South Korean Han Kang wins 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature
By Tosin Brown
South Korean author Han Kang has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.
She was recognized “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
According to a statement by Anders Olsson, Chair of the Nobel Committee of The Swedish Academy, Han Kang addresses historical traumas and invisible societal rules, and through her work, reveals the fragility of human life.
The statement further noted that she possesses a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead. Her poetic and experimental style has made her an innovator in contemporary prose.
Born in 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea, Han Kang moved to Seoul with her family before the age of nine. She comes from a literary family—her father is a well-known novelist.
The Nobel Laureate has also devoted herself to art and music, influences that are reflected throughout her literary career.
Han Kang began her career in 1993 with the publication of several poems in the magazine Literature and Society. Her prose debut came in 1995 with the short story collection Love of Yeosu, followed by several other prose works, including both novels and short stories. Notable among these is the 2002 novel Your Cold Hands, which reflects Han Kang’s interest in art. The book features a manuscript left behind by a missing sculptor obsessed with making plaster casts of female bodies. The novel explores the tension between what the body reveals and conceals, with a focus on human anatomy and the conflict between persona and experience. A telling line from the book states: “Life is a sheet arching over an abyss, and we live above it like masked acrobats.”
Han Kang’s major international breakthrough came with her 2007 novel The Vegetarian, which was translated into English in 2015. The novel, written in three parts, portrays the violent consequences that ensue when its protagonist, Yeong-hye, refuses to adhere to societal norms regarding food consumption.
Han Kang’s work is characterized by a deep exploration of pain, drawing connections between mental and physical suffering, with strong ties to Eastern philosophy.
