[Literary Criticism] The Botanic Subjectivity and the Communal Imagination: From The Vegetarian to Human Acts - the Trajectory and Significance of the Novels by Han Kang / Shin Saetbyeol
The Quarterly Changbi 172, Summer 2016
Abstract
Shin Sat-byul examines the novels by Han Kang in a delicately, yet pointed style, including The Vegetarian, the 2016 Man Booker International Prize-winning novel, with the main points of "the botanic subjectivity" and "the sense of Out-Of-Body". The critic asks the questions, in The Vegetarian, whether "the botanic subjects" can stand up on their own against the reality devouring them like a starving beast, and in Human Acts, the novel of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and its aftermath, if we can overcome the violence inflicted by the power of the state, and furthermore the personal wounds deeply inscribed in our bodies. Han Kang's novels, both lyrical and lacerating, are proven to be the most fiercely struggling battlefield "fighting against the closed future".