Benjamin, Walter Illuminations, New York:Schocken ,1969, pp219-220.

[2] Derrida, "The Strange Establishment Called Literature", in Literary Action, translated by Zhao Xingguo et al, China Social Science Press, 1998, p.11.

[3] Xinhua /book/2004-09/13/content_1974999.htm, collected 2005-8-6.

[4] Xinhua /mobile/2005-07/26/content_3269128.htm, collected 2005-8-6.

[5] Benjamin, Walter Illuminations, New York:Schocken, 1969, pp243.

[6] Chen Xue-Ming, Benjamin, Taipei Sang-Chi Publishing House, 1998, pp146-147.

[7] Plato, The Ideal State, in Collected Literary Dialogues of Plato, People's Literature Publishing House, 1980, pp. 22, 56.

[8] Aristotle, Poetics, in Poetics? Poetic Art, People's Literature Publishing House, 1984, p. 19.

[9] Horace, "Poetic Art", in Poetics? Poetic Art, People's Literature Publishing House, 1984, p. 155.

[10] Yan Zhen, "Review of the Historical Context of Body Writing", Literature and Art Controversy, No. 5, 2004.

[11] Refer to the following web follow-up post /book/2004-09/13/content_1974999.htm, collected on 2005-8-6.

(Author's organization: College of Arts and Letters, Nankai University)