Volume 10, Issue 2

This interview article explores the dynamic intersections of cross-cultural narratology, focusing on three key dimensions: narrative tradition, narrative subjectivity, and narrative strategy. Through a conversation with two distinguished scholars – Professor Xiuyan Fu and Professor Marco Caracciolo – this discussion bridges Eastern and Western literary narrative traditions, delving into how cultural contexts shape narrative theories, how non-human entities contribute to the construction of narrative subjectivity, and how the concept of slow narrative functions as a narrative strategy in shaping modern literary narrative theory. The selection of these two interviewees is of considerable academic importance. Professor Xiuyan Fu is a leading figure in the field of Chinese narratology, renowned for his in-depth research on the narrative structures of traditional Chinese literature and their contemporary significance. His work not only provides an essential perspective on how cultural traditions shape narrative forms but also highlights the unique contributions of Chinese narratology within global narrative studies. Professor Marco Caracciolo is one of the foremost scholars in cognitive narratology and materiality studies in the West. His research has had a significant impact on narrative experience, embodied cognition, and environmental storytelling. He particularly examines how narrative engages readers’ embodied experiences and how non-human perspectives challenge anthropocentric narratives in the Anthropocene. His work not only expands the boundaries of narratology but also advances academic discussions in posthumanism and ecocriticism, offering new theoretical frameworks for narrative studies in contemporary interdisciplinary literature. By engaging in this dialogue, the interview aims to provide fresh insights into the future development of literary theory, particularly at the intersection of ecocriticism, narratology, and the digital humanities. The perspectives of these two scholars will contribute to these evolving academic fields while offering valuable guidance and reflections for emerging scholars.

The essay shows that adopting a cognitively informed perspective on literature holds significance for scholars in the larger field of cognitive sciences but also for those engaged with broader literary studies, primarily interested in interdisciplinary approaches to literature. I am mostly indebted to the new field of Cognitive Literary Studies (CLS), which promotes cross-disciplinary dialog and tight collaboration between cognition and literature. I interpret Hemingway’s collection of vignettes, titled “in our time” with lowercase letters, as an illustration of cognitive literary analysis. My working hypothesis is that readers comprehend these stories by conceptualizing the numerous spatial mentions embedded in the texts. In the parlance of CLS, they form mental models of spatial environments, crucial for comprehending the complexities of wartime realities. The theory of mental space enables me to prove that the comprehension of the spaces scarred by war is in conflict with our presumed mental models of space. Accordingly, readers of “in our time” engage in a construction of mentally structured models of space that do not conform to normal parameters of spatial cognition. What results from this is a disquieting impression of unnaturalness, as the perceived world seemed to be extremely chaotic. In the end, the reader forms an overarching mental representation, or what I describe as a cognitive map of nightmarish landscapes in “in our time”, revealing a space characterized by spiritual death and modern despair.

Proposing a conceptualization of playfulness as a primarily “appropriative” attitude, this article explores how narrative works can invite playfulness. After arguing that works that afford significant ambiguity and agency may encourage playfulness on the part of the recipient, the article focuses on such “recipient-oriented” playfulness in Daniel Benmergui’s narratively innovative puzzle-based comics game Storyteller . Against the background of Storyteller ’s unconventional combination of the medial features of comics and videogames, the article proposes two features of Storyteller ’s design that are likely to facilitate playfulness: multiple solution pathways and instant reactivity. While the former may encourage the player to experiment or “play with” the possibilities of each level, the latter ensures that they will not be “punished” for their experimentation. As a result, the player has very little to lose by following their whims and deviating from each level’s goals, testing the system’s possibilities, and attempting to determine which (imagined) outcomes the Storyteller system has anticipated.

Philip K. Dick’s Vulcan’s Hammer explores the anxieties surrounding the rise of AI through the emergence of the Vulcan 3 supercomputer, a living, thinking entity with consciousness, subjectivity, and agency. Within the critical framework of the nonhuman turn, taking an intersected cultural and narrative approach, this article investigates how the novel makes a technological dystopian world, highlighting the paradox of creation, where human creators’ ambition to design superior intelligence leads to the unintended consequences of their creation gaining control. By employing a nonhuman narrative, the novel critiques the cultural obsession with speed and efficiency, reflecting capitalist ideologies and their dehumanizing impact. Furthermore, this article examines how Dick’s depiction of AI surveillance aligns with Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, but expands it by incorporating AI as a covert, omnipresent inspector. Vulcan’s Hammer thus offers a prescient commentary on the tension between technological progress and human autonomy, serving as a cautionary tale for our increasingly AI-dependent future.

This essay reveals that Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is neither devoid of emotion nor simply filled with categorized emotions like loneliness, but permeated with elusive and de-subjectivized Deleuzian affect manifested through the adoption of Pop Art, the verbal interruption of the peritext and the conjunction, and the framing device that interacts with the character’s body. These techniques collectively embody a surfeit of affect, the zeitgeist of the postmodern era, and reflect Ware’s disorienting experience and his discontent living in a society dominated by consumer capitalism.

This paper focuses on popular Chinese romantic costume micro-dramas, primarily exploring their narrative mechanisms and the therapeutic significance of society. The plots unfold within fictional temporal and spatial settings removed from reality. This study further identifies the shared narrative pattern in micro-dramas, where transparent and familiar storylines enable the audience to comfortably immerse themselves. These micro-dramas generally adhere to the romantic narrative motif of “quest-fulfillment”, offering audiences the freedom to engage in a state of ennui, whilst providing a therapeutic experience that nurtures an emotional connection to love. The narrative model of multiple praises of love, constructed by lovers as faithful subjects, connects love to social reform, presenting an idealised allegory of subjectivity. Although micro-dramas have not innovated or become anti-genre productions, the social therapy they provide are nonetheless valuable.