The 'Confrontational Escapism' of the New Weird: Reading Challenging Fiction in Online Spaces

新怪异的“对抗性逃避现实”：在网络空间中阅读具有挑战性的小说

• 批准号: 2885935
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2885935
• 关键词: Confrontational; Escapism; New; Weird; Reading

Weird fiction has always entered into some kind of resurgence in a time of great, international tumult. Tim Lanzendör's Marxist analysis of the Neww Weird elaborates that it was at the 'concerete moment of economic crisis' that the New Weird reared its monstrous head again during the 2000s. Of course, the New Weird is only New in retrospect to its racist ancestor, The Weird, and through the process of what Thomas Ligotti calls Confrontational Escapism, I am arguing that the New Weird very much relies upon these racist, sexist, classist fictions in the same way that fungi might rely on that which decomposes and rots. The New Weird consistently subverts and challenges the old horrors that beset writers of the Weird in the 1920s, and argues that instead of horror being drawn from the unknown and the Other, the marginalised and the vulnerable, there is more dread and terror that comes from power structures, from white hegemonies and normalised, heteronormative conceptions of sex and gender. But what use is this imaginary hell to people trapped and made monstrous by racial, class, or gender discrimination, what does New Weird provide in its invocations of horrific realities? Employing Marxist, feminist, and critical race theories, I will develop a framework through which to understand 'confrontational escapism' and how New Weird's use of it challenges oppressive realities; I will also examine how readers are responding to the imaginary hells of New Weird literature, and why, as will be observed, this increase in engagement with the New Weird has taken place in online spaces such as Discord and Goodreads.The thesis will therefore focus both on critical readings of these texts and on reader's responses to these challenging fictions. By investigating why readers engage with troubling horrors that depict very real, lived-in realities, I will pair with the critical engagement of New Weird fiction to propose a theory of 'Confrontational Escapism', a way in which we might better understood what, if any, mental health benefits there are to engaging with traumatic realities through the communal space of the online book club.

在国际大动荡的时代，怪异小说总是会以某种方式复苏。蒂姆·兰岑多尔对新怪异的马克思主义分析阐述道，正是在“经济危机的具体时刻”，新怪异才再次抬头。当然，“新怪异”只是回顾其种族主义祖先“怪异”，并经历了托马斯·利戈蒂（Thomas Ligotti）所说的“对抗”过程。逃避现实，我认为《新怪异》在很大程度上依赖于这些种族主义、性别歧视和阶级主义的小说，就像真菌依赖于分解和腐烂的东西一样，《新怪异》不断颠覆和挑战困扰作家的旧恐怖。奇怪的是 1920 年代，他认为恐惧不是来自未知和他者、边缘化和弱势群体，而是来自权力结构、白人霸权和弱势群体。但是，对于那些因种族、阶级或性别歧视而陷入困境并变得可怕的人们来说，这种想象中的地狱有什么用呢？《新怪异》在运用马克思主义、女权主义和批判性的手法中提供了什么呢？在种族理论中，我将开发一个框架来理解“对抗性逃避现实”，以及《新怪异》如何利用它来挑战压迫性的现实；我还将研究读者对想象的反应。新怪异文学的地狱，以及为什么，正如我们将观察到的，在 Discord 和 Goodreads 等在线空间中，人们对新怪异文学的参与度有所增加。因此，论文将重点关注对这些文本的批判性阅读以及读者对这些文本的反应。通过调查为什么读者会陷入描绘非常真实、生活在现实中的令人不安的恐怖之中，我将结合新怪异小说的批判性参与，提出一种“对抗性逃避现实”的理论。我们可能会更好地理解通过在线读书俱乐部的公共空间面对创伤现实对心理健康有什么好处（如果有的话）。