Han River Wins France's Medici Prize, One of the Four Major Literary Awards... 'First Korean Work'

Jeju 4·3 Incident Tragedy Portrayed Through the Eyes of Three Women
Following the 2016 Booker Prize, Another Honor Earned

Novelist Han Kang (53) was selected as the recipient of the French M?dicis Foreign Literature Prize on the 9th (local time). This is the first time a Korean writer has won the M?dicis Prize.

Writer Han Kang is being interviewed by Korean correspondents at a local publisher after winning the M?dicis Foreign Literature Prize, one of France's four major literary awards, on the 9th (local time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The M?dicis Literature Prize jury announced that among French-translated novels, Han Kang's Works Do Not Say Goodbye and Portuguese writer L?dia Jorge's Virginity were chosen as joint winners of the Foreign Literature Prize.

Previously, Han Kang was a finalist in the same category in 2017 with Greek Lessons. Writers Hwang Sok-yong and Lee Seung-u were also nominees but were unsuccessful each time.

Established in 1958, the M?dicis Prize is considered one of France's four major literary awards alongside the Prix Goncourt, Prix Renaudot, and Prix Femina. The Foreign Literature Prize has been awarded since 1970. Notable recipients include Milan Kundera, Umberto Eco, Paul Auster, and Orhan Pamuk.

The novel Works Do Not Say Goodbye is a full-length novel published domestically in 2021, marking Han Kang's first book release in five years after winning the Booker Prize. The story follows the protagonist, novelist Gyeongha, who visits her friend Inseon’s home in Jeju Island after Inseon suffers a finger amputation accident. There, Gyeongha revisits painful past memories relying on the recollections of Inseon’s mother, Jeongshim. The novel explores the Jeju 4.3 Incident and its wounds through the perspectives of three women.

In France, it was published in August by Grasset with a translation by Choi Kyung-ran and Pierre Vigiou. The French title is Impossibles adieux (Impossible Farewells).

In a review, Le Monde described the work as "a very realistic writing that reveals the heroine’s mental landscape and inner world through dream sequences," adding, "Readers are drawn into the heroine’s narrative skill, immersing themselves in a wondrous fantasy without losing sight of the realistic and historical context."

At the time of publication, Han Kang said, "I think I wrote the novel holding onto the belief that we are connected. Such thoughts come to mind in the face of all innocent deaths. Even amidst the many deaths we encounter these days, I continue to hold onto that thought." She added, "After writing Works Do Not Say Goodbye, I was unable to write for over a year. I wanted to recover the routine of gathering my thoughts and going to my desk every morning to write, to start the day that way again."

Han Kang won the UK Booker Prize (then the Man Booker International Prize) in 2016 for The Vegetarian. She later received the Italian Malaparte Literary Prize in 2017 for Human Acts and the Spanish San Clemente Literary Prize in 2018 for The Vegetarian.