Frontier

Frontier

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 . ". . . [Can Xue] is China's premier writer of the avant-garde, an experimental trickster. . ."―Porochista Khakpour "There's a new world master among us, and her name is Can Xue."―Robert Coover "If China has one possibility of a Nobel laureate, it is Can Xue."―Susan Sontag "Odd, atmospheric, and enchanting: a story in which, disbelief duly suspended, one savors improbabilities along with haunting images and is left wanting more."― Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) "At the sentence level, [ Frontier ] is a wonderful, carefully hewn thing, lucid and pure."―Amanda DeMarco, Los Angeles Review of Books "This ambitious book aspires to refashion the Chinese language to explore interiority and subjectivity, establish transnational authorship, and enter the conversation of world literature."―Yun Ni, Harvard Review Online 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 . Frontier By Can Xue, Karen Gernant, Chen Zeping OPEN LETTER Copyright © 2008 Can Xue All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-940953-54-0 Contents Introduction, vii, Note on Names, xvii, Chapter 1: Liujin, 3, Chapter 2: José and Nancy, 33, Chapter 3: Qiming, 61, Chapter 4: Sherman, 88, Chapter 5: The Baby, 116, Chapter 6: Liujin and Amy, 143, Chapter 7: Lee and Grace, 165, Chapter 8: Liujin, Her Parents, and the Black Man, 191, Chapter 9: Little Leaf and Marco, 219, Chapter 10: The Director and Nancy, 243, Chapter 11: Liujin and Amy, as well as Qiming, 267, Chapter 12: Liujin and Roy, as well as a Headless Man, 290, Chapter 13: Qiming and Liujin, 309, Chapter 14: Liujin and Ying, 328, Chapter 15: Snow, 342, CHAPTER 1 LIUJIN It was late. Liujin stood there, leaning against the wooden door. The ripe grapes hanging on the arbors flickered with a slight fluorescence in the moonlight. Blowing in the wind, the leaves of the old poplar tree sounded lovely. The voice of someone talking blended with the rustling of the poplar leaves. Liujin couldn't hear what he was saying. She knew it was the man who had recently been coming here late every night and sitting on the stone bench near the courtyard gate. At first, this had frightened Liujin and she hadn't dared to go outside. Time after time, she had peeped out the window. Later on, realizing that this bear-like old man was harmless, she worked up the courage to approach him. He had good eyesight: even in the dim light, his eyes were as penetrating as sharp glass. He was busying his hands twisting hemp. He didn't like to talk with people; his answers to Liujin's q