Chinese author Can Xue, 73, has emerged as a strong candidate for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, stirring excitement across China. The Swedish Academy is set to announce this year's laureate on October 8, and British betting company Ladbrokes has placed Can Xue at 10 to 1 odds, making her the frontrunner. While these odds are speculative, anticipation is high in China.
Born Deng Xiaohua in 1953 in Changsha, Hunan Province, Can Xue's pen name means "dirty snow that does not melt" or "pure white snow on a high mountain peak." During the Cultural Revolution, her family faced political turmoil, which severely limited her formal education. She later became a self-taught writer, working as a seamstress and dentist before pursuing literature.
Can Xue emerged in the 1980s as a representative of China's avant-garde literature. Her works diverge from traditional realism, blurring the lines between dreams and reality, consciousness and the unconscious, and depicting anxiety, desire, and the strange aspects of human nature through fantastical and surreal language. Often referred to as the "Kafka of China" in Western literary circles, Can Xue describes her writing as "literature of the soul" or "literature of life."
Her notable works include the novels "Five Spice Street" and "New Century Love." The latter, set against the backdrop of 21st-century Chinese society, explores the uncertainties of love and human relationships in a dreamlike manner, garnering international attention. Her short story collection "I Live in That World" was nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2021.
Can Xue's acclaim stems from her literary experimentation, which delves into human consciousness and existence in unique ways, rather than directly addressing the realities of specific countries or eras. She is praised for her distinctive blend of Western modernism and traditional Chinese literature, deconstructing conventional narrative structures. Her works have been consistently translated into English and have received greater recognition abroad than in China.
While it is difficult to definitively declare Can Xue as the leading candidate for the Nobel Prize, Ladbrokes lists Japan's Haruki Murakami at 14 to 1 odds, with other notable contenders including American Thomas Pynchon, Australia's Gerald Murnane, Mexico's Cristina Rivera Garza, and Spain's Enrique Vila-Matas.
If Can Xue wins, it would be a significant milestone in Chinese literary history. Currently, the only Chinese national to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature is Mo Yan, who won in 2012. Expanding the scope to all Nobel Prizes, only three individuals of Chinese nationality have been awarded: Liu Xiaobo (Peace Prize), Tu Youyou (Physiology or Medicine), and Mo Yan. Can Xue would become the fourth Chinese laureate and the second to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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