Daoist Gaming Fantasy and Danmei Romances with Zhange Ni – Sinophone Unrealities – UiS podkast

In this episode, Zhange Ni introduces us to some of the myriad fantasy genres proliferating on Chinese internet platforms and beyond. She describes and contextualises recent subgenres such as qihuan 奇幻 and xuanhuan 玄幻 (and their relationship with wuxia 武俠 Les mer …

1. Daoist Gaming Fantasy and Danmei Romances with Zhange Ni 30:34
2. Pre-internet Fandom, Graphic Novels, and Eco-SF with Hua Li 21:50
3. Resistance is Versatile with Frederike Schneider-Vielsäcker 25:45
4. Owlish and Other Translated Languages with Natascha Bruce 24:11
5. SF and the Internet Teahouse: Xueting Christine Ni 24:38

About

I’ve started this podcast to explore the latest research into speculative Sinophone fiction through informal conversations with other researchers/writers/translators about their work and their passions. I’m as thrilled as the next person by the increasing popularity of Chinese SF, but I feel that by widening the generic scope to include all works with speculative elements such as fantasy, time-travel fiction, weird stories, and other genre-defying experiments we can really appreciate the glittering variety and spectacular inventiveness of contemporary fiction in Chinese.

Just as some texts refuse to be confined to a single genre, so do many scholars have a finger in more than one literary pie. Some write poetry to express themselves differently than the peer reviewed paper allows, many translate to make their research material available to people in their homeland and share the wonderful tales they discover on their forays into other languages. Some begin as writers or translators and turn to academia later as a breath of fresh air, bringing whole new curriculums and practical perspectives with them. This fruitful collaboration between literary spheres and the multiple roles we play in academia and beyond is something I will return to throughout this series.

If SF blockbusters have paved the way, there is no reason to stop here and miss the treasure troves of mythical robotics, humanoid tree-people, premodern string-based internets, and mushroom-houses that lie ahead. Join me for new adventures into the world of Sinophone Unrealities.

This podcast is produced by NettOp/University of Stavanger.

Artwork by Joanne Taylor/NettOp/UiS.