Han Kang creates 'phenomenon' in Korea when winning Nobel Prize for Literature 2024

The Swedish Academy (the organization that organizes the annual Nobel Prize) decided to award the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature to Han Kang for her "poetic narratives that highlight the traumas of history as well as the fragments of human life".

Han Kang's books are sought after in Korea.

First, we must mention the value of the prize that writer Han Kang will receive after winning the prize. She will be awarded 11 million Swedish krona (equivalent to 1.06 million USD). The official award ceremony for the female writer will take place in Stockholm (Sweden) on December 10 this year - the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

According to The Independent , after Han Kang won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Korean viewers and readers were overwhelmed. Many online bookstores were overloaded due to the unusual increase in the number of readers looking to buy her books. Korean newspapers also simultaneously published information about the first Korean female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Writer Han Kang becomes the first Korean author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a working trip to Laos, congratulated the writer after hearing the news of her award. He wrote: "This victory is a great achievement for the history of Korean literature and is also a national holiday - bringing joy to the people. She has transformed the painful wounds of modern history into wonderful literary works. I would like to express my deepest respect to her for raising the value of Korean literature."

Han Kang is the 121st person to receive the Nobel Prize, the 18th female author to be honored with this award, and the second Korean to be named by the academy (24 years before, former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize).

'I write to question myself'

Han Kang's novel The Vegetarian was well received outside of Korea and was translated and introduced to Vietnamese readers quite early.

Han Kang has been writing consistently in poetry and novels (among many other genres). The Vegetarian is the work that made her internationally famous, and was translated into Vietnamese under the title Nguoi an chay . Her other two books that have been introduced to Vietnamese readers are Ban tinh cua nguoi and Trang . The themes that she focuses on in her relatively wide-ranging works mainly revolve around human pain and loss.

Literary critics and other writers in Korea were also surprised by her victory. Translator and scholar Brother Anthony, who has made great contributions in translating Korean literary works into English, said that Han Kang's works are "not easy to read" because these works deeply touch on the dark side of humanity.

She was having dinner with her son at home in Seoul when her name was announced. In a phone call from a representative of the Swedish Academy informing her that she had won, she said she felt “honored” and “surprised,” but kept her voice calm: “I hope my win will be an encouragement to Korean readers and writers.”

Writing novels, she says, "is a way for me to question myself," but also emphasizes: "I just try to answer my own questions in the process of writing, sticking to the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes demanding." The latest English translation of Han Kang's work, We Do Not Part, will be released next year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/han-kang-tao-hien-tuong-tai-han-quoc-khi-doat-nobel-van-chuong-2024-185241011021908835.htm