Transmedia Narrative in Chinese Literary Network Discourse (Online Novel “Founder of Devil’s Way”)

Abstract

The issue of new forms of storytelling that have emerged due to the convergence of the media is considered. It is noted that cross-media narration is formed due to the fact that a particular work is widely popular among users of network platforms. It is shown that the owners of the latter acquire the rights to works that have a large readership, since at present the number of subscribers, fans is a marker of potential commercial success. On the example of the online novel “The Founder of the Way of the Devil” by Masyan Tongsiu, it is shown that modern users are of great interest not only in the content of the text, but also in the transformation of the original work into animation, film and television dramas, and games. In addition, the authors raise the problem of the place of tanbi in the field of traditional culture. The authors come to the conclusion that, on the one hand, tanbi is popular with online writers and young readers, and is a commercially successful literature. On the other hand, due to the appeal to the topic of same-sex love, as well as due to the low quality of many works, this type of narrative causes an ambiguous attitude among society and authorities. It is argued that the future of network literature is seen behind transmedia narration.

Keywords

• founder of the way of the devil
• network literature
• transmedia storytelling
• tanbi
• fans