Booker Prize Voted for Vegetarianism

LONDON. International Booker will leave for the first time in South Korea.

It took 11 years and the passionate desire of young Deborah Smith to learn Korean exotic for Britain, so that the novel "The Vegetarian" (The Vegetarian) Han Kang (Han Kang) reached the English-speaking reader. Acquaintance with a talented and popular writer in his country, though belatedly, but took place. The unanimous choice of the Booker jury in favor of the exciting and refined prose of the Korean author demonstrated the timeliness of this event.

The novel, published by Portobello Books, talks about the decision of the main character to completely eliminate meat from her diet. Vegetarianism is an attempt not to participate in the barbarism reigning in the surrounding world. The metamorphoses that occur with her lead to difficult trials.

For the daughter of the famous prose writer Han Sungwon, the printed word from early childhood was of particular value. The desire to write something herself was inspired by the story of Im Chor about the history of a small village. More than 20 years have passed since then, during which several poetic and prose collections were published: “Your cold hands”, “Love Yosu”, “Here comes the boy” about the victims and tragedies of the 1980 Gwangju uprising, “Greek Lessons” about relations a blind man and a speechless woman.

Han Kang compares writing to observing the flame of a burning match. She is called an impressionist who is able to subtly reflect the movements of the soul and see hope in the most hopeless darkness. Kang combines literary activity with teaching at the Institute of Arts.

According to the rules of the International Booker, the cash equivalent of the prize - 50 thousand pounds - will be divided between Han Kang and translator Deborah Smith.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru