중국 근대의 일상과 문학, 그 기억과 표상

Abstract

Modern China had all the conditions for the development of popular fiction such as detective novels, thanks to the development of various modern media, the expansion of mass education, and urbanization. In addition to the basic principles of presenting a case and resolving it logically, detective novels have secured their own unique territory based on the selection of themes that attract readers' attention, the surprise of unexpected endings, and the scientific knowledge and rational thinking that can convince readers. The popularity of modern detective novels in China is closely related to the daily life of modern society, which dynamically reflects the tastes and hobbies of the times and the specificity of modern thinking and perception. This paper is motivated by the same problem: in order to approach the substance of modern Chinese detective fiction, it is necessary to understand the cultural and literary characteristics of the society in which it is written. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the modern ideas and perceptions that made detective novels possible as a genre of fiction based on a comprehensive set of texts, including detective novels, as well as related novel publicity, event reports, and novel criticism, during this period. Specifically, it explored the daily life and literature of modern China, focusing on the aesthetic phenomena of expectation and fun in detective fiction. Second, it examined detective fiction in terms of the logic of the Enlightenment, represented by scientific knowledge and rational thinking. Third, it explored the possibilities of detective fiction in terms of hobby tastes as a modern reading material. This study, which examines the daily life and literature of modern China, as well as its memory and representation, through the analysis of modern Chinese detective fiction works and extracurricular materials, will provide an opportunity to reestablish the status of detective fiction.