Kafka & I

by Can Xue, Deanna Ren (Translator)

Kafka & I collects Can Xue’s reflections on the enduring cult figure Franz Kafka. Turning to the questions and contradictions posed by his female characters, the volume comprises a series of potent essays exploring Kafka’s mediation of worlds spiritual and mundane, as an important influence on Can Xue, and a prerogative for contemporary readers and writers writ large.

112 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2025

About the author

残雪

Can Xue (Chinese: 残雪; pinyin: Cán Xuĕ), née Deng Xiaohua (Chinese: 邓小华), is a Chinese avant-garde fiction writer, literary critic, and tailor. She was born May 30, 1953 in Changsha, Hunan, China. Her family was severely persecuted following her father being labeled an ultra-rightist in the Anti-rightist Movement of 1957. Her writing, which consists mostly of short fiction, breaks with the realism of earlier modern Chinese writers. She has also written novels, novellas, and literary criticisms of the work of Dante, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka. Some of her fiction has been translated and published in English.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essay and two short stories by Chinese author Can Xue (whose name often comes up during Nobel Prize season) in tribute to Franz Kafka, whom Can sees as “the most feminine-minded of male writers” for his ability to “immerse himself … deeply in female desire. . .”. Following her explanation of when she first read Kafka and how the experience changed her understanding of herself as a writer, are “Brunelda’s Song” and “The Return of Glory” (with the stories by Kafka they are inspired by), stories informed by Kafka’s world view, but not in mirror imitation of them. The brief volume makes for a good introduction to Can Xue’s other works of fiction, by showing her disposition toward works by a better-known writer, providing an in to understanding the skewed irrationalism of Can’s works.

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