Relationship between writers and the literary public sphere in the urban spaces of China

This study investigates the interaction between writers and the literary public sphere in Chinese urban spaces across different periods. In modern and contemporary Chinese cities, the unprecedented development of urban culture, market consumption, technological equipment, literary system, space, and production has greatly facilitated and deepened the interconnectedness between writers and various aspects of the literary public sphere, such as newspapers, magazines, bookstores, publishing houses, public spaces, and even related literary creations. This has resulted in a profound relationship between writers and the literary public sphere. However, the concept of the literary public sphere, as an imported Western theory, is not entirely applicable to the Chinese context due to the disconnection between its connotations and China's historical, social, and literary background. Unlike Jürgen Habermas's theory, which considers the literary public sphere as a transitional stage, this study defines it as a crucial material place and spiritual space within the Chinese context. The study employs methods such as literature reviews, qualitative analysis, and case studies to investigate the mutual influence between representative writers and the literary public sphere. It analyzes the role of writers in creating, operating, and maintaining the literary public sphere, as well as the auxiliary role of the literary public sphere in writers' field occupation, capital accumulation, and creative materials. The research focuses on two distinct periods: the Republican era (1917-1949) and the contemporary period (1978-2019), while excluding the seventeen years of urban cultural concealment and the Cultural Revolution (1949-1976). The study aims to explore how writers construct the literary public sphere and how the literary public sphere affects writers' subjectivity and their creations within the Chinese context. By observing the mutual influence between writers and the literary public sphere, the study summarizes the literary history of this relationship and compares the similarities and differences between the Republican and contemporary periods, demonstrating its evolution in different historical contexts. This present study reveals that the interaction between writers and the literary public sphere, under the overarching paradigms of traditional and modern juxtaposition, concessionary modernity, colonial modernity, and wartime modernity in the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Chongqing, has led to the formation of modes of creation, capital, politics, and media. Throughout changes in time and urban displacement, these modes generally conform to the general laws of literary expression. Nonetheless, due to the enrichment of real elements such as ideology, market economy, and entertainment, their significance has greatly diminished, presenting a living condition that is markedly different from that of the Republican era.

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