Frontiers of Literary Studies in China >

2023 , Vol. 17 >Issue 2: 172 - 182

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3868/s010-011-023-0016-4

Research Article

The Maihe River: Literary Writing about Land and Thoughts on Modernity

  • SONG Xueqing 1 ,
  • ZHANG Lijun 2
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  • 1. Institute of Chinese and Foreign Cultural Studies, Jilin International Studies University, Changchun 130117, China
  • 2. College of Liberal Arts, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China

Published date: 15 Jun 2023

Copyright

2023 Higher Education Press
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Abstract

The Maihe River by Guan Renshan returns to the literary principle of traditional realism and insists on the rural narrative based on daily experience. It is a novel that truly traces rural life, with a focus on the land circulation system and the fate of farmers. In the work, Guan Renshan integrates farmers’ love for the land into a culture of the land and a culture of wheat. Land worship and the trend of modern agricultural development in The Maihe River constitute a profound tension. In this novel, he investigates possibilities for rural modernization as well as reasonable and legitimate means to realize them.

Key words： Guan Renshan, The Maihe River, realism, rural trilogy

Cite this article

SONG Xueqing , ZHANG Lijun . The Maihe River: Literary Writing about Land and Thoughts on Modernity[J]. Frontiers of Literary Studies in China, 2023 , 17(2) : 172 -182 . DOI: 10.3868/s010-011-023-0016-4

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