Han Kang : The Nobel Prize winner in Literature

Dr Elangbam Hemanta Singh *

Who is Han Kang ? She was born in 1970 at Gwangju, South Korea. Her father, Han Seung-won, was a novelist. That, coupled with the encouragement in a literary atmosphere, promoted her to be an early book lover and encouraged the storytelling. When Han Kang was ten years old, she went to Seoul where she took up a degree at Yonsei University that specialized in Korean literature within South Korea's elite academia.

In 1993, she had her first short story, "The Scarlet Anchor," published. She was acclaimed in South Korea at the early stages of writing. Her works were well recognized nationally, and she received many national literary awards.

Han Kang is a novelist and poet, one of the more distinctive voices on the current literary scene. Her books often explore dark themes about trauma, memory, and the human condition in a highly symbolic manner. It was her first novel, The Vegetarian (2007) that pushed her to the international stage, more so after her English translator, Deborah Smith, was awarded the 2016 Booker Prize.

This surreal and disturbing narrative, full of questions to the notion of identity, autonomy, and moral constraint, relates to a woman who decides, in a radical act against the norms of society and expectations, not to eat meat anymore. This led to international fame for Korean literature, which recognized that Han's strong narration had captured worldwide attention.

Han, in 2024, became the first South Korean author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, celebrated for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." That Nobel achievement fortifies her place as a writer, though writing about deeply personal and national traumas, who can speak to anyone through how she approaches the existential theme and her lyrical prose style.

She also received several other notable South Korean literary awards apart from this Nobel Prize. Two of them are the Novel Award for Korean Literature in 1999 for her novel The Black Deer (1998) and the Yi Sang Literary Award in 2005 for her short story Mongolian Mark (2002), which is a collection of short stories that includes the titular story.

This is one of South Korea's most prominent literary awards, conferred upon works of outstanding literary merit. Besides this, Han Kang won the Today's Young Artist Award in 2012. The award recognizes young artists from different fields for their work in the arts.

Some of her most important works : The Vegetarian (2007), this novel is divided into three parts, about Yeong-hye, a woman who decides not to eat meat anymore and this decision leads to a very radical unravelling of her mental state and relationships. The novel explores the themes of bodily autonomy, societal ex- pectations, and mental health.

It is after its English translation by Deborah Smith in 2016 that 'The Vegetarian' gained international fame. It was a success story of the internationalization of Korean literature and thus gave much mileage to Han Kang. The next novel of Han was Breath Fighting, which was a novel on personal and familial relation- ships, and it came in 2010.

While not as internationally celebrated as "The Vegetarian," it is an integral work in her body of literature that deals with personal versus societal conflict, often within traditional Korean family structures. Human Acts (2014) consists of interwoven narratives concer- ning the effects of trauma on human beings and communities in the wake of the Gwangju Uprising.

Throughout, structures alternating between past and present narratively portray traces of violence. In 2018, Human Acts qualified to be on the short list for the International Booker Prize. Much critical attention rested in a haunting rendition of historical trauma. Here in The White Book, the year is 2016 for Han, who explores into related ideas of grief and memory through meditations concerning color white.

The White Book is a sort of reflection on life, loss, and rebirth, inspired by her own family history and personal experiences. Long listed for the Man Booker International Prize 2018, it confirms the author's versatility in weaving together prose and poetry.

This novel, The Greek Lessons, 2011; English translation, 2023 is a novel that portrays the lives of two lonely persons-the teacher and his dumb pupil. They are tied through the Greek language and all the problems they have while dealing with identity and expressions. The novel depicts loneliness, connection, and awareness between themselves and other people.

International success for Han Kang has really affected Korean literature in its expanded reach and reception outside of South Korea. It also made her capable of communicating universal themes from a unique Korean perspective, thus opening the doors to translation and international recognition for other Korean authors. Thus, the works of Han and her fellow writers are those who have challenged the convention and tradition of literature through open discussion of taboo themes in literature.

Here are some important Research Topics on Han Kang’s works. The young promising scholars could focus on her narrative techniques, thematic explorations, and philosophical inquiries:

1. The Role of Silence and Voicelessness in Han Kang’s Novels
2. Intersection of Art and Violence in The Vegetarian and Human Acts
3. Motherhood and Familial Bonds as Constructs of Societal Expectations
4. Exploring Eco-feminism in Han Kang’s The Vegetarian
5. Han Kang’s Use of Experimental Form to Convey Psychological Depth
6. Comparative Study of Death and Rebirth Imagery in The White Book and Human Acts
7. The Intersection of Gender and Power in Han Kang’s Female Characters
8. Han Kang’s Treatment of Physicality and Body Horror as Expressions of Trauma.
9. The Role of Empathy and Human Connection in Human Acts
10. Language as a Symbol of Identity and Isolation in Greek Lessons.

Some useful Books and Journals

o Kim, Minjeong. Women and Body Politics in Han Kang's The Vegetarian and Other Works. Routledge, 2023
o Rhee, Jooyeon. Trauma and Ethics in South Korean Literature. Univer- sity of Hawaii Press, 2019
o Rhee, Jennifer. Korean Literature in Translation: Propaganda, Trans-nationalism, and Literary Pro- duction. University of Minnesota Press, 2021
o Cho, Chloe Haeun. “The Silence of Trauma in Han Kang's The Vegetarian.’’ Asian Journal of Literature, Culture and Society, 2020
o Lee, Allison K. “Translating Trauma: Language and Silence in Han Kang’s The White Book.” Journal: Translation Review, 2020.
o Park, Sun Hwa. “Memory, Language, and Identity in Greek Lessons.” Korean Language and Literature Studies, 2022