编者按：为了更好地进行中国文学海外传播工作，让中国作品在海外被发现（Discover）、被理解（Understand）、被传播（Express），中国文化译研网（CCTSS）邀请国内资深文学主编及文学评论家，精选出近两百部短中长篇小说，形成第一期《中国当代文学作品指南》（简称“指南”），从更具权威性、价值性的角度出发，更好地向世界展示中国当代文学精品，传播中国书香。

春读书，兴味长，磨其砚，笔花香。现将“指南”中的精品文学作品以一日一推的方式向读者呈现，让我们不负春日好时光。

陈忠实丨《白鹿原》

推荐理由

《白鹿原》发表和出版之后，在文学评论界引起巨大反响与高度好评，也得到读者的持续喜爱与广泛欢迎。一部作品在文坛内外获得较为一致的称赞，这在中国当代文学的历史中并不多见。

作为陈忠实的首部长篇小说，《白鹿原》可谓不鸣则已，一鸣惊人。作品以临近西安的城乡交叉地带的白鹿原为舞台，以白、鹿两个家族三代人的人生历程为主线，既透视了凝结于关中农人身上的民族气韵与文化精神，又勾勒了中国近现代以来的社会演进与历史变迁的某些侧影，作品在富含家族和民族的诸多历史文化内蕴的同时，还在艺术表现上以宏微相间，虚实相致，卓具与史志意蕴相得益彰的史诗品格。可以说，在一部作品中复式地寄寓了诸多的历史内涵，淳厚的文化意蕴，颇具丰赡的史诗品格，在当代长篇小说写作中实属少有；而作品又好看而耐读，更是极其少见。这些艺术突破，使得《白鹿原》当之无愧地进入中国当代经典长篇小说的行列，其突出的标志是：深厚的历史感与鲜明的当代性的和谐统一，艺术的象征性与历史的神秘性的和谐统一，情节结构的曲折性与细节描写的丰富性的和谐统一。这些都使得《白鹿原》以常读常新的的意味，言说不尽的意义，成为中国当代最为优秀的长篇小说之一，并为了解中国的历史与文化、当代的文学与小说，所必备和必读。

Reviews

The publication of White Deer Plain has aroused great repercussions and high appraisals among literary critics. It has also won continued love and wide appreciation among readers. And it is truly an infrequent occurrence in contemporary Chinese literature for a work to be so unanimously praised both inside and outside the literary world.

Being Chen Zhongshi’s first novel, White Deer Plain has literally taken the world by surprise. Set in White Deer Plain, a village straddling the urban and rural area close to Xi’an, the story focuses on the lives of the Bai and Lu clans over three generations. It not only reflects the ethnic charm and culture of Guanzhong peasants, but also retraces the steps of social and historical change in modern and contemporary China. While displaying the historical and cultural implications embedded in family and national situations, the novel presents an epic tale whose artistic expression complements its historical narration, by alternating between the deep, the skin-deep, the real, and the illusory.

It must be noted that few contemporary novels ever manage to blend together so many historical implications, rich cultural meanings and epic styles into one work – and even fewer are able to be interesting and readable at the same time.

With these artistic breakthroughs, White Deer Plain fully deserves the title of contemporary Chinese classic novel. What makes it unique is its perfect blend of rich history and modern views, its artistic symbolism and historic mystique, its intricate plot structure and detail of description. All these traits have made White Deer Plain one of the best novels in contemporary China, since each reading can generate fresh insights and each word means more than so appears. It is a must-read for all those who wish to know more about Chinese history and culture and understand contemporary literature and novels more thoroughly. 

作家简介

Author Profile

陈忠实，陕西西安人。1942 年6月出生，2016年4月逝世。

陈忠实于1965 年开始发表作品。著有短篇小说集《乡村》《到老白杨树背后去》，中篇小说集《初夏》《四妹子》《夭折》，《陈忠实小说自选集》(3 卷 )、《陈忠实文集》(7 卷 )，散文集《生命之雨》《告别白鸽》《家之脉》《原下的日子》等。

短篇小说《信任》曾在 1979 年获全国优秀短篇小说奖，中篇小说《康家小院》获上海首届《小说界》文学奖，《初夏》获《当代》文学奖，长篇小说《白鹿原》先后获陕西“双五”文学奖、人民文学出版社“炎黄杯”文学奖、中国作家协会第四届茅盾文学奖。

长篇小说《白鹿原》为陈忠实的代表作。该作被国家教育部列入“大学生必读”系列，被评为“百年百种优秀中国文学图书”（1900—1999），据不完全统计，《白鹿原》迄今已发行逾 200 万册，并被改编成秦腔、话剧、舞剧、连环画、雕塑等多种艺术形式，以本部小说改编的同名电影《白鹿原》已经拍摄完成，并于2012年上映。

Chen Zhongshi, a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was born in June 1942 and died in April 2016.

Chen began publishing in 1965. His major works include: short story collections Countryside and Go Behind the Old White Poplar; novella collections Early Summer, The Fourth Sister, Untimely Death, Selected Novels by Chen Zhongshi (3 volumes), A Collection of Chen Zhongshi’s Literary Works (7 volumes); prose collections Rain of Life, Farewell to the Dove, The Bloodline, Days in Yuanxia, etc.

His short story Trust won the National Best Short Story Award in 1979, novella The Courtyard of the Kangs won the 1st Shanghai Novel World Bimonthly Literature Prize, and Early Summer won the Dangdai Bimonthly Literature Prize. His novel White Deer Plain was awarded the Shanxi Double Five Literature Prize, Yanhuang Cup Literature Prize by People’s Literature Press and the 4th Mao Dun Literature Prize by the Chinese Writers’Association.

White Deer Plain was Chen Zhongshi’s magnum opus. This book has been included by the National Education Ministry into their “College students’ Must-reads” series, and has been rated among the “Top 100 Excellent Works of Chinese Literature of the Past Century (1900-1999)”. Statistics on the novel show that to date it enjoys a circulation of over 2 million, and has been adapted into Qin Opera performances, theatrical dramas, dance dramas, picture story books, sculptures and many other art forms. The film adaptation of the same title was completed and shown to the public in 2012.

中文概要

Synopsis

《白鹿原》的故事，主要围绕着陕西关中腹地——白鹿原上白姓与鹿姓两大家族三代人的明争暗斗，并以此衬托出国共双方政治势力的殊死较量，进而展现交织于其中的农耕文明的式微、家族家业的传承，以及陕西关中农村特有的乡俗文化与风土人情。

白姓家族的族长白嘉轩，一生引以为豪的，是一生里先后娶过七房女人。第六房女人胡氏病死之后，白嘉轩从山里娶回来第七个女人吴仙草，同时带回来罂粟种子。罂粟种植的巨大收益比鸦片的香气更具诱惑力。一座完整的四合院便以惹人的雄姿盘踞于白鹿原的村巷里。传说早年的白鹿原天灾不断，疫病滋蔓。在一位很有思想的族长的提议下，人们把原来的侯家村（还有胡家村一说），改为了白鹿村。同时决定换姓，侯家（或胡家）老兄弟两个，要占尽白鹿的全部吉祥与幸运，商定族长老大的一脉，统统姓白；老二的一脉，统统姓鹿，而白鹿两姓合祭一个祠堂，以表明同宗同脉。

这种情形一直延续了下来。改为白姓的老大和改为鹿姓的老二，在修建祠堂时就立下规矩，族长由长房的白姓的子孙承袭下来。

不久，白鹿两家因为争买土地而大打出手，引发了一场恶斗，在两家的世交——白鹿镇中医堂冷先生的劝解和朱先生的调解下，双方化解了这场争斗，重归于好。此事为白鹿村从县长那里赢得了“仁义白鹿村”的美誉。

某天，白嘉轩怀里揣着一个修复祠堂的周密计划走进了鹿子霖的院子。翻修祠堂的工程，由白嘉轩和鹿子霖分头负责。这年夏收以后，学堂开学了。五间正厅供奉着白鹿两姓列祖列宗显考显妣的神位，西边三间厦房，作为学堂。白嘉轩和鹿子霖一块去白鹿书院找朱先生，让他给学堂推荐一位知识和品德都好的先生。朱先生推荐了白鹿原东边徐家园的徐秀才。白嘉轩的两个儿子也都取了学名，原来叫马驹的改叫白孝文，原来叫骡驹的改叫白孝武，他们自然也坐进了学堂，成为了徐先生的学生。鹿子霖的两个儿子——鹿兆鹏和鹿兆海，也转回本村学堂，白嘉轩也帮助长工的儿子黑娃进了学堂。

白家的老长工鹿三以自己的诚实和勤劳赢得了白家几代人的敬重，并且白嘉轩以“三哥”相称，把他视为一家人。几年后，白嘉轩的三儿子孝义和女儿白灵相继出生。白灵满月后的一天夜里，冷先生从城里带回了革命党造反的消息，在省城和县城里军阀的频繁更替中，白鹿原陷入了恐慌中。朱先生制定了《乡约》，白嘉轩率先履行成为楷模，从此，村子里偷摸赌博打架之类的事件几近绝迹。

鹿子霖被委任为白鹿镇保障所乡约，他受命按土地和人头征税。白嘉轩对征税不满，组织各乡村民到县城交农具罢工，虽然取得了胜利，但鹿三等首领被捕，白嘉轩投案之首，后朱先生的帮助下，赎回了被捕的人。处理交农事件的一年多里，白嘉轩整顿族规，惩治违反乡约的族人。冷先生深感交农事件后白鹿两家裂痕渐深，便把自己的大女儿许给鹿家长子兆鹏，二女儿许给白家二儿子孝武，意图调和两家的矛盾。

白灵提出要上学念书，白嘉轩把她送进了学堂。第二年过年后十天，白灵失踪，白嘉轩去城里二姐家去寻找，才发现她进了城里的新式学校。白灵以死来威胁父亲，拒不回村，白嘉轩无奈只好作罢。在鹿家两兄弟和白家两兄弟先后离开白鹿书院后，黑娃也离开了学堂。

17岁那年，黑娃到渭北郭举人家扛活，与郭举人的二房田小娥发生了恋情。不久，黑娃携小娥私奔回白鹿村，鹿三不认可二人的关系，白嘉轩不答应让田小娥进祠堂，黑娃只好与小娥在村东头一孔破窑洞里安家。

“四一二”后，国共分裂。鹿兆海认为国民党才是他的选择，而白灵却改投了共产党，两个人的感情出现裂痕。鹿兆鹏和黑娃逃进山里，开始了亡命的生活。田福贤在祠堂前的戏楼上疯狂惩治农民协会骨干。而此刻白嘉轩正领着人修复祠堂。之后，白嘉轩召集了一次族人大会，孝文手执乡约领众人诵读。鹿子霖却嘲讽白家父子只会在祠堂里弄事。他仍任白鹿原第一保障所乡约，也效法田福贤，在戏楼上惩治小娥等农协骨干。白嘉轩跪地求情，自责身为族长没有管教好族人。

逃往外地的黑娃已做了习旅长的贴身警卫。但在一次遭遇战中，队伍打散，黑娃误打误撞地当上了土匪的二当家。在打家窃舍中，他唆使手下打断了白嘉轩的腰杆。田福贤下套捉拿黑娃，小娥为救黑娃去求鹿子霖，鹿子霖乘机占有了小娥，鹿子霖唆使小娥去勾引白孝文，白孝文很快上钩，沉溺于与小娥的偷欢难以自拔。一场异常的由旱灾带来的饥馑降临到白鹿原上。白孝文在分家之后，难忍饥饿，卖掉了土地，又卖掉了房屋，沦为了乞丐；原本要让白孝文难堪的鹿子霖，却无意中给了他生活的出路，白孝文到滋水县保安大队当差，仅仅一个月，身体复原了，信心也恢复了，他第一次领饷之后，就去酬谢给他指了一条活路的田福贤和鹿子霖，并打算把剩余的钱给小娥，但小娥却神秘地死了。黑娃知道小娥被杀的消息准备杀死白嘉轩时，父亲鹿三却抖出话来——人是我杀的。

白鹿原又一次陷入毁灭性的灾难中。一场空前的大瘟疫在原上肆无忌惮地蔓延着，一切村庄里的农人，男人和女人，老人和孩子，穷人和富人，都在这场无法抵御的大灾难里颤抖。族长白嘉轩力排众议造了镇妖塔，瘟疫终于停歇了。

白孝文终于从姑父朱先生口里得知，父亲准备接纳他这个浪荡儿子，宽容他回到原上。白孝文开始进入人生的佳境，升任了保安营营长，并掌管县城的防务大权。他的名字很快在本县的大街小巷被人传说······

滋水县境内一股土匪归附保安团的消息轰动了县城。黑娃被任命为营长，并且娶了妻子，开始向有思想、有文化的方向转化，他重新被家族接纳了。而鹿三却在孤独中死去。黑娃接受鹿兆鹏的意见倒戈，却不料被掌权之后的白孝文所代表的新政权作为反动分子镇压。

鹿子霖重新雇了长工，赎回被迫卖掉的土地，家境开始殷实起来。可是在目睹了岳维山、田福贤和黑娃先后被枪毙的情形后，他变成了痴呆之人。而白嘉轩也莫名地罹患上“气血蒙目”的怪病。看到儿子当了县长，自己却无力去阻止黑娃的被杀，鹿子霖的成疯，他内心充满了不忍，也布满了迷惘······ 

The story of White Deer Plain mainly centers on a three-generation-long feud between the Bai and Lu clans of White Deer Plain, located in the hinterlands of Guanzhong, west of Shaanxi Province. The story also sets off the deadly battles between KMT and CPC political forces, and demonstrate –in between the storylines – the decline of farming civilization, the inheritance of family property and the folk cultures and customs characteristic of the Guanzhong countryside.

Bai Jiaxuan, the chief of Bai Clan, prides himself on having successively married seven different women throughout his life. After the death of his sixth wife, Miss Hu, he marries a seventh woman, Wu Xiancao, from the mountains, and brings back poppy seeds. The huge profits gained from planting poppy are even more tantalizing than the fragrance of opium. And their courtyard complex holds an impressive place in the village of White Deer Plain.

Legend has it that White Deer Plain in early times was plagued with disasters and diseases. Suggested by a visionary chief, the villagers changed the original name of Hou Village (called Hu Village by others) to White Deer Village. They also decided to change their family names. Wanting to seize all the fortune and luck in the village, the two brothers from Hou made an agreement that the elder clan assume the Bai family name while the younger clan took on the name Lu. The two clans would worship in the same ancestral temple to show their same origin and roots, a practice which has been in place ever since. The elder Bai clan and younger Lu clan then made it a rule that the role of chief would be inherited by the elder family’s grandson.

Not long after, the Bai and Lu families could be seen fighting fiercely for land possession. But the fighting stopped and they reconciled thanks to Mr. Leng of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacy and Mr. Zhu, old friends of the two families. This reconciliation was so great that the county head started to distinguish this village as the Benevolent White Deer Village.

One day, Bai Jiaxuan enters Lu Ziling’s courtyard holding a detailed plan for renovating the temple, putting the two of them in charge of the project. It’s not long before summer turns to fall, schools reopening following the yearly harvest. Memorial tablets are placed in five main halls honoring the ancestors of both Bai and Lu Clans. Three rooms on the west wing are used as schools. Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Ziling go together to find Mr. Zhu at the White Deer Academy, asking him to recommend a teacher of both knowledge and virtue. Mr. Zhu recommends Scholar Xu from the Xu Family to the east of White Deer Plain. Bai’s two sons have acquired school names – Bai Xiaowen being called “Pony” and Bai Xiaowu being called “Mule” – and enter school, becoming Mr. Xu’s pupils. Lu Ziling’s two sons—Lu Zhaopeng and Lu Zhaohai—are also transferred to the local school. Bai Jiaxuan helps Heiwa, son of his long-time servant, enter the school as well.

Lu San, Bai’s long-time servant has won the respect of Bai through his honesty and hard work over several generations. Bai Jiaxuan even calls him their third brother as if he were part of his family. A few years later, Bai Jiaxuan’s third son Xiaoyi and daughter Bai Ling are born. On one night after the girl’s one-month birthday, Mr. Leng brings from the town news of the Revolutionary Party’s revolt. White Deer Plain is then quickly succumbed by panic amidst the frequent turnover of warlords in the provincial and county capitals. Mr. Zhu formulates the Convention of the County, which Bai Jiaxuan sets a good example in implementing. Since then, such misdemeanors as stealing, gambling and fighting are almost gone from the village.

Appointed head of White Deer Town’s social security bureau, Lu Ziling fulfills his duties of levying taxes on land and polls. However, displeased with taxation, Bai Jiaxuan takes villagers from all counties to the town, inciting them to turn in their farm tools and go on strike. And though their strike was successful, Bai Jiaxuan turned himself in while Lu San and other leaders were put under arrest. Thankfully, with the help of Mr. Zhu, the arrested find redemption in the community. A year following, Bai Jiaxuan fixes the clan orders and punishes members for violating the rules. Realizing that the incident has deepened the divide between the Bai and Lu families, Mr. Leng promises to marry his eldest daughter to Lu’s eldest son Zhaopeng and his second daughter to Bai’s second son Zhaowu, hoping to settle the conflict between them.

Bai Ling is eager to start attending school, so Bai Jiaxuan sends her over, but she disappears ten days after the following year’s Chinese New Year festival. Bai Jiaxuan goes to his second sister’s home in the city to look for her, only to find her studying at a new-style school in the city. When prompted to go back, Bai Ling refuses, threatening to end her life. Bai Jiaxuan has no choice but to let her have her way.

After the Lu and Bai family brothers leave the White Deer Academy, Heiwa decides to leave school. When he is 17, Heiwa goes to work in the house of Master Guo, an Imperial Scholar in Weibei area, and has an affair with Tian Xiao’e, Guo’s concubine. Soon he elopes with Xiao’e to White Deer Village. Lu San does not accept her while Bai Jiaxuan denies her entrance into the temple. They have to stay in a precarious cave dwelling at the east end of the village.

Following the April 12th incident, KMT and CPC split. While Lu Zhaohai supports the former, Bai Ling has more faith in the latter. With this, conflicts start cropping up between them. Lu Zhaopeng and Heiwa escape into the mountain to live like exiles; Tian Fuxian does all he can to reprimand the peasants’ association activities out on the theater stage in front of the temple. At the same time, Bai Jiaxuan is ordering people to renovate the temple. Days later, Bai Jiaxuan calls a clan meeting. With the county convention in hand, Xiaowen leads the people to chant it. Lu Ziling mocks the father and son from the Bai clan, saying they are capable of nothing but template renovation. Still serving as the head of the local No. 1 Social Security Bureau, he follows Tian Fuxian’s methods, punishing Xiao’e and the other activists out on the stage. On his knees, Bai Jiaxuan begs Tian for mercy, blaming himself for failing to discipline clan members as the head is supposed to do. Heiwa flees to the countryside and becomes a bodyguard for Brigadier Xi. But their unit happens to break up in one encounter, Heiwa somehow becoming the bandits’ second-in-command. Later on, in a house raid, he orders his subordinates to break Bai Jiaxuan’s back. This causes Tian Fuxian to set traps for Heiwa at the same time that Xiao’e goes to Lu Ziling to plead for his life. Taking advantage of the moment as well as her emotions, Lu Ziling talks her into seducing Bai Xiaowen, who immediately falls in love with her and becomes infatuated with their sexual games.

Later on, White Deer Plain is hit by an unusual, drought-induced famine. After dividing up their family properties, Bai Xiaowen sells his land and house because of starvation and becomes a beggar. Lu Ziling, who wanted to disgrace him in the first place, unwittingly provides him with a way out. So he takes up a position in the security team of Zishui County. Within a month’s time, his health recovered and his confidence restored. As soon as he receives his first paycheck, he goes to reward Tian Fuxian and Lu Ziling for showing him a way to survive. He intends to give the rest of the money to Xiao’e, but she has died mysteriously. Upon learning the news of her death, Heiwa decides to kill Bai Jiaxuan, never expecting that his father Lu San is the very killer.

White Deer Plain is once again hit by a devastating disaster, this time an unprecedented plague sweeping across the plain. And all the peasants in the village – men or women, old or young, rich or poor, become panic-stricken and overwhelmed by it. Holding one’s ground against popular opinion, chief Bai Jiaxuan successfully builds his demon-holding tower. Eventually, the plague abates. 

Bai Xiaowen comes to learn from his uncle Mr. Zhu that his father is ready to forgive him – this prodigal son of his – and let him return to the plain. His life has changed for the better – he is promoted to battalion commander, being in charge of defending the county; it’s also not too long before his name is known throughout town.

News travels about the town causing quite a stir: a gang of bandits on the edge of Zishui County submitted themselves to the security group. Heiwa is appointed battalion commander and gets married. Well on the way to being a person with ideas and knowledge, he is accepted by his family again. However, Lu San dies alone. Taking Lu Zhaopeng’s advice, Heiwa rebels, only to be suppressed as a reactionist by the new regime represented by Bai Xiaowen, the man in power.

Lu Ziling hires farmhands again and earns back the land he was originally forced to sell, seeing conditions for his family start to improve. Yet after witnessing the execution of Yue Weishan, Tian Fuxian and Heiwa by firing squad, his mind falls to pieces. At the same time and for no reason at all, Bai Jiaxuan is also attacked by a bizarre disease characterized by “energy and blood blurring the eyes”. Although his son is now the county head, he simply cannot stop the execution of Heiwa and the insanity of Lu Ziling. He is full of sympathy and confusion as well.