Han Kang shortlisted for Man Booker International Prize

Korean literature is generally translated into English by Koreans who are good at English. Meanwhile, English literature is translated into Korean by Koreans who are good at English. It is true that such asymmetry presented an obstacle to introducing Korean literature to other countries. Deborah Smith, a Ph.D. student of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, learned Korean and translated Han Kang’s "The Vegetarian" into English. It would be more touching to readers in English speaking countries.

"The Vegetarian" has been shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. The six final candidates include Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize winner. The Man Booker International Prize is a sister prize of the Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s three literary awards, along with the Nobel Prize in Literature and Goncourt Prize of France. The Man Booker Prize goes to a writer from the Commonwealth while the Man Booker International Prize goes to an author and a translator outside the Commonwealth. The winner will be announced on May 16.

An ordinary wife becomes a vegetarian one day. She sticks to vegetarianism to the extent that she throws away shoes because they are made of leather. She recalls a memory about a dog that was brutally slaughtered by her father for biting her and she was forced to eat. After sensing brutality inside her, she starts self-destruction as a form of punishment to herself. It is terrifying to see her who wanted to rather become a plant holding a bird whose neck was bitten off (probably by her) after being carried to a hospital, implying human beings’ fundamental brutality.

I first read Han Kang’s novel when she published "A Boy Is Coming," a novel with a background of the democratic movement in Gwangju, in 2014. I stopped reading "The Greek Class" in 2011 because the introduction was slightly boring. "The Vegetarian" was first published in 2007. I read it belatedly after learning that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. It is surprising that the translator recognized the value of the book and translated it. Hopefully, Han who inherited talent from her father, novelist Han Seung-won, and met a good translator can win the award.