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Se servir de la fiction comme guide: l’exemple des « romans de carrière » chinois contemporains

  • Morgane Gonseth EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: March 14, 2017
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Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques
From the journal Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques Volume 71 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper focuses on « workplace novels », a literary genre which emerged in the 2000s in Mainland China, as well as on the various discourses surrounding these works by editors, publicists, and scholars. Even though some novels of this category have enjoyed a significant popular and commercial success, the attention they attract in the academic circles seems out of proportion when compared with the actual production of the genre. Moreover, the advertisement and academic discourses concerning these texts have proven to be highly congruent, even stereotyped, as they all describe workplace novels as the career guides of the young urban white-collar workers who are supposed to read them. This congruence is all the more surprising when considering that the information and advice that these novels are supposed to offer do not seem specific nor concrete enough to be applied in a real situation. This paper proposes to address this ambivalence, as well as its origins and implications.

Keywords: Contemporary China; Popular Culture; Workplace Fiction; Education; Values

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Published Online: 2017-3-14
Published in Print: 2017-3-1

© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Nachruf – Obituary – Nécrologie
  3. Nachruf auf Sadik Jalal al-Azm
  4. Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
  5. “You Don’t Wear a Fur in Summer”: Kang Youwei’s Impartial Words on Republicanism (1917) and the Fate of Chinese Democracy
  6. Ein Fischlein mit Lästermaul Ibrāhīm al-Miʿmārs liebster Feind, Aḥmad b. Ismāʿīl as-Sumayka
  7. Auf der Suche nach einer verlorenen Zeit? – Visuelle Perspektiven der Kindheit in Mittelasien vor 1917
  8. Übersetzungen – Translations – Traductions
  9. Über die Idee und das Wirkliche (1890)Sō jitsu ron 想実論
  10. Josef van Ess Unfertige Studien II
  11. Unfertige Studien II: Bemerkungen zum Korankommentar des Aṣamm
  12. Beiträge zur 8. Nachwuchstagung der Schweizerischen Asiengesellschaft, Crêt-Bérard Puidoux, 27.–29. April 2016 Contributions aux 8èmes journées de la relève de la Société Suisse-Asie à Crêt-Bérard Puidoux, 27–29 avril 2016
  13. L’assujettissement des textes: quelques réflexions sur le classement par catégories dans les « encyclopédies » (leishu 類書) en Chine ancienne
  14. Se servir de la fiction comme guide: l’exemple des « romans de carrière » chinois contemporains
  15. Le commentaire de Tankuang sur l’Eveil à la Foi dans le Grand Véhicule: la probable influence de Wonhyo
  16. Le « film d’exploration » dans les textes de la critique de cinéma en République populaire de Chine
  17. The Ṣaḍakṣara-vidyā: A translation and study of the Tibetan version of the six-syllables spell
  18. Special Section: “The convergence of soul substances in Southeast Asia, and the spillage of blood: notions of personhood and health in transition” Edited by Elisabeth Hsu
  19. Introduction
  20. Permeable Personhood and Techniques for Negotiating Boundaries of the Self among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo
  21. Condensing Life Substances within the House: The Rice-Boiling Shuhi of Southwest China
  22. Tying the Hand: Life Sustaining Technique in Northern Thailand
  23. The Dynamics of lennawa: Exchange, Sharing and Sensorial Techniques for Managing Life Substances in Ifugao
  24. The Shuhi House between Reformist China and Revivalist Tibet
  25. Sondersektion: Myanmarforschung im deutschsprachigen Raum Hrsg. von Georg Winterberger
  26. Einleitung
  27. Myanmar-Studien: Ein Überblick
  28. Vom sanktionierten Pariastaat zum Joint-Venture der Welt. Aspekte der ökonomischen Dynamik Myanmars
  29. How Society Shapes Language: Personal Pronouns in the Greater Burma Zone
  30. The Point of View Makes the Difference. Explaining the Position of Women in Myanmar
https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2016-0053
Keywords for this article
Contemporary China; Popular Culture; Workplace Fiction; Education; Values

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Nachruf – Obituary – Nécrologie
  3. Nachruf auf Sadik Jalal al-Azm
  4. Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
  5. “You Don’t Wear a Fur in Summer”: Kang Youwei’s Impartial Words on Republicanism (1917) and the Fate of Chinese Democracy
  6. Ein Fischlein mit Lästermaul Ibrāhīm al-Miʿmārs liebster Feind, Aḥmad b. Ismāʿīl as-Sumayka
  7. Auf der Suche nach einer verlorenen Zeit? – Visuelle Perspektiven der Kindheit in Mittelasien vor 1917
  8. Übersetzungen – Translations – Traductions
  9. Über die Idee und das Wirkliche (1890)Sō jitsu ron 想実論
  10. Josef van Ess Unfertige Studien II
  11. Unfertige Studien II: Bemerkungen zum Korankommentar des Aṣamm
  12. Beiträge zur 8. Nachwuchstagung der Schweizerischen Asiengesellschaft, Crêt-Bérard Puidoux, 27.–29. April 2016 Contributions aux 8èmes journées de la relève de la Société Suisse-Asie à Crêt-Bérard Puidoux, 27–29 avril 2016
  13. L’assujettissement des textes: quelques réflexions sur le classement par catégories dans les « encyclopédies » (leishu 類書) en Chine ancienne
  14. Se servir de la fiction comme guide: l’exemple des « romans de carrière » chinois contemporains
  15. Le commentaire de Tankuang sur l’Eveil à la Foi dans le Grand Véhicule: la probable influence de Wonhyo
  16. Le « film d’exploration » dans les textes de la critique de cinéma en République populaire de Chine
  17. The Ṣaḍakṣara-vidyā: A translation and study of the Tibetan version of the six-syllables spell
  18. Special Section: “The convergence of soul substances in Southeast Asia, and the spillage of blood: notions of personhood and health in transition” Edited by Elisabeth Hsu
  19. Introduction
  20. Permeable Personhood and Techniques for Negotiating Boundaries of the Self among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo
  21. Condensing Life Substances within the House: The Rice-Boiling Shuhi of Southwest China
  22. Tying the Hand: Life Sustaining Technique in Northern Thailand
  23. The Dynamics of lennawa: Exchange, Sharing and Sensorial Techniques for Managing Life Substances in Ifugao
  24. The Shuhi House between Reformist China and Revivalist Tibet
  25. Sondersektion: Myanmarforschung im deutschsprachigen Raum Hrsg. von Georg Winterberger
  26. Einleitung
  27. Myanmar-Studien: Ein Überblick
  28. Vom sanktionierten Pariastaat zum Joint-Venture der Welt. Aspekte der ökonomischen Dynamik Myanmars
  29. How Society Shapes Language: Personal Pronouns in the Greater Burma Zone
  30. The Point of View Makes the Difference. Explaining the Position of Women in Myanmar
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