Title: Voluntary Heterization and Mechanical Rebirth in Videogame Literature: A Case Study of Hollow Knight

Abstract: Videogame literature inherits the tradition of defining life through narratives of mourning in print literature. While classic literary works advocate for natural humanity, creators and readers (i.e. gamers) of videogames tend to embrace life-forms of unnatural birth. This gives rise to a new concept of life which features voluntary heterization and mechanical rebirth. Metroidvania and Soulsborne/Souls-like games treat virtual life respectively as digital projection of real life and as teaching aids for spiritual growth. Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight combines both genres on the imagistic and narrative basis of T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.” It reverses Eliot’s criticism on hollow alienation and mechanical repetition, creating a hybrid life-form that possesses both mechanical repetitiveness and natural humanity in the course of human-machine interaction.

Keywords: videogame, voluntary heterization, mechanical rebirth, “The Hollow Men,” Hollow Knight

Author: Yan Yu, Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Jiangsu Open University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.03.006