[한강, 한국 첫 노벨문학상]
Author Han Kang’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech
“I grew up studying Korean literature from a young age… ‘Never Farewell’ is my favorite
It took 3 years of struggle to write ‘The Vegetarian’… “I will celebrate quietly with my son.”
On the afternoon of the 10th (Korean time), when the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced, novelist Han Kang (54) was having an ordinary day like any other at his home in Jahamun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. I had just finished dinner with my son. I received a call from Sweden. The person who called was Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Nobel Committee, who was about to announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature at 8 p.m. That was the first time I heard that she had become the first Korean and 18th female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. It was a surprise announcement that no one expected.
In a phone interview with the Nobel Committee after the winner was announced that day, Han Kang said, “I am so surprised and honored. “I am truly grateful for the support,” he said. He continued, “I grew up with books since I was young. “I can say that I grew up with Korean literature,” he said. “I hope this news is good news for Korean readers and fellow writers.” When asked how he would celebrate winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, he smiled and said, “I don’t drink alcohol. I will celebrate quietly tonight by having tea with my son after a phone call.”
When asked about the writer who inspired him the most, he said, “Many writers I have seen since I was young have inspired and influenced me. Swedish author Astrid Lindgren is one of them. I loved her ‘The Adventures of the Lion King’ when I was young, and I was able to relate my questions about humanity to that work.” He cited ‘No Goodbye’ as his favorite work and said, “Every writer likes their most recent work.” Regarding ‘The Vegetarian’, which won the Man Booker Prize, he said, “I had a very difficult time writing it for three years. “It was a work in which I struggled very hard to find appropriate images to appear in the book,” he explained.
Han Kang has consistently delved into the tragic modern history of Korea. In a special lecture at the World Hangul Writers’ Conference last November, he explained the process of writing ‘The Boy Is Coming’ based on the May 18 Democratization Movement and said, “The act of looking into humans in history can be said to be the act of standing on the other side of violence. . “Drawing on events in history ultimately means asking questions about human nature,” he said. ‘The Boy Is Coming’ tells the story of what happens after Dong-ho, a third-year middle school student during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, witnesses the death of his friend Jeong-dae.
Han Kang said, “To write a novel, I read a collection of testimonies from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for about a month. As I read the testimonies of about 900 people, I felt like I was experiencing fragments of the situation at the time.” Han Kang, who was born in Gwangju in 1970 and came to Seoul in 1980, said that he first began to think seriously about death after seeing the May 18 incident in his hometown.
In an interview with Dong-A Ilbo when he won the Inchon Award in 2019, he told a story about his childhood. Thanks to his father, novelist Han Seung-won, he grew up surrounded by books everywhere from a young age. He said, “Because I could enter the world of books, the real world was not absolute, and being able to live in two worlds helped me as a child.”
It is said that he began to take novels seriously around his third year of middle school. After studying at a university and getting a job at a publishing company, I wrote while sleeping only 3 to 4 hours at a time. He said that he wrote novels with perseverance rather than enthusiasm or passion.
He is a writer who stays away when writing and concentrates solely on his work. Han Kang said, “I have been taking my time so far to complete the novel I want to write. “The results are beyond our control,” he said. “Only those who are in the process of writing are writers, and fortunately, since I am writing now, I am still a writer.” However, he said that sometimes he dreams of a world outside of novels.
“I want to calmly re-record the songs I wrote and sang before. In the meantime, I also added some newly created songs. I would like to title the album based on a line from a play I saw a long time ago, ‘Our life is too short even for hugs.’ “It’s just a daydream right now, but maybe someday I’ll have that freedom.”
Reporter Kim Sang-woon [email protected]
Reporter Park Seon-hee [email protected]
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- I recommend it
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