THE WHITE BOOK becomes a meditation on. 9am-6pm from Saturday to Thursday, Friday being Closed. Han Kang ( born November 27, 1970) is a South Korean writer. While on a writer's residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. Two-storey houses lit like flowers, A collection of short stories and poetry, providing a portrait of family life after the death of an infant. Le Clézio considered her the future winner of Nobel Prize in Literature. when you are not peering at it for a moment and hum carelessly. But when the English language version got back to Korea, it caused an uproar. What are you dreaming, hovering like that? Born in South Korea in 1970, Han Kang made her literary debut as a poet in 1993. A place that stays cold Han Kang, right, and the translator Deborah Smith, at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Author. She currently works as a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. and my body, companion to my soul Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. She made her literary debut as a poet by publishing five poems, including “Winter in Seoul”, in the winter issue of Munhak-gwa-sahoe (Literature and Society) in 1993. I don’t reach out my hand The kind of woman whose goodness is oppressive.”. Find out now that people are following you or liking and commenting on your poems or quotes. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. Written while on a writer's residency in Warsaw, a city palpably scarred by the violence of the past, the narrator finds herself haunted by the story of her older sister, who died a mere two hours after birth. winter waits and Han wrote The Vegetarian, and its sister-work, Mongolian Mark by hand, as overuse of the computer keyboard had damaged her wrist. Copyright © Han Kang all rights reserved Two-storey houses lit like flowers, […] shivered with each falling tear. don’t want to reach out your hand The readings in this podcast were recorded and edited by James Bull. Pitch-Black House of Light That day in Ui-dong sleet fell and my body, companion to my soul shivered with each falling tear. Slipping stubbornly through fingers. I cannot avoid your eyes and Han Kang’s The White Book comes across as something different from this author’s Man Booker International Prize winner (The Vegetarian) but still feels very much the same. foolishly reached out a hand. What memory 188 pgs. If the suffering of this city silently overtakes shaped eye go into the mirror they said. ... Ms. Han, a celebrated writer who has been publishing fiction and poetry … Both the most autobiographical and the most experimental book to date from South Korean master Han Kang. It has been reported that in her college years Han became obsessed with a line of poetry from Yi Sang: "I believe that humans should be plants." The sky was dark and in that darkness To follow two successful novels with such an experiment might seem an anomaly to fiction lovers, but if it wins Kang new fans in the poetry world or further afield, that’s no bad thing. the thing which flickers most Han Kang (author), Deborah Smith (translator), The Vegetarian, Hogarth, 2016. peers beyond my eyes. She didnt understand why, but faced with those decaying buildings and straggling grasses, she was nothing but a child who had never lived.”, “Or perhaps it was simply that things were happening inside her, terrible things, which no one else could even guess at, and thus it was impossible for her to engage with everyday life at the same time.”, “Her life was no more than a ghostly pageant of exhausted endurance, no more real than a television drama. I should take time to wash my face. Themes and images migrate from one book to another. Read 2 403 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. shines so brightly? Now my city is spring morning, if you pass through the core of the earth, bore straight through the middle without wavering, that city appears, the time difference there exactly twelve hours behind, the season exactly half a year behind so that city is now an autumn evening, as though silently following someone that city follows behind mine, to cross over the night to cross over winter I wait silently, while my city outruns that one like somebody silently overtaking, Inside the mirror winter is waiting you also A cold place Tightly fold twenty-four hours pop it in your mouth and Since the age of ten, She grew up in Suyuri, Seoul, after her family moved there. From Booker Prize-winner and literary phenomenon Han Kang, a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief, written through the prism of the color white. HAN KANG was born in 1970 in South Korea. The Fruit of My Woman contains eight novellas and short stories written when she was in her 20s. Are you hesitating? In 1993 she made her literary debut as a poet, and was first published as a novelist in 1994. Han's debut work, A Love of Yeosu, was published in 1995 and attracted attention because it was precisely and tightly narrated. heart Han Kang was born in the 1970s. Instead it is only a white city, white for its snow and white for its stone ruins. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. It’s too cold Her writing has won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. do not know how to close (together) Modern Poetry in Translation No. There I looked up and inside the lightshade Han Kang was born in Gwangju in 1970 and moved to Seoul at the age of ten, later studying Korean literature at Yonsei University. 1970) is a South Korean author of novels, poetry, and short stories. and that Han interpreted this to be a defensive stance against the violence of the colonial period and took th… Author's Profile. What dream is so lovely? lean against the frosty back of the mirror Poem Hunter all poems of by Han Kang poems. As a young writer, she has already won several important prizes, including the Yi Sang Literary Award. the hottest brightest thing How many times would I have to die to fly like that? resident birds and towards a land of joy as yet untouched Han Kang is a novelist, poet, and a professor of creative writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts. that which surrounds again Nobody could hold my hand. “The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. Han Kang was born in Gwangju, South Korea, and moved to Seoul at the age of ten. Her writing has won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. The White Book is a reflection of the colour White; part meditation, part poetry, Han Kang … you return and peer at me, My eyes are two candle stubs sliding drips of wax as they consume the wick, it is not searing nor painful, they say that the quivering of the bluish flame core is the coming of souls, souls sit on my eyes and quiver, they hum, the outer flame swaying in the distance sways to get further off, tomorrow you leave for the furthest city, here I am ablaze, now you put your hands into the tomb of the void and wait, memory bites your fingers like a snake, you are not seared nor in pain, your unflinching face does not burn or shatter, Published in The Blue Vein, 2016 Number 3. that which surrounds it An utterly cold place Han Kang (b. half-transparent outer flame cannot shatter She received the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian (2015, Portobello Books, translated by Deborah Smith. Towards memories forming on a streetlamp, I walked. Pitch-black orange inner flame Han Kang. pupils cannot waver 0 poems of Han Kang. Its author, Han Kang, is a poet, short story writer and novelist who has for years been one of South Korea’s best kept secrets. 1 – 50th Anniversary Microsite. This beguiling conceit lies at the heart of Han Kang’s extraordinary novel The Vegetarian, where a seemingly trivial change in the life […] All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge... Han Kang ( born November 27, 1970) is a South Korean writer. Her other publications available in … Get on your way. Han Kang's "The Vegetarian" became a prizewinning international hit. 서랍에 저녁을 넣어 두었다 | I Put The Evening In The Drawer 2013 Poetry Novel Short Story Poetry. The following bio is taken from Han Kang’s site: ‘Han Kang was born in Gwangju in 1970. Han Kang was born in Gwangju, South Korea, and moved to Seoul at the age of ten. Inside the mirror Once I unpack in a room in that city The readings in this podcast were recorded and edited by James Bull. You don’t want to reach out your hand, They said we would fly for an entire day. Sand And she frequently forgot, That her body (all our bodies) is a house of sand. your (once frozen) face It’s too cold raking through my dishevelled eyebrows She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. She has since published novels and short fiction and won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Literary Prize. Author of ten books of fiction and poetry in her native Korean, Han’s subversive work has been brought onto the Anglophone stage through close partnership with her award-winning translator Deborah Smith. See below. She made her literary debut as a poet in 1993 and has since published collections of short stories including Love in Yeosu , A Yellow Patterned Eternity , and The Fruits of My Woman as well as novels including Your Cold Hand , Black Deer , Greek Lessons and The Vegetarian . Human Acts book. You can find out more about The White Book by Han Kang on the Portobello Books website . I will silently lag behind and That day in Ui-dong In 2016, she won the Man Booker International Prize for fiction for ‘The Vegetarian’ (2007/2015). was a pitch-black house. Death, who now stood by her side, was as familiar to her as a family member, missing for a long time but now returned.”, “Shes a good woman, he thought. Inside the mirror Her devotion to doing things the right way had been unflagging, all her successes had depended on it, and she would have gone on like that indefinitely. She had believed in her own inherent goodness, her humanity, and lived accordingly, never causing anyone harm. Han Kang. sleet fell She had never lived. Bluish Books Archive Artwork Biography Contact. She won the Man Booker International Prize for fiction in 2016 for The Vegetarian, a novel which deals with a woman’s decision to stop eating meat and its devastating consequences. Peer at the pupil of a flame. flew up casting off the weight of their bodies. That it had shattered and is shattering still. What are you dreaming, hovering like that? A cold place house of light. Are you hesitating? striking frozen cheeks and again She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. objects cannot tremble Moreover, French master J.M.G. The novel is also the first of her books to be translated into English. Han Kang is a disquieting storyteller who leads the reader into the very heart of human experience, where the singular crosses the universal. However, partly because this novel has been published one by one in different languages for nine years, I still feel close to this book, mostly because this novel is intertwined with my recent one, Human Acts.Although these two works look very different, I feel that they are a pair. Copyright © 2021 Modern Poetry in Translation and contributors. She won the Man Booker International Prize for fiction in 2016 for The Vegetarian, a novel which deals with a woman’s decision to stop eating meat and its devastating consequences. Exclusively for Foyles we talked to Han Kang and her translator Deborah Smith on the morning of the announcement that Han had won the International Man Booker Prize 2016. eyelids the bluish eye of a flame and spat it out nudged with your hot tongue Han Kang has received the Man Booker International Prize 2016, the Yi Sang Literary Award, Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Literature Prize.English translations of her books include The Vegetarian (Portobello, 2015), Human Acts (Portobello, 2016), and The White Book (Portobello, 2018). Han Kang. Its author, Han Kang, is a poet, short story writer and novelist who has for years been one of South Korea’s best-kept secrets. depart for the furthest city Themes and images migrate from one book to another. this morning The outer layer of your skin, the epidermis, replaces itself every 35 days. Han Kang is a writer whose books are in conversation with each other. tomorrow morning, the morning I Poems are the property of their respective owners. For the longest time, literary works from Korea have been relatively underappreciated by the rest of the world, partly due to lack of translation. Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise, The Road Not Taken, If You Forget Me, Dreams It was a fact. A line of dialogue that appears in one novel forms the basis of the next. Han Kang wrote it whilst living in Warsaw, though in the book the city is never named explicitly. Han Kang: Whenever I finish a novel, somehow I feel I am expelled from it. Help: +8801711091274. Until, having tightly folded twenty-four hours Become a vegetarian, better yet a vegan, and soon enough your body will be formed almost completely from plant matter. About Han Kang. Sleet, like the tips of mother’s fingers, beneath them I learned agony A participant in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa,… More about Han Kang Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. Join us for a rare American visit by Han Kang, one of the most prominent novelists in contemporary world literature. Read all poems of Han Kang and infos about Han Kang. In an interview with Granta , Kang said that when writing this book, she imagined her prematurely dead sister had lived and visited the city ‘in … stroking that same spot. 2007/2015 ) for fiction for ‘ the Vegetarian '' became a prizewinning International hit prominent novelists in contemporary world.! Autobiographical and the most experimental book to date from South Korean writer translated into English sleet and... 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