[Exclusive Interview] Nobel Laureate Han Kang: ‘Novels Connect Us All’

Han Kang

Novelist Han Kang, who won the most recent Nobel Prize in Literature medal, said in an interview with the Maeil Business Newspaper on the morning of October 10th, 2024, a few hours before the winner was announced, that “novels are a vital thread that connects us.”

The author, who won the honor eight years after winning the Booker Prize for her serial novel ‘The Vegetarian,’ also proved that Korean literature had joined its global peers through the sheer power of her words alone. Korean literature has now overcome the barrier to the Nobel Prize in Literature that even Haruki Murakami, Milan Kundera, and Jorge Luis Borges could not overcome, with Han also becoming the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Maeil Business Newspaper conducted an exclusive interview with Han over a period of several days. She won France’s Prix Médicis and Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature as well as Korea’s Pony Chung Innovation Award, and Ho-Am Award.

In two written interviews, Han said, “Language is the thread that connects us, and literature also has this power,” adding that “it is not easy to show the deep truth in our daily lives. When writers deal with the important emotions, deep questions, and sensations that shake us beneath the surface in their works, readers suddenly rediscover those things within themselves.”

“To me, novels are something that continues and on” and “are a series of questions rather than a series of stories. The questions preoccupy me at any given time, and I write novels in a way that advances them.”

Chinese female novelist Can Xue was originally named as the most likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024. Yōko Tawada, a female writer known as ‘Japan’s Franz Kafka,’ was also mentioned as a likely Asian candidate.

With the academy’s choice of a Korean author rather than one from China or Japan, Korean literature, which had been on the sidelines of world literature, suddenly moved to its center. Han’s accolade was some that was only expected to be achievable in another 10 years, to the extent that her name was not even mentioned on European betting sites. However, the academy‘s unconventional choice on this day exceeded everyone’s expectations, and Han promoted Korean literature to Europe and the rest of the world. Born in 1970, the 53-year-old author won the accolade at a younger age than Olga Tokarchuk, who won the award in 2018 and was 56 years old at the time of award.

According to The Guardian, Han had a call with Swedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm immediately after receiving the award, and “was having an ordinary day it seemed - had just finished supper with her son” when she received news of her win. She told the Korean media shortly afterwards, “I am incredibly surprised and honored. All the efforts and the strength of the various writers who have influenced me since childhood were my inspiration.”