"Never Thought I'd Read the Nobel Literature Prize Winner in the Original Language"... Purchase Verification Posts Follow One After Another

Netizens React to Han Kang's Nobel Literature Prize Win
"A Korean Nobel Laureate... Feels a Bit Unfamiliar"

"Living my life, the day has come when I read a Nobel Literature Prize-winning work in its original language."

With writer Han Kang being selected as the Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Korean readers can now read the 'original text' written in Korean. Netizens are congratulating Han Kang, saying, "Finally, we are reading the Nobel Prize-winning work in the original, not the translation."

On the 11th, numerous posts certifying the purchase of Han Kang's books were uploaded on various online communities. Netizens expressed their feelings, saying, "It's strange that a globally recognized writer is Korean, not a foreigner," and "I bought the original text of a Nobel Prize-winning work."

Novelist Han Kang has been selected as this year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. [Source=Yonhap News]

One netizen shared an article stating that the publisher 'Changbi' is considering publishing a 'Nobel Literature Prize Edition' compiling Han Kang's works, saying, "Now I will arrogantly read the works of a Nobel laureate in the original while half-lying down," and added, "English-speaking readers will have to struggle a bit."

Korean literature has long attempted to win the Nobel Literature Prize several times but often faced disappointment. Some regarded writer Ko Un as the 'top Korean Nobel candidate' due to his global reputation, but there had been no news for over a decade.

Meanwhile, authors like Mo Yan from China and Orhan Pamuk from Turkey overcame the limitations of non-Western writers and received the Nobel Prize. However, with this year's Nobel Literature Prize awarded to Han Kang, Korean readers can now proudly read the works in the 'original text' rather than translations.

Meanwhile, the Swedish Academy announced on the 10th (local time) that Han Kang was selected as the literature prize winner and introduced seven of his representative works: Your Cold Hand, The Vegetarian, Greek Lessons, Human Acts, White, Never Let Me Go, and Recovering Human.

In particular, the Academy noted Han Kang's resonance with victims crushed by historical tragedies through his works. Regarding the 2014 novel Human Acts, which deals with the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, they commented that it "faces brutal reality head-on and approaches 'testimonial literature' through it."

Han Kang's achievement in winning the Nobel Prize is also credited to the translator. Deborah Smith, who translated his representative works such as The Vegetarian into English, has conveyed Han Kang's literary sensibility to English-speaking readers. Originally from the UK, she studied Korean independently while pursuing her master's and doctoral degrees in Korean Studies at SOAS, University of London, and reportedly took charge of translating and promoting The Vegetarian within just three years.