Vasileva Elmira Viktorovna – Candidate in Philology, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Classical Western Literature and Comparative Literary Studies, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IWL RAS); ORCID: 0000-0003-4195-5658
The article examines the unique aspects of the chronotope in the emerging genre of online literature known as “instance horror” (also referred to as “horror instances” or “infinite flow”). Using the web novel Kaleidoscope of Death by Chinese writer Xi Zixu as a key example, the article explores how the protagonist navigates the frightening world of a computer game. Xi and other authors within the “instance horror” genre construct complex, multilayered chronotopes, thereby revitalizing a technique borrowed from Gothic literature. Here, the game’s superchronotope encompasses multiple (often infinite) chronotopes corresponding to individual game locations – or “instances” – each possessing its own distinct “topography” and legend. This game-based framework not only refreshes the narrative dynamic but also contrasts sharply with the introspective journey typical of Gothic protagonists. In traditional Gothic narratives, wandering through the corridors of a castle embodies a profound immersion into one’s own self, reflected in the artistic space. In contrast, the hero-player in “instance horror” transcends the empirical, venturing into the realm of the transcendental, and undergoes a symbolic initiation with each victory at each level of the game.
the gothic chronotope; horror fiction; web novels; Asian literature; Chinese literature.