ABSTRACT
This chapter approaches Chinese science fiction through the lens of intertextuality. Intertextuality is, of course, not unique to science fiction but can be observed across a wide spectrum of literary genres. This approach serves both as an analysis of a particular characteristic of the genre of Chinese science fiction and as a methodological exploration of intertextuality. Intertextuality, in this context, appears in various forms: marked or unmarked quotations from or allusions to other texts and formal and stylistic connections when texts borrow from earlier, often famous, texts which then function as a meta or master narrative to the later text and are referred to as reading acts in fictional texts: scenes, often elaborate scenes, in which literary characters read other texts. These intertextual references and their different forms have clear narrative effects, and they serve, the chapter argues, as an interface function. The references - be they “only” a veiled allusion to a book title or an elaborate reading act - are links between two texts. This link impacts back on the reading and interpretation of both texts: text and intertext. Through an analysis of representative stories, intertextual references, and reading acts, the chapter argues, first, that Chinese science fiction is firmly located on the map of world literature. Second, these references underline the literariness of individual stories and of the genre itself. Third, they add an extra layer of meaning to both texts: an intertextual reference offers another layer of interpretation of the text. And the integration of an intertext in a fictional story may offer a new reading of the intertext itself. Fourth, reading acts, as a particular form of intertextual reference, can be seen as an argument about the transformative power of reading and about the power and relevance attributed to literature.
