Revisiting the Influence of Online Readers in Postcolonial Literature: A Postcolonial Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of online platforms, institutions and digital reading communities on reading practice in the digital age. The subjective status of the readers and their activeness in the creation and realization of the meaning of literary texts are emphasized by reception aesthetics. The current research on postcolonial literature focuses broadly on the authors perspective and the texts perspective but lacks the readers perspective. This paper puts the changes in readers subjectivity in the digital era under the post-colonial perspective, discussing what kind of changes have taken place in the subjectivity of network readers. Meanwhile, it analyzes how cyber subalterns and elites will influence postcolonial discourse in the digital realm. Using a theoretical and methodological framework covering post-colonialism and receptive criticism, this article demonstrates how marginal discourses can construct and grow spaces within social and cultural limits. The results show that the online reading practice and the formation of online communities further blur cultural boundaries. The post-colonial visual threshold gives readers the task of expanding marginal discourse. Finally, this article illustrates that readers subjectivity is still limited by digital institutions and algorithms, and they must be wary of network colonization.