A Literary Study From The Media Perspective

The Chinese fiction created between 1949 and 1966 has been heatedly discussed in the academic circle recently, and research related has been mostly focused on the re-interpretation of the text. This dissertation, however, will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to the topic. That is, aside from traditional literary research methods, theories from editology, publishing, communication and sociology will also be incorporated. This research in the production mechanism and communication methods of the fiction during this period aims to scrutinize the relationships between literature and media against the macro-cultural background, and to disclose the power of the media in the reconstruction of literary norms in a certain historical period.The dissertation is based on an exhaustive collection of related literature and material. A media perspective allows the research to start with the socialization process (including the production, communication and consumption) of the fiction in this period, and the research covers the fiction and its criticism both appearing in all the major newspapers and periodicals such as People's Daily, People's Literature, Literature and Art Periodical, and published by presses such as People's Literature Publishing House and China Youth Press. The following relationships have received in-depth analysis: social politics, mainstream culture, the media and the literary system; public opinion and authors' psychology; editing ideology and the fiction's publication principles; operation of the media (periodicals and publishing houses) and the fiction's production and dissemination; reader's cultural consumption and the fiction's reception; etc. The gain and loss of mainstream political interference with the production and communication of fiction is also discussed in detail.It is thus revealed from the research that the media has functioned much in the socialization of politics, that it has played an intermediary role in shaping fiction writers of New China and has exerted significant impact on the literary circle and the mass's spiritual life. It is the many factors of history and reality that have contributed to the formation of the production mechanism and communication methods of the fiction during these 17 years.