Nobel Literature Laureate Han Kang Sparks Overseas Craze
Loss Reported at Belgian Korean Cultural Center Library
Han Kang's Works Gain Attention in UK, Japan, and More
Interest in Han Kang, the Nobel Prize-winning author, is also intense overseas, and recently, a book by Han Kang was stolen from the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium. According to Yonhap News on the 15th (local time), one copy of Han Kang's representative work, The Vegetarian, which was placed in the library on the first floor of the Korean Cultural Center in Brussels, Belgium, went missing the previous afternoon.
Works by Han Kang displayed at the Korean Cultural Center in Brussels, Belgium. [Image source=Instagram capture]
After Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature on the 10th, the Cultural Center anticipated a surge of interest locally and set up a special corner in the library to display several of Han Kang's representative works. They also announced the availability of the books and the library's opening hours through the Cultural Center’s official Instagram account.
The Cultural Center stated, “After the weekend, we confirmed the loss of the book shortly after the library opened yesterday (14th). Among the various works by Han Kang on display, the Korean edition of The Vegetarian, not a translated version, disappeared. Our staff are aware that there are closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and considering that outsiders can enter the library at any time, we suspect it was an act by an outsider. We believe this incident happened due to the high level of interest in the Nobel Prize award.”
On the morning of the 14th, a space celebrating novelist Han Kang, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, was set up at Kyobo Bookstore Gwanghwamun Branch in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Books by 'Nobel laureate' Han Kang are experiencing scarcity both domestically and internationally. Currently, it is nearly impossible to purchase his books at bookstores and libraries, and on secondhand trading sites, it is common to see them sold at a premium. On one secondhand trading cafe, a signed first edition of Han Kang’s essay collection Gaman Gaman Bureuneun Norae was listed for sale at 700,000 KRW.
The same trend is seen overseas. The Han Kang fever continues in the UK, where her representative work The Vegetarian was honored with the Man Booker Prize. According to Yonhap News on the 12th, at Waterstones Trafalgar Square, a large bookstore in central London, Han Kang’s books were sold out on the day the Nobel Prize announcement was made. At another large nearby bookstore, Foyles Charing Cross, a 'Han Kang Special Corner' was set up in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center in the UK, displaying her books in the original Korean language, which also sold out within a day.
Interest in Han Kang’s works is also prominent in Japan. On the 15th, the Japanese translation of the novel White ranked second on Amazon Japan’s bestseller list, and on Rakuten Books, the translated versions of The Vegetarian, Boy Goes to Heaven, and We Do Not Say Goodbye took the top three spots in the foreign novel sales category. Following these, White ranked fifth, and Gaman Gaman Bureuneun Norae ranked ninth. As Han Kang’s works gained popularity at Japan’s leading bookstore Kinokuniya, it was reported that a purchase limit of “one copy per member” was imposed on the sales page.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
