South Korean writer Han Kang, author of novels and poems, won this Thursday (10) the Nobel Prize for Literature for “his intense poetic prose, which confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”, announced the Swedish academy.
Han Kang, 53, is the first South Korean to receive the prestigious Literature award.
Parallel to writing, the author dedicated herself to art and music, which is reflected in all of her literary work.
“Han Kang’s work is characterized by this double exposure of pain, a correspondence between mental torment and physical torment, in close relationship with Eastern thought,” stated the Swedish academy.
The author, born on November 27, 1970 in Gwanju, South Korea, has “a unique awareness of the relationships between the body and the soul, the living and the dead and, due to her poetic and experimental style, is considered an innovator in the field of contemporary prose”, declared the president of the Nobel Committee, Anders Olsson, to the press.
Han Kang became internationally known with her novel “The Vegetarian” (2007). Written in three parts, the work describes the violent consequences of its protagonist, Yeong-hye’s, refusal to eat meat, which provokes brutal rejection from her surroundings.
Another South Korean who received a Nobel Prize (the Peace Prize) was former president (1998 to 2003) Kim Dae-Jung in 2000 for “his work for peace and reconciliation with North Korea”.
Last year, Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse received the prestigious Literature award.
