Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.4, 2023

“Revolution” and “Emotion” in Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers: Take “An Unsigned Letter” as an Entry Point

(Abstract)

Yang Hui

Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers consists of thirty-four chapters (sections), “an unsigned letter,” and an appendix. In the “robust” narration of the stormy changes of the times, there is no lack of gentle and touching “lyrical” writing. Its narratives can be interpreted as dialectic between “revolution” and “emotion,” which is a meaningful artistic treatment of the emotional structure of a particular era. Therefore, the novel is not only “a writing of true story,” but also “soft” and “ethereal” in addition to the “robust” style.