According to the Nobel Prize website, Han Kang was born on Nov. 27, 1970; she currently resides in Seoul, South Korea; she was the sole recipient of the prize; and she was awarded the prize “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” She has written eight novels, The Vegetarian being one of her more well known pieces. She has also written some short stories and poetry. She is obviously a popular novelist, incredibly talented and apparently, deserving of the Nobel Prize. This begs the question:
Why haven’t I heard of her before?
This isn’t just an issue for this year either. If we look at the past Literature prize recipients, I do not recognize any of the names from the past 25 years, except for Bob Dylan, who apparently won it in 2016, and personally, I think he’s an odd choice for a Literature prize. Besides him, the most recent name that I recognize is Seamus Heaney, who won in 1995.
Of course there are some obvious reasons for not being aware of certain Nobel laureates, like for example, the fact that I am more interested in poetic work than prosaic work, and thus the likelihood of being familiar with a Nobel Prize-winning poet is higher than being familiar with a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, personally speaking. And this goes for anyone with different interests. As well, there is the fact that she is Korean; unfortunately, my interactions with non-English literary work has been minimal. Still, her work has been translated into many languages, including English.
She certainly seems to have rather popular work. Perhaps the Nobel committee was simply picking on popularity? No, this can’t be true; as I said, I have never heard of her. Well then, the quality of her work, certainly, must be how it was ascertained. Is she actually a good novelist? Absolutely, her work has won previous awards as well. The question still remains…
What I am getting at here, somewhat facetiously, is that she is absolutely a writer both qualified and deserving of the prize, in every aspect. The Nobel committee goes through a rigorous eight-step process which includes obtaining nominations and becoming familiarized with the nominees and their work. The question that has been posed is not the correct question to ask. Kang’s win actually defies the previously asked question; now I have heard of her. This is part of the function of the Nobel Prize, which is recognizing achievements and people doing great things.
If anyone has been looking to pick up a new book recently, the Nobel committee has suddenly made your search a lot easier. I would agree; although I have not read through the entirety of her works, I have familiarized myself with The Vegetarian and it is a rich text indeed. The book is split into three sections. It follows a South Korean woman who has violent dreams regarding animals which prompts her to make the decision to become a vegetarian. She has written poetry as well — I read two of her works in translation. I can attest that she writes poignantly in “Pitch-Black House of Light.” I recognize how her poetic writing carries prosaic qualities and vice versa. A contemporary writer worthy of the global stage, Kang is more than just the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is a reminder of the abundance of beautiful writing that exists just around the corner, and we should absolutely take that step to find it.
Caidan Pilarski is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at [email protected].