This thesis explores how bureaucracy shapes human experience in 19th-century Russian literature. Through works by Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin, the research develops the concept of the “bureaucratic chronotope,” showing how institutional systems influence perceptions of time, space, consciousness, and social possibility — themes that remain strikingly relevant today.

This research explores how community enables experimental literature in Hong Kong, particularly among minority writers. Rather than representing entire groups, individual texts function like stars in a constellation. Supportive literary communities foster creativity, agency, and experimentation, reshaping how contemporary art and authorship are understood.