Greek Lessons: From the International Booker Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian

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Filgate, Michele (2023-04-17). "Why 'The Vegetarian' author Han Kang's newly translated novel is her gutsiest yet". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2023-06-23. Han Kang on How Language Misses Its Mark". The New Yorker. 30 January 2023 . Retrieved 23 June 2023. The man, too, must come to terms with the notion that he cannot bend language to his will. He has devoted his whole life to the acquisition and mastery of the written word, the spoken word, the signed word (in addition to teaching Greek, he also knows Korean, German, and German sign language); he clings to that mastery even as his ability to read any of these languages fades. Through a series of letters he writes, we learn that when he was young, he loved a deaf woman whom he lost forever when he asked her to learn to speak verbally—so that when his sight left him and she could no longer sign to him, they could still communicate. It’s only through becoming closer to the woman in his Greek class that he finally understands what he did not in that earlier relationship: that the cultivation of lingua franca demands care and the deepest respect, and is not to be taken for granted or imposed.

Book Review: ‘Greek Lessons,’ by Han Kang - The New York Times

One of the two central protagonists of Han Kang’s Greek Lessons, the 2011 novel from the International Booker prizewinner, which has just been translated from Korean into English, has lost the power of speech. The book explores the extent to which this sudden disappearance of words, which first befell the unnamed woman when she was a teenager and has now recurred at a particularly vulnerable moment in her life, amounts to a more catastrophic rupture with language. For the woman appears almost to repudiate any other ways of communicating, eschewing written notes to her therapist or attempts to convey information through sign language. Montgomery, Charles (15 November 2015). "Review of Han Kang's (한강) "The Vegetarian" ". www.ktlit.com. KTLit. Archived from the original on 28 June 2016 . Retrieved 7 April 2016. Han revealed in an interview at the Seoul ABC book club (7 November 7, 2015) that she wrote this work in longhand, because too much keyboarding had injured her wrist.McAloon, Jonathan (5 January 2016). "Human Acts by Han Kang, review: 'an emotional triumph' ". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016 . Retrieved 7 April 2016. The Man Booker International Prize 2018 shortlist | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-23 . Retrieved 2019-08-23.

Han Kang’s ‘Greek Lessons’ - Frieze Losing Language in Han Kang’s ‘Greek Lessons’ - Frieze

Fan, Jiayang (8 January 2018). "Han Kang and the Complexity of Translation". The New Yorker . Retrieved 21 November 2021. In 2016, "The Vegetarian" became the first Korean-language novel to win the Man Booker International Prize, which was awarded to both its author, Han Kang, and its translator, Deborah Smith. Both a disquieting journey about the loss of sense and a return to the sensorium of touch and intimacy, Greek Lessons soars with sensuous and revelatory insight.”—Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings Han's debut work, A Love of Yeosu, was published in 1995 and attracted attention for its precise and tightly narrated composition. [8] Han wrote The Vegetarian, and its sister-work, Mongolian Mark by hand, as overuse of the computer keyboard had damaged her wrist. [9] It has been reported that in her college years Han became obsessed with a line of poetry by the Korean modernist poet Yi Sang: "I believe that humans should be plants." [5] She understood Yi's line to imply a defensive stance against the violence of Korea's colonial history under Japanese occupation, and took it as an inspiration to write her most successful work, The Vegetarian. The Vegetarian was Han's first novel translated into English, although she had already attracted worldwide attention by the time Deborah Smith translated the novel into English. [10] There has been some controversy over the translation of the novel, as scholars have detected mistakes in it; among other issues, there is concern that Smith may have attributed some of the dialogue to the wrong characters. [11] The translated work won the Man Booker International Prize 2016 for them both. She is the first Korean to be nominated for the award. The work was also chosen as one of "The 10 Best Books of 2016" from NYTimes Book Review. [12] Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive. Han has stated that she suffers periodically from migraines, and credits these migraines with "keeping her humble." [7] Work [ edit ]Cheuk, Leland (April 20, 2023). " 'Greek Lessons' is an intimate, vulnerable portrayal of two lonely people". NPR.

Han Kang - Wikipedia Han Kang - Wikipedia

Han won the 25th Korean Novel Award with her novella Baby Buddha in 1999, the 2000 Today's Young Artist Award, the 2005 Yi-Sang Literary Award with Mongolian Mark, and the 2010 Dong-ni Literary Award with Breath Fighting. Baby Buddha and The Vegetarian have been made into films. The Vegetarian was turned into a movie that was one of only 14 selections (out of 1,022 submissions) for inclusion in the World Narrative Competition of the prestigious North American Film Fest. The film was also a critical success at the Busan International Film Festival. [17] Interview with Han Kang - The White Review". www.thewhitereview.org. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27 . Retrieved 2018-11-27. Greek Lessons (Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won. Penguin Random House, 2023) ISBN 978-0593595275 [26] [27] [28] [29] CORONA, MARCO DEL. "Premio Malaparte ad Han Kang". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{

The Vegetarian: A Novel (Translated by Deborah Smith. Portobello Books, 2015) ISBN 978-1-846275-62-3 [23] Han Kang's 2017 autobiographical novel The White Book centers on the loss of her older sister, a baby who died two hours after her birth. [7] In 2018 Kang became the fifth writer chosen to contribute to the Future Library project.

Greek Lessons, by Han Kang, reviewed The language of love: Greek Lessons, by Han Kang, reviewed

Now and then, language would thrust its way into her sleep like a skewer through meat, startling her awake several times a night."

Non-fiction

a b c "Humans As Plants". english.donga.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019 . Retrieved 13 January 2019. Alter, Alexandra (17 May 2016), "Han Kang Wins Man Booker International Prize for Fiction With 'The Vegetarian' ", The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 May 2016 , retrieved 17 May 2016