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Can Xue (Deng Xiaohua)

デン・シャオホア / カン・シュエ

Deng Xiaohua / Can Xue

Pen Names: Can Xue（Pen name used for publication; initially used to conceal her gender.）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1953-05-30 （Changsha, Hunan, China）
Nationality
China
Languages
Chinese

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short-story writer, Essayist, Literary critic
Active Years
1983-
Influenced By
Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, Dante Alighieri, Italo Calvino

Awards

Best Translated Book Award
2015
Work: The Last Lover
Organization: Best Translated Book Award (BTBA)
Result: winner
International Booker Prize
2019
Work: Love in the New Millennium
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: longlisted
International Booker Prize
2021
Work: I Live in the Slums
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: longlisted
Huaji World Chinese Literature Award
2022
Organization: Huaji World Chinese Literature Award
Result: winner
America Award in Literature
2024
Work: Lifetime contribution
Organization: Green Integer / America Awards
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Last Lover

2005 Novel

An experimental novel using symbolic images and fragmented narrative to explore memory and uncertain realities.

memoryfragmented realityhuman solitude
Translations
  • English translation by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen

Frontier

2008 Novel

A novel rich in animal imagery and fantastical scenes, refusing tidy logical explanations and constructing an uncanny world.

fantasylimits of languagefragmented identity
Translations
  • English translation by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping

Love in the New Millennium

2013 Novel

A contemporary novel that subverts conventional love stories, depicting love and solitude through fragmented perspectives and experimental prose.

lovelonelinessalienation in modern society
Translations
  • English translation by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen

Vertical Motion

2011 Short fiction/Novel

A collection of short fiction noted for its visual and musical rhythmic prose.

dreamslanguage and rhythmdivision of the self
Translations
  • English translation by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping

Bibliography

  • Breakout Performance
  • Five Spice Street
  • The Last Lover
  • Frontier
  • Love in the New Millennium
  • Barefoot Doctor

Adaptations

  • Die Quelle (The Source) - chamber opera based on the short story 'Double Life' (libretto co-written)

Translations of Works

  • The Last Lover (English translation by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen)
  • Frontier (English translation by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping)
  • Love in the New Millennium (English translation by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
avant-gardeexperimentalfragmentary, dreamlike narration
Recurring Motifs
dreamsloneliness and alienationfamily breakdowninstability of language

Health

  • tuberculosis
    幼少期〜青年期（正確な期間不明）
    Contracted in childhood; affected schooling and caused prolonged health difficulties.

Legacy

Regarded as a pioneering figure in Chinese experimental fiction; widely translated and internationally acclaimed, often mentioned among Nobel Prize contenders.

Quotes

  • There is no political cause in my work.
    Source: Interview (MCLC Resource Center, 2002) (2002)
  • If a reader feels that this book is unreadable, then it's quite clear that he's not one of my readers.
    Source: Interview

Trivia

  • The pen name 'Can Xue' can be read as 'lingering snow' or 'the snow left at the mountain peak.'
  • Initially published under a pen name to conceal her gender.
  • Primarily known for short fiction; many works have been translated internationally.