As a landmark full-length novel, The Great River Flows Eastward by the renowned author Ane is the first online novel to be shortlisted for a national-level literary and artistic award. Centering on China’s reform and development over the two decades from 1978 to 1998, the novel narrates the development trajectories of state-owned enterprises, village-run collectives, individual businesses, and foreign-invested enterprises in China amid profound era-specific transformations. Through the struggling stories of four protagonists, it boasts a grand narrative perspective and in-depth insights. In the novel, the author employs the literary technique of multi-dimensional comparative narration, placing character roles, expressive intentions, and plotlines within meticulously constructed comparative contexts. This approach not only successfully shapes vivid character images and profound social backgrounds but also conveys the author’s reflections on the nation, ethnicity, and the times.
References
[1] Gul, N., Farooq, A., Ali, A. (2022) Saussure’s concept of binary oppositions: Looking through the lens of the Holy Qur’an. Al-Azhār, 8(01), 111-119.
[2] Zeng, J., Wang, M. (2022) Chinese factors in the Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory. Chinese Semiotic Studies, 18(3), 493-514.
[3] Hakala, H., O’Shea, G., Farny, S., Luoto, S. (2020) Re-storying the business, innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem concepts: the model-narrative review method. International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(1), 10-32.
[4] Concepción, E., Gervás, P., Méndez, G. (2020) Exploring baselines for combining full plots into multiple-plot stories. New Generation Computing, 38(4), 593-633.
[5] Zitzelsberger, F. (2024) When parallels meet: queer/narrative/theory. Amerikastudien, 69, 363-81.
[6] Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (2020) Conceptual metaphor in everyday language. Shaping Entrepreneurship Research, 475-504.
[7] Rahmat, N. M., Dianita, D. (2024) Metaphor on song lyrics in the album “Born To Die” by Lana Del Rey: a semantic analysis. English Journal Literacy Utama, 8(1), 46-56.
[8] Kalandadze, T., Bambini, V., Næss, K. A. B. (2019) A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on metaphor comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: Do task properties matter? Applied Psycholinguistics, 40(6), 1421-1454.
[9] Fuoli, M., Littlemore, J., Turner, S. (2022) Sunken ships and screaming banshees: metaphor and evaluation in film reviews. English Language & Linguistics, 26(1), 75-103.
[10] Stratone, M. E., Vătămănescu, E. M., Treapăt, L. M., Rusu, M., Vidu, C. M. (2022) Contrasting traditional and virtual teams within the context of COVID-19 pandemic: from team culture towards objectives achievement. Sustainability, 14(8), 4558.
Share and Cite
Zhang, J., Bao, X. (2025) Examination of Literary Techniques of Comparative Narration -Take “The Great River Flows Eastward” as an Example. Global Education Bulletin, 2(5), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.71052/grb2025/TMPJ6389