Abstract: Shen Conwen's fiction as a whole presents a geomoral landscape built on the dual basis of the historical evolution of regional culture and the author's literary fictionalization.Within this metanarrative,systematic correspondence exists between topographical variations and cultural and moral changes:from tribal Miao culture up in the mountains in the west,to Han-Miao hybrid culture found in the hills and valleys,to Confucian feudal culture in the lower reaches of the Yuanjiang River valley occupied by the Han people,as elevation decreases,morality declines accordingly.Shen's contrast of Han and Miao cultures and the dichotomy he creates between the city and the countryside are shaped by this overall structure.Diachronically,West Hunan fiction inherits and regenerates the ancient geogenic tradition.Synchronically,Shen's work parallels Modernism in the West in the early 20th century and exhibits a literary taste and character markedly different from those of the mainstream of the New Literature of the May Fourth era.Overall,West Hunan fiction is characterized by the following features:synchronicity or spatialization of history,heterogeneity,inclusivity and extendibility,relative independence of individual works and interactions among various works,traditionality,and modernity (inclusive of modernism).Possessing unmistakable flavors of the geopolitics of regional culture,West Hunan fiction is also an important means by which Shen constructs his cultural identity.

Key words: Shen Congwen, West Hunan fiction, geogenic thinking, geomoral landscape, metanarrative structure