Exploring works of Han Kang

Han Kang's poetic prose wrestles with pain, tragedies

English editions of Han Kang's works: from left, "The Vegetarian," "Human Acts," "Greek Lessons," "The White Book" and "We Do Not Part"

The first South Korean and the first Asian woman Nobel laureate in literature, Han Kang was born in November 1970 in Gwangju, a city in southwestern South Korea.

When she was nine, Han's family moved to Seoul where she would go on to study Korean literature at Yonsei University. Her family is a literary one -- her father is the well-known novelist Han Seung-won and her older brother is also a writer.

Her literary career began in 1993 when several of her poems were published in the winter edition of the quarterly magazine Literature and Society. Han made her prose debut winning the Seoul Shinmun New Writer's Contest with the short story “Red Anchor” in 1994 and published the short story collection "Love of Yeosu" in 1995.

Since then, Han has been honored with numerous awards, recognized for a unique body of work that addresses universal human issues such as death and violence in poetic and lyrical prose. Most recently, in April, she received the Samsung Ho-Am Prize, which recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of science, culture and the betterment of humanity.

In announcing the Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Thursday, the Nobel Committee noted that Han's oeuvre "confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life." It went on to say, "She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose."

Han Kang, right, author of the winning book "The Vegetarian," poses for photographers with translator Deborah Smith at the photocall for the Man Booker International Prize in London on May 16, 2016. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

'The Vegetarian'

Han’s first novel to be translated into English, "The Vegetarian," (published in 2007 in Korean) was a major international breakthrough, winning the International Booker Prize in 2016. She became the first Korean to achieve the feat.

Translated by Deborah Smith, the book in three parts portrays the violent consequences that unfold when protagonist Yeong-hye refuses to eat meat after experiencing nightmares.

Her decision is forcibly rejected by her husband and authoritarian father, while she is also exploited erotically and aesthetically by her brother-in-law. Ultimately, she is committed to a psychiatric ward. Her younger sister tries to bring her back to normal life, but Yeong-hye sinks ever deeper into a psychosis-like condition, slowly becoming "a tree."

Noting the "lyrical and lacerating" style of prose, Boyd Tonkin, the chairman of the Booker judging panel, said, "This compact, exquisite and disturbing book will linger long in the minds, and maybe the dreams, of its readers.”

Han Kang reads from "Greek Lessons" during a talk at the Southbank Centre in London in April 2023. (Pete Woodhead/Korean Cultural Centre UK)

'The White Book' and 'Greek Lessons'

"The White Book" (published in 2016, English translation by Deborah Smith published in 2017) follows a nameless narrator who focuses on the color white to explore grief. The book was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2018.

"Greek Lessons" (published in 2011, translated into English by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won and published in 2023) centers on an extraordinary relationship between two vulnerable individuals -- a young woman who loses the ability to speak following a string of traumatic experiences and her Ancient Greek teacher, who is losing his vision.

Han Kang attends a press conference held in Seoul in November 2023 after winning the Prix Medicis for foreign literature in France. (Munhakdongne Publishing)

'Human Acts' and 'We Do Not Part'

Han's two historical novels vividly depict the dark shadows and deep wounds of contemporary Korean history.

"Human Acts" (2014, translated into English by Deborah Smith in 2016), deals with the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980, while "We Do Not Part" (2021), recounts the tragedies of the Jeju April 3 Incident (1948-1949). Han said she considers the two historical books "a pair."

"Human Acts" is based on the massacre carried out by the South Korean military during the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980 that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of students and unarmed civilians.

Han was born in Gwanju and lived there until just months before the historic event; she said she experienced nightmares after writing the book.

"We Do Not Part" marked her return to the literary scene five years after winning the International Booker Prize in 2016.

The French edition, "Impossibles Adieux," translated by Kyungran Choi and Pierre Bisiou, was released in August 2023 and won France's Prix Medicis award for foreign literature last year.

The novel explores the tragic events of the Jeju April 3 Incident -- a massacre on Jeju Island in the 1940s in which tens of thousands of people, among them children and the elderly, were killed on suspicion of being pro-communist collaborators. The story is told through the eyes of Gyeong-ha, who visits her friend In-seon after an accident. During her visit, Gyeong-ha confronts the island's painful history through visions of In-seon’s mother, Jeong-sim.

The book portrays the shared mourning process of the narrator and her friend In-seon, who both, long after the events, bear with them the trauma of the incidents that have killed their relatives.

The book will be published in English next year, translated by Emily Yae Won and Paige Morris.

What's next?

In November last year, during a press conference held after winning the Prix Medicis, a prestigious French literary award, Han said she plans to write a novel about life.

"I've been thinking about life a lot lately. We are all born and given a one-time life, and whether we want it or not, we have to give it back someday. I want to explore the meaning of being alive," said Han.

"I have said for a long time that I will write a ‘bright’ novel. I am not making any such promises anymore. I will probably write it as it comes, but my heart wants to move on from winter to spring.”

Han Kang attends a manuscript handover ceremony in Nordmarka forest, just outside Oslo, in 2019. (Future Library)

Manuscript to be unsealed 2114

Han has a special manuscript that has been sealed and locked away in Oslo, Norway. This unpublished manuscript, part of the Future Library art project launched in Norway in 2014, is shrouded in mystery, with its content, length and format unknown -- only its title, “Dear Son, My Beloved,” has been revealed.

Each year, a writer is invited to contribute a manuscript that explores the themes of imagination and time. The completed manuscripts are stored at the Deichman Library in Oslo. In 2114, 100 years after the project’s launch, the curators will print the texts -- unseen by anyone until then -- for the first time.

Han was the fifth writer and the first Asian writer to participate.

Given that Han has a son, there is speculation that the work may contain her message to humanity regarding the present and future, framed as a letter to her son.

"It felt like a prayer for the future," Han said about the project during a talk at the Seoul International Book Fair in 2019, describing it as “an act of uncertainty about a future where we will all be gone.”

By Hwang Dong-hee(hwangdh@heraldcorp.com)