This paper focuses on two different writing styles of recording and imagination in Kangzhan (Anti-Japanese War) novel. It explores the evolution of narratives in Kangzhan novel in 5 chapters. It argues that framed by the war culture and psychology in the 1930s and 1940s, Kangzhan novel shows different characteristic from May Fourth novel. Emphasizing the project of nationalization, Kangzhan novel uses and develops narrative structure and style from traditional novel. Sometimes it even takes the classic narrative directly. The purpose of this narrative strategy, however, is to accomplish the enlightenment imagination of intellectuals. Besides incorporating unofficial discourse into novel narrative, Kangzhan novel also shows the trends of "recording", driven by the need of reflecting the reality during the war. In the process of the war, reportage, collective writing and mass writing becomes the mainstream. It means the loss of the individuality and independence of writers. Under the influence of duallistic war culture, recording and imagination work together, and form the writing dogma of "typical character in the typical environment". In the meanwhile, Hu Feng and Mao Dun crashed in how to write type. The crash ended with the triumph of Mao Dun over Hu Feng, due to the intervention of politics. This outcome finally defines the classic mode of Kangzhan novel. Under the control of this principle, Kangzhan novel forms the intellectual growing-up narrative, peasant growing-up narrative and female growing-up narrative. This paper discusses on these three narrative styles and finds that every narrative starts from original imagination principle set ahead, yet in the process, it grows out of its narrative frame, and even becomes an anti-growing-up narrative. This paper argues that it shows intellectuals' different choice from recording and imagination. The significance of this paper is that it takes the writing style of recording and imagination as the point of departure. It offers a new perspective to explore the narrative of Kangzhan novel, thus, changes the situation of looking at Kangzhan novel through the single geographical and political views. Furthermore, it discovers the narrative content, style and their meaning, which are rich, important, and which exert great influence to narrative in following decades, yet are often neglected in Kangzhan novel studies.
