Lecture by Dr. ZHU Jiawen, Researcher at University College London, UK.
CRCAO Research programme: Contemporary Chinese literature: literary practices in the digital age
ABSTRACT
Black Myth: Wukong reconstructs the spiritual genealogy of modern Chinese literature through its narrative design. The game repositions Sun Wukong as a symbol of rebellion within an Enlightenment logic of the “pseudo-scholar — fragmentation — awakening,” echoing the structural allegories of “family — nation” that have persisted since Lu Xun (1881-1936) and Ba Jin (1904-2005). Players, through side quests and emotional shocks, undergo a transformation from “singular individual” to “affective community.” This mode of collective resonance — achieved through self-negation — not only carries forward the May Fourth lineage of literary Enlightenment but also reconfigures, through interactivity, what Uno Tsunehiro (1978-) has termed the “intermediate community.” Ultimately, the game constructs a carnival of mobility where virtual sacrifice and genuine empathy converge, staging a scene of resonance in solitude and rebirth amid disillusions.
《黑神話：悟空》通過遊戲敘事重構了現代中國文學的精神譜繫。作品將孫悟空這一反抗符號置於“偽士—漲破—覺醒”的啟蒙邏輯中，呼應了魯迅、巴金以來“家庭—國家”的結構性寓言。玩家在支線任務與情感衝擊中，經曆着從“獨異個人”到“情感共同體”的轉化。這種通過自我否定達成的集體共鳴，既承載着五四文學的啟蒙脈絡，又以遊戲交互性重塑了字野常寬所説的“中間共同體”。最終，遊戲在虛擬犧牲與真實共情之間，構建起一個在孤獨中共振、在幻滅中重生的流動性狂歡現場。
BIO
ZHU Jiawen defended her PhD at Fudan University in September 2025. Her PhD thesis, entitled Invasio Horti: On Narrative Disembedding in Video Games, reveals the dynamic narrative potential of video games as a composite medium and the modern cultural structures they reflect. Dr. ZHU is currently conducting research at University College London, specializing in the reception and reconfiguration of the ancient world within modern cultural, literary, and media contexts.
25 November 2025, 2:00–4:00 p.m.
Université Paris Cité
475F, , Bâtiment Halle aux Farines, Université Paris Cité
Contact:
Shuang XU shuang.xu@u-paris.fr
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