The Interweaving of Chineseness, Localness, and Modernity: The Construction of Sinophone Subjectivity in Li Zishu’s Worldly Land

Malaysian Chinese (Mahua) literature occupies a unique position at the intersection of Chineseness, Localness, and Modernity, forming a three-dimensional framework of cultural hybridity. However, despite this inherent richness, Mahua literature has long grappled with the predicament of an “absence of classics,” as many writers struggle to integrate these dimensions cohesively. Using Li Zishu’s Worldly Land (2021) as a case study, this study explores how narrative strategies can serve as cultural mechanisms for constructing sinophone subjectivity. Employing Gérard Genette’s narratological model, the analysis focuses on three core aspects - narrative tense, mood, and voice - to uncover how the novel orchestrates complex cultural synthesis. The findings reveal that Chineseness is primarily conveyed through narrative mood, particularly via the use of direct speech and omniscient storyteller-style focalization rooted in Ming-Qing vernacular fiction. Localness is manifested across all three narratological dimensions through repeating narrative, multicultural dialogue, and shifts in narrative perspective, whereas modernity emerges through free direct speech and the destabilization of linear temporality. By demonstrating how Worldly Land (2021) weaves these three dimensions into a cohesive narrative, this study not only provides a model for future Mahua literary creation, but also offers new insights into how cultural hybridity and identity negotiation are articulated through narrative form within the global Sinophone literary framework.