Chen Zhongshi, who was deeply influenced by Liu Qing, experienced a process of “dividing profoundly away” from the latter in his writing in the new era, as he claimed himself, and developed a narrative personality of his own in this process. A different context of writing offered Chen an impulse for “dividing away”, but the impressive Builder of New Life made his pace of “dividing away” slow and hard. The White Deer Plain marked the summit of his writing, in which he found an individual angle to drain his profound artistic stock and fulfilled his desire to have a great work as “the pillow to lie in the coffin”. However, it is not difficult to find some leaks in narration of the work. His epic complex, concern with political events and traditions of folk culture, and interest in legendary and mysterious cultures can be regarded as a projection of his wrestle in revolutionary and postrevolutionary times, with which he completed his distinct mode of narration but exposed the tension between grand narration and limited devices.

Chen Zhongshi; Liu Qing; The White Deer Plain; The Builder of New Life; “dividing away”