A Study on Optimal Literature-Reading Space and Consumption Culture—an Example from Chain Rental Bookstores in Chiayi City

• Main Authors: Ming-han Huang, 黃明漢
• Other Authors: Bao-chai Chiang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/76623760848027175328

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 台灣文學所 === 97 === It is now a common experience to check out some novels from a rental bookstore.Starting as small book stands, some of them managed to develop into bright, well-furnitured rental bookstores and drew people of all walks to visit them regularly. Chain rental bookstores, in particular, become so popular that they can be found almost everywhere in Taiwan.With sophisticated interior design, quick check-out procedures and latest novels and magazines, chain rental bookstores successfully keep their customers'' patronage. This intriguing phenomenon not only concerns a common consumer experience but also reveals some typical features of popular culture. In this study, the researcher, motivated by this particular phenomenon, aims to investigate the significance of space arrangement and text materials in a chain rental bookstore. Works of popular literature found in the rental bookstore, with their mass production, are consumer goods in essence. As products of cultural industry, these popular novels are of cultural homogeneity and high predictability. The subject of the study is some of the most popular novels available in Taiwan''s rental bookstore for the last two years. The researcher finds that these texts share at least three more characteristics in common: easy to read, novel, and surprising. The researcher believes that these texts are valuable in reflecting the social reality and offering entertainment to the general public. Stemming from Japan, the rental bookstores in Taiwan, however, do not disappear with the improvement of economy as their Japanese counterparts did. Take Starfly Bookstore, a chain rental bookstore, for example. It used to be a humble stationery store, but with the development of computers and the Internet, it improved its traditional management strategies and gradually developed into a transnational enterprise. The key to its successful transformation lies on an exclusively-developed on-line management system, which digitizes all the business involved and therefore enables a better and quicker connection among the head office, the branches, and the customers. Such a chain rental bookstore is not just a place to store or rent popular novels. It also serves as a recreational spot for the locals and forms a virtual community in Taiwanese book rental culture. Every week, Starfly Bookstore provides a popularity ranking for each type of texts, revealing specifically the preference of their customers. Besides, they built an on-line reader community to enhance the communication of their customers, who otherwise might not have a chance to share their opinions with other readers. In this way, the rental bookstore, as a crucial medium between readers and cultural industry, presents the latest novels from various publishers to the readers and also provides readers'' feedback to the publishers efficiently. As a result, the role of readers grows significantly since they can better interact with the popular novelists. The close bond between readers and writers is unique in the Taiwanese book rental culture.