중국 인터넷 장편 ‘차원이동소설’에 대한 연구

A Study on Chinese Network ‘Time-travel’ Stories - Focusing on ‘Female Ancient Time-travel’ Novels and ‘Male Reincarnation’ Novels

There are many sub-genres in the field of time-traveling network literature of contemporary China. This paper will take two most prominent ones ― ‘Female Ancient Time-travel’ novels and ‘Male Reincarnation’ novels ― and compare them to reveal what ‘the differences and the repetitions’ mean in these sub-genres. Bubujingxin can be regarded as a typical ‘Female Ancient Time-travel’ novels, in which a female character time-travels to ancient China and tries to accomplish her goals mainly through the romantic relationship with a powerful male(mostly emperors or prices). Whereas Guanshen is a typical ‘Male Reincarnation’ novels, which tells story about a male character who is ‘reincarnated’ into a recent past of his own life, and tries to make it different ― politically and romantically. These two genres are very similar because they share the basic elements of Time-travel Stories, but in some aspects are in complete contrast to each other ― like in character’s sex, the way the main character deals with the main conflict of the story, etc.. Through what Hiroki calls the ‘environmental analysis’, I tried to find out what these differences mean, and furthermore, what the Time-travel Stories in general mean. The basic structure of Time-travel Stories shows the possibility that a person can, at any time, and without much context, jump into another time or dimension. And this structure is symmetrical to the readers of these stories who face the gigantic database of genre-novels. In short, Time-travel Stories is an expression of the new concept of reality that our lives can be easily re-set and be simulated in countless contexts. And it is through these simulations that the youngsters of China can dream beyond their suffocating reality.