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Han Kang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Korean name, the family name is Han.

Han Kang
Han Kang in 2017
Han Kang in 2017
Born (1970-11-27) November 27, 1970 (age 53)
Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, South Korea
OccupationWriter
Alma materYonsei University
GenreFiction
Notable worksThe Vegetarian
Human Acts
Notable awardsYi Sang Literary Award
2005
International Booker Prize
2016
Prix Médicis étranger
2023
Nobel Prize in Literature
2024
Spouse
Hong Yong-hee
​
(divorced)​
Children1
ParentsHan Seung-won (father)
Signature
Korean name
Hangul
한강
Hanja
Revised RomanizationHan Gang
McCune–ReischauerHan Kang
Website
www.han-kang.net

Han Kang (Korean: 한강; born November 27, 1970) is a South Korean writer. From 2007 to 2018, she taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.[1] Han rose to international prominence for her novel The Vegetarian, which became the first Korean language novel to win the International Booker Prize for fiction in 2016. In 2024, she became the first South Korean writer and the first female Asian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Early life and education

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Han Kang was born on November 27, 1970[2] in Gwangju. Her family is noted for its literary background. Her father is novelist Han Seung-won. Her older brother, Han Dong-rim, is also a novelist, while her younger brother, Han Kang-in, is a novelist and cartoonist.[3]

At 9, Han moved to Suyu-ri in Seoul, when her father quit his teaching job to become a full-time writer, four months before the the Gwangju Uprising, a pro-democracy movement that ended in the military’s massacre of students and civilians. She first learned about the massacre when she was 12, after discovering a secretly circulated memorial album of photographs taken by foreign journalists at home. This discovery deeply influenced her view on humanity and her literary works.[2][4]

Her father struggled to make ends meet with his writing career, which negatively impacted his family. Han later described her childhood as "too much for a little child"; however, being surrounded by books gave her comfort.[5] In 1993, Han graduated from Yonsei University, where she majored in Korean language and literature.[2] In 1998, she was enrolled at the University of Iowa International Writing Program.[2][6]

Career

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Han's literary career began when five of her poems, including "Winter in Seoul", were featured in the Winter 1993 issue of the quarterly Literature and Society. She made her fiction debut the next year, when her short story "The Scarlet Anchor" was the winning entry in the ''Seoul Shinmun'' Spring Literary Contest.[7] Her first story collection, A Love of Yeosu, was published in 1995 and attracted attention for its precise and tightly narrated composition.[8]

In 2007, Han published a book, A Song to Sing Calmly, that was accompanied by a music album. At first she did not intend to sing, but Han Jung Rim, a musician and music director, insisted that Han Kang record the songs herself.[9]

In her college years Han became obsessed with a line of poetry by the Korean modernist poet Yi Sang: "I believe that humans should be plants."[10] She understood Yi's line to imply a defensive stance against the violence of Korea's colonial history under Japanese occupation, and took it as an inspiration to write her most successful work, The Vegetarian. The second part of the three-part novel, Mongolian Mark, won the Yi Sang Literary Award.[11] The rest of the series (The Vegetarian and Fire Tree) was delayed by contractual problems.[10]

The Vegetarian was Han's first novel translated into English, although she had already attracted worldwide attention by the time Deborah Smith translated it.[12] There has been some controversy over the translation, as scholars have detected mistakes in it; among other things, there is concern that Smith attributed some of the dialogue to the wrong characters.[13] The translated work won the International Booker Prize 2016 for both Han and Smith. Han was the first Korean to be nominated for the award, and, in its English translation, it was the first Korean language novel to win the International Booker Prize for fiction.[14][15][16][17] The Vegetarian was also chosen as one of "The 10 Best Books of 2016" by The New York Times Book Review.[18]

Han's third novel, The White Book, was shortlisted for the 2018 International Booker Prize.[19]

Han's novel Human Acts was released in January 2016 by Portobello Books.[20][21] Han received the Premio Malaparte for the Italian translation of Human Acts, Atti Umani, by Adelphi Edizioni, in Italy on October 1, 2017.[22][23] Her 2017 autobiographical novel The White Book centers on the loss of her older sister, a baby who died two hours after her birth.[24]

Han's novel We Do Not Part was published in 2021. It tells the story of a writer researching the 1948–49 Jeju uprising and its impact on her friend's family. The French translation of the novel won the Prix Médicis Étranger in 2023.[25]

In 2023, Han's fourth full-length novel, Greek Lessons, was translated into English by Deborah Smith and E Yaewon.[26] The Atlantic called it a book in which "words are both insufficient and too powerful to tame".[27]

Personal life

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Han was married to Hong Yong-hee, a literary critic and professor at Kyung Hee Cyber University.[28][29] In 2024, Han stated that they were divorced a long time ago, though the exact year was never specified.[30] Han has a son, with whom she has run a bookstore in Seoul since 2018.[31]

Han has said that she suffers from periodic migraines, and credits them with "keeping her humble".[24]

Awards and recognition

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Han won the Yi Sang Literary Award (2005) for Mongolian Mark (the second part of The Vegetarian),[11] the 25th Korean Novel Award[clarification needed] for her novella Baby Buddha in 1999, the 2000 Today's Young Artist Award from the Korean Ministry of Culture, and the 2010 Dongri Literary Award for The Wind is Blowing.[32]

In 2018, Han became the fifth writer chosen to contribute to the Future Library project. Katie Paterson, the project's organizer, said that Han had been chosen because she "expands our view of the world".[33] Han delivered the manuscript, Dear Son, My Beloved, in May 2019. In the handover ceremony, she dragged a white cloth through the forest and wrapped it around the manuscript. She explained this as a reference to Korean culture, in which a white cloth is used both for babies and for mourning gowns, describing the event as "like a wedding of my manuscript with this forest. Or a lullaby for a century-long sleep".[34]

Han was elected a Royal Society of Literature International Writer in 2023.[35][36]

The Vegetarian placed 49th in The New York Times's "100 Best Books of the 21st century" in July 2024.[37]

In 2024, Han was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature by the Swedish Academy for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life".[38][39][40] This made her the first South Korean writer[41] and the first female Asian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.[42]

Awards

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Works

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Novels

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  • 여수의 사랑 ("Love in Yeosu"), Moonji, 1995, ISBN 89-320-0750-0.
  • 검은 사슴 ("Black deer"), Munhakdongne, 1998, ISBN 89-8281-133-8.
  • 내 여자의 열매 ("My woman's fruits"), Changbi, 2000, ISBN 89-364-3657-0.
  • 그대의 차가운 손 ("Your cold hands"), Moonji, 2002, ISBN 89-320-1304-7.
  • 채식주의자 ("The vegetarian"), Changbi 2007, ISBN 978-89-364-3359-8.
  • 바람이 분다, 가라 ("The wind blows, go"), Moonji, 2010, ISBN 978-89-320-2000-6.
  • 희랍어 시간 ("Greek lessons"), Munhakdongne, 2011, ISBN 978-89-546-1651-5.
  • 노랑무늬영원 ("Fire Salamander"), Moonji, 2012, ISBN 978-89-320-2353-3.
  • 소년이 온다 ("Human acts"), Changbi 2014, ISBN 978-89-364-3412-0.
  • 흰 ("White"), Nanda, 2016, ISBN 978-89-546-4071-8.
  • 작별하지 않는다 ("We Do Not Part"), Munhakdongne, 2021, ISBN 978-89-546-8215-2.
    • We Do Not Part, translated by Emily Yae Won and Paige Aniyah Morris, London: Hogarth Press, 2025, ISBN 978-1-84627-695-8.

Short stories

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Poetry

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  • 서랍에 저녁을 넣어 두었다 ("I put dinner in the drawer"), Moonji, 2013, ISBN 978-89-320-2463-9.

Essays

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  • 사랑과, 사랑을 둘러싼 것들 ("Love and things surrounding love"), Yolimwon, 2003, ISBN 978-89-7063-369-5.
  • 가만가만 부르는 노래 ("A song to sing calmly"), Bichae, 2007, ISBN 978-89-92036-27-6.

Adaptations

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Baby Buddha and The Vegetarian have been made into films. Lim Woo-Seong wrote and directed Vegetarian, which was released in 2009.[54] It was one of only 14 selections (out of 1,022 submissions) included in the World Narrative Competition of the North American Film Fest, and was noticed at the Busan International Film Festival.[55]

Lim also adapted Baby Buddha into a screenplay, in collaboration with Han, and directed the film version. Titled Scars, it was released in 2011.[55]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Who is Han Kang, winner of 2024 Nobel literature prize?". koreatimes. October 11, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Han Kang". Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 10, 2024. Ed. by Helen Rachel Cousins, Birmingham Newman University: The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.2.3: Korean Writing and Culture. Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University)
  3. ^ ""딸이 쓴 문장에 질투심이 동했다"...아버지 한승원 작가의 고백". 매일경제 (in Korean). October 11, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  4. ^ Armitstead, Claire (February 5, 2016). "Han Kang: 'Writing about a massacre was a struggle. I'm a person who feels pain when you throw meat on a fire'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  5. ^ Alter, Alexandra (February 2, 2016). "'The Vegetarian,' a Surreal South Korean Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "HAN Kang". The International Writing Program. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  7. ^ https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20241010500236
  8. ^ Korean Writers: The Novelists, Minumsa Publishing p. 78
  9. ^ "[한강] 가만가만, 꿈꾸듯 노래한 한강". Archived from the original on April 24, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Humans As Plants". english.donga.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Smith, Deborah; Shin, Sarah (March 2016). "Interview with Han Kang". The White Review. Archived from the original on November 27, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  12. ^ Khakpour, Porochista (February 2, 2016). "The Vegetarian, by Han Kang". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  13. ^ Yun, Charse (September 22, 2017). "How the bestseller 'The Vegetarian,' translated from Han Kang's original, caused an uproar in South Korea". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "Eyes that Pierce into the Hinterland of Life Novelist Han Kang". Korean Literature Now (in Korean). Archived from the original on September 22, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  15. ^ a b Alter, Alexandra (May 17, 2016), "Han Kang Wins Man Booker International Prize for Fiction With 'The Vegetarian'", The New York Times, archived from the original on May 17, 2016, retrieved May 17, 2016
  16. ^ Fan, Jiayang (January 8, 2018). "Han Kang and the Complexity of Translation". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 21, 2021. In 2016, "The Vegetarian" became the first Korean-language novel to win the Man Booker International Prize, which was awarded to both its author, Han Kang, and its translator, Deborah Smith.
  17. ^ "Han Kang's The Vegetarian wins Man Booker International Prize". BBC. May 16, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  18. ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2016". December 1, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  19. ^ "The Man Booker International Prize 2018 shortlist". The Booker Prizes. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  20. ^ "Human Acts". Portobello Books. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018.
  21. ^ McAloon, Jonathan (January 5, 2016). "Human Acts by Han Kang, review: 'an emotional triumph'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  22. ^ a b Del Corona, Marco. "Premio Malaparte ad Han Kang". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on September 15, 2017.
  23. ^ a b "Il Malaparte 2017 ad Han Kang". Premio Malaparte (in Italian).[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ a b Beckerman, Hannah (December 17, 2017). "Han Kang: 'I was looking for answers to fundamental questions, then I realised so is every writer'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  25. ^ Creamer, Ella (October 10, 2024). "South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  26. ^ Taylor, Catherine (October 10, 2024). "Han Kang's Nobel win is testament to importance of small press publishing". The Guardian. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  27. ^ Chihaya, Sarah (May 4, 2023). "A Novel in Which Language Hits Its Limit—And Keeps On Going". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  28. ^ Woo Jae-yeon (May 17, 2016). "Man Booker Int'l Prize winner Han Kang says writing book was journey for truth". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  29. ^ Hwang Ji-yoon; Lee Tae-hoon; Kim Seo-young (October 11, 2024). "Discovering Han Kang: Nobel laureate bridging history and humanity through literature". The Chosun Daily. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  30. ^ Kim Minjoo (October 15, 2024). "Han Kang Divorces With Her Husband, A Literary Critic Who Changed His Mind On 'Dink'". Maeil Business Newspaper. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  31. ^ "노벨상 작가님이 직접 운영한다고?…'3평' 골목책방 앞은 인산인해". 매일경제 (in Korean). October 12, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h "Biography". Han Kang. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  33. ^ Flood, Alison (August 31, 2018). "Han Kang to bury next book for almost 100 years in Norwegian forest". The Guardian. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  34. ^ Flood, Alison (May 28, 2019). "Han Kang hands over book to remain unseen until 2114". The Guardian. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  35. ^ "RSL International Writers: 2023 International Writers". Royal Society of Literature. September 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  36. ^ Spanoudi, Melina (November 30, 2023). "RSL announces two new awards and appoints 12 authors to International Writers programme". The Bookseller. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  37. ^ Staff, The New York Times Books (July 8, 2024). "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  38. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024". Nobel Media AB. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  39. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 – Press release". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  40. ^ Creamer, Ella (October 10, 2024). "South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature". The Guardian.
  41. ^ "Han Kang becomes the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature". 91.9 FM WUOT, Your Public Radio Station. October 10, 2024.
  42. ^ Lee, Dae Woong (October 11, 2024). "소설가 한강, 노벨문학상 수상 쾌거… 아시아 여성 작가 최초" ["Novelist Han Kang Makes History as the First Asian Woman to Win the Nobel Prize in Literature"]. Christian Today (in Korean). Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  43. ^ "Novelist Han Kang is Korea's first to win famed French award". Korea.net. November 10, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  44. ^ "Le Prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique". Musée Guimet. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  45. ^ "Han Kang". The Ho-Am Foundation. 2024. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  46. ^ Filgate, Michele (April 17, 2023). "Why 'The Vegetarian' author Han Kang's newly translated novel is her gutsiest yet". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  47. ^ Novey, Idra (April 18, 2023). "A Narrator Locked in Silence, Who Finds Solace in an Ancient Language". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  48. ^ "Book review of "Greek Lessons" by Han Kang". The Washington Post. April 19, 2023.
  49. ^ Cheuk, Leland (April 20, 2023). "'Greek Lessons' is an intimate, vulnerable portrayal of two lonely people". NPR.
  50. ^ Woods, Cat (May 4, 2023). "Han Kang's Greek Lessons". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  51. ^ "Human Acts". Portobello Books. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018.
  52. ^ Smith, Deborah. "On Translating Human Acts by Han Kang – Asymptote". www.asymptotejournal.com. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  53. ^ McAloon, Jonathan (January 5, 2016). "Human Acts by Han Kang, review: 'an emotional triumph'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  54. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024: Biobibliography". The Nobel Prize. Swedish Academy. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  55. ^ a b ""Vegetarian" to Compete at Sundance 2010". HanCinema. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
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