Stockholm, Sweden – Nobel laureate Han Kang, the first Korean and Asian woman to win the prestigious literary prize, delivered a poignant and introspective lecture at the Swedish Academy on December 7th. In her speech titled "Light and Thread," Han delved deep into her 31-year writing career, revealing a recurring theme that has underpinned her work: love.
Beginning with a childhood poem written at the age of eight, Han shared how the simple yet profound words she penned have stayed with her throughout her life. "Where is love?" she wrote. "It is inside my thumping heart. What is love? It is the golden thread that connects our hearts."
Han discovered the poem while cleaning out an old shoebox and was struck by how the child's words resonated with her adult self. "The beating heart within me, the space between our hearts, and the golden thread connecting them – a thread of light," she said.
The author went on to discuss her most celebrated works, including "The Vegetarian," "Human Acts," and "The White Book," reflecting on the questions and emotions that drove her writing. She described the intense process of crafting a novel, saying, "A novel, even a short one, takes at least a year, and a long one up to seven years. It's an exchange for a significant portion of my personal life. And that's what I loved about it. The ability to immerse myself in questions that were so important and urgent that I was willing to make such an exchange."
Han offered a particularly detailed account of the genesis of "Human Acts," her novel about the victims of the Gwangju Uprising. She recalled discovering a photo album documenting the massacre when she was a child and the profound impact it had on her. "I was unable to fully comprehend the political significance of those photographs at that young age," she said. "Instead, those mutilated faces were imprinted upon me as a fundamental question about humanity: How can humans do this to each other?"
For many years, Han believed that the central questions driving her work were: "Why is the world so violent and painful? And at the same time, how can the world be so beautiful?" However, she revealed that in recent years, she has come to question this assumption.
"Perhaps, from my first novel to my most recent one, the deepest layer of all my questions has always been directed towards love," she mused. "Could it be that this has been the oldest and most fundamental undertone of my life?"
In conclusion, Han Kang's Nobel lecture offered a deeply personal and insightful look into the mind of one of the world's most celebrated writers. Her exploration of love, loss, and the human condition continues to resonate with readers around the globe.
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