Han Kang's 'Last Work' to be Published in 2114... Manuscript Already Submitted

Participation in the 2014 Norway Project
Manuscript Scheduled for Release 90 Years Later

The final work of Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, has already been decided. It is a work to be published in 2114, and Han Kang has reportedly already submitted the manuscript for the novel.

The title is Dear Son, My Beloved, but only the title has been revealed; the content, length, format, and theme remain undisclosed. The manuscript is unpublished.

Author Han Kang sealing an unpublished manuscript in the forest of the Future Library in Oslo, Norway, 2019
Photo by Yonhap News

In fact, this work was created for the Norwegian "Future Library" project, initiated in 2014 under the leadership of conceptual artist Katie Paterson from Scotland, UK. The Future Library project plans to collect unpublished works from 100 authors over 100 years, one author per year, and reveal them in the final year, 2114. The paper for the books will be made from trees planted in the forests outside Oslo, the capital of Norway, with a total of 1,000 trees expected to be used.

Before Han Kang, renowned authors considered strong candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature, such as Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausg?rd, participated in the project. Han Kang was reportedly the fifth participant and the first Asian author to join. In May 2019, Han Kang delivered the manuscript of Dear Son, My Beloved to the Future Library forest.

At that time, Han Kang brought a white cloth from Korea to seal the manuscript and said, "It felt as if my manuscript was marrying this forest." She added, "It was like a small funeral waiting to be reborn, and also like a lullaby for a long sleep gently caressing the earth." The manuscript is still kept at the Oslo library.

Han Kang actually has one son. Some speculate that this novel was written in the form of a letter to her son and contains messages about humanity’s present and future.

Han Kang also mentioned the Future Library project during a lecture at the Seoul International Book Fair the same year. She explained the purpose by saying, "The project itself is about taking action amid the uncertainty of 100 years from now when we will all be gone," and added, "It was like a prayer for the future, and I wrote with that feeling in mind."