image copyrightNobel Prize
Photo caption, South Korean writer Han Kang receives the Nobel Prize in Literature. Item information
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October 10, 2024
The Swedish Academy awarded South Korean writer Han Kang the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature this Thursday.
The academy singled out Han Kang “for his intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
According to the Swedish Academy, the South Korean’s work “confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules.”
“She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style she has become an innovator of contemporary prose,” he added.
Han, 53, is the first Asian woman to receive this important award and the third writer to come from South Korea.
The writer, who stands out for her poetic prose, achieved fame after the publication of her novel “The Vegetarian” in 2007.
In this novel, Han exposes, in three parts, the life of Yeong-hye, who one day decides to stop eating meat after suffering from strong nightmares while sleeping.
Han, who lives in Seoul, also becomes the 18th woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The last one had been Annie Ernaux in 2022.
writer’s daughter
Han was born in 1970 in the Korean city of Gwangju. She is the daughter of fellow novelist Han Seung-won, who has been an influence on his daughter’s career.
Han began publishing poems in 1993 in the South Korean magazine “Literature and Society.”
His first book arrived two years later, a collection of short stories titled “Yeosu’s Love.”
photo caption, Han was born in South Korea in 1970. She is the first Asian woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Soon his short stories and poems gained the attention of critics and the general public, especially – as highlighted by the Swedish Academy – for the breadth of genres and themes he addresses in his works.
For example, in his latest work – “Greek Lessons” – published in 2023, Han explores the relationship of a Greek teacher who is losing his sight and a woman who has lost her ability to speak.
“From their respective defects emerges a fragile love story. The book is a beautiful meditation on loss, intimacy and the ultimate conditions of language,” the academy notes.
However, his most recognized work is “The Vegetarian”, published in three parts since 2007.
In this novel the main character, Yeong-hye, a young South Korean woman, decides to stop eating meat from one day to the next.
This decision leads her to receive rejection and incomprehension from her family, which leads to total isolation.
In 2016 “The Vegetarian” received the International Booker Prize, one of the main literary prizes in the world.
The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Mats Malm, said during the press conference that she was “not really prepared” to win the prize.
He added: “She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead and, with her poetic and experimental style, has become an innovator of contemporary prose.”
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