A Case of Pandemic Narrative and the End of Post-Cold War

The topical book Wuhan Diary, authored by the Chinese writer Fang during COVID-19 lockdown of Wuhan, is not so much a diary as “becoming-diary,” given its performative practices. Diary’s emphasis on individual or private nature writing activity attributable to characteristic realistic conception authenticity, which resulted historically from humanist trend within literature in 1980s significant element post-socialist realism. Insofar Diary claims an overarching authorship that does cohere with—or is, indeed, utterly subverted by—its textual complexities, it can be interpreted dual allegory neoliberalism. In 2020, when established pattern globalization was crisis and post-Cold War state affairs seemed unprecedentedly unstable, realism implicit proved ineffective representing epidemic, well justifying, (mis)representation, conditions have contributed general crisis.