New Novel from the Winner of the 2015 Best Translated Book Award
Introduction by Porochista Khakpour.
One of the most raved-about works of translated fiction this
year--Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire
Frontier opens with the story of Liujin, a young woman heading out on
her own to create her own life in Pebble Town, a somewhat surreal place
at the base of Snow Mountain where wolves roam the streets and certain
enlightened individuals can see and enter a paradisiacal garden.
Exploring life in this city (or in the frontier) through the viewpoint
of a dozen different characters, some simple, some profound, Can Xue's
latest novel attempts to unify the grand opposites of life--barbarism
and civilization, the spiritual and the material, the mundane and the
sublime, beauty and death, Eastern and Western cultures.
A layered, multifaceted masterpiece from the 2015 winner of the Best
Translated Book Award, Frontier exemplifies John Darnielle's statement
that Can Xue's books read as if dreams had invaded the physical world.
Can Xue is a pseudonym meaning dirty snow, leftover snow. She
learned English on her own and has written books on Borges, Shakespeare,
and Dante. Her publications in English include The Embroidered Shoes,
Five Spice Street, Vertical Motion, and The Last Lover, which won
the 2015 Best Translated Book Award for Fiction.
Karen Gernant is a professor emerita of Chinese history at Southern
Oregon University. She translates in collaboration with Chen Zeping.
Chen Zeping is a professor of Chinese linguistics at Fujian
Teachers' University, and has collaborated with Karen Gernant on more
than ten translations.
Porochista Khakpour is the author of two novels, Sons and Other
Flammable Objects and The Last Illusion.
