Human Acts
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Human Acts (Korean: 소년이 온다; RR: Sonyeoni onda) is a South Korean novel written by Han Kang.[1] The novel draws upon the democratization uprising that occurred on May 18, 1980, in Gwangju, Korea. In the novel, one boy's death provides the impetus for a dimensional look into the Gwangju uprising and the lives of the people in that city. Human Acts won Korea's Manhae Prize for Literature and Italy's Malaparte Prize.[2]
Plot
[edit]Human Acts deals with the May 1980 Gwangju uprising and the death of the young boy Kang Dong-ho. The novel is composed of seven chapters including the final epilogue, with each chapter tracing the passage of time from the incident in the 1980s to the present day. At the same time, the narrative expands to describe the impact that this incident had on other people.
The first chapter follows Kang Dong-ho and his circumstances at the time of the May uprising, while introducing the people in his life. The characters that are introduced in this initial chapter later appear as the narrator or central protagonist in the following chapters. The second chapter follows the story of Dong-ho's friend Jeong-dae, who died in the May uprising. The protagonist in the third chapter is Eun-sook, who worked with Dong-ho to collect the dead bodies after the Gwangju uprising. Eun-sook is living in the mid-1980s and works at a publishing agency. The fourth chapter traces the arc of Kim Jin-su, who was jailed for his involvement in the Gwangju uprising. He had spent time with Dong-ho and Jin-su and was the only boy who survived. Unable to bear his guilt, however, Jin-su takes his own life nearly ten years after the May 18 uprising. The narrator of the fifth chapter is Seon-ju, who suffered terrible sexual torture during the uprising and is working as an activist in the present day. The sixth chapter is a current-day soliloquy by Dong-ho's mother, while in the epilogue, the author herself appears as the narrator. In this manner, Kang Dong-ho's death and the confessions and testimonies of the people who remember him compose the framework of the novel.[3]
Development and publication
[edit]Human Acts was serialized in the literary blog Window (창문) run by Changbi, a Korean publishing house, from November 2013, to January 2014. Later, Human Acts was published in novel form, as the author's sixth full-length novel.[4] The novel is inspired by the Gwangju democratic movement that occurred on May 18, 1980,[5] a major incident in Korea's contemporary history. The author, Han Kang, has once remarked that her life was changed when her father showed her an album of photographs from the Gwangju uprising.[6] Han conducted extensive research and reportage before writing a work of fiction based on such an unimaginably violent historical incident.[7] At the time of her writing, the author has said there were times she couldn't write more than three lines a day, due to the emotionally heavy toll of the incident. However, Han herself has said that Human Acts remains her most cherished work.[8]
The novel's original title was You, In the Summer to shed light on the fact that spring has passed and summer has come, with the boy no longer alive to welcome the new season. The title was also intended to hint at how cruel summer can be.[9] The ultimate title Human Acts was decided at the last minute. The young protagonist in the novel is merely referred to as “you” throughout the book, and the novel hauntingly makes it seem as if he is traveling across time from the 1980s to the present day. The boy is dead and can no longer be seen, but his presence can be felt each time the people who knew him calls for him.[10]
Reception
[edit]Both the author and her critics have hailed Human Acts as her most representative work. Although the novel describes an incident familiar to most Korean readers, critics pointed out that the book was able to maintain its pace and tension until the end largely thanks to the power of Han's writing.[11] According to Book Marks, a literary review aggregator, the book received "positive" reviews based on 16 critic reviews with 8 being "rave" and 6 being "positive" and 1 being "mixed" and 1 being "pan".[12] On Bookmarks Magazine Mar/Apr 2017 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a 
(4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews.[13]
During the Park Geun-hye administration, Human Acts was excluded from inclusion into the Sejong Library project[14] for reasons of ideological bias (books featuring keywords such as May 18, North Korea, Kaesong Industrial Complex, Karl Marx, etc. were largely excluded from the same list), and Han Kang was placed on the blacklist of professionals in the culture and the arts.
Style and themes
[edit]Human Acts was written in the author's characteristically poetic, succinct style.[15] Rather than discussing the heavy, somber ramifications of the Gwangju uprising or using titillating language, Han Kang chose to portray the grief of the individual people in a concise, boiled-down style. To appear authentic, the testimonies are offered individually across different chapters, by different narrators, in different styles, and in different forms. Together, these stories create a nuanced, dimensional look at the Gwangju uprising.[16] To ensure the readers can appreciate the novel in a more deliberate, measured pace, some of the passages have been italicized to slow the readers down.[17]
The characters in Human Acts are average citizens. The novel illustrates how these people respond to the sudden tragedy that befell them.[18] Rather than reenacting the historical incident, the author chose to place the perspectives squarely on the people who endured the horrific accident and the trauma they have had to carry since.[19]
Human Acts asks fundamental questions about the still-open wounds inflicted by state violence and human brutality. In the book, it is asked, "What does it mean to be human? What should we do, to make sure humans don't become something?" This question is central to the novel[20] and leads to the understanding that survivors must discuss the incident, record it, and remember it to make sure the unfortunate event, where the victims were their own neighbors, our friends, and our family members, will not repeat itself. The most fundamental way to make sure a painful historical event does not repeat itself is to remember what happened. The author herself has said she wants this novel not to expose or accuse, but rather to serve as a testimony and a gesture of mourning.[21]
Adaptations
[edit]Human Acts was adapted for a theatrical production May 18 in Poland in October 2019.[22] This was the first play produced in Europe that deals with the May 18 uprising. The May 18 Memorial Foundation provided material to inform the play. When the production was first staged in June for a limited four-time run, it was well received for having combined a Western production with Asian aesthetics.
The book has been translated to over 14 languages.
Awards
[edit]- Manhae Prize for Literature (2014)[23]
- Premio Malaparte (2017)[24]
References
[edit]- ^ "한강 (소설가)", 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전 (in Korean), 2019-07-28, retrieved 2019-10-30
- ^ Premio Malaparte (12 September 2017). "Il Malaparte 2017 a Han Kang". Premio Malaparte. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
Ricorre quest'anno – dice Gabriella Buontempo – la ventesima edizione del Premio, che sotto mia zia Graziella negli anni Ottanta aveva festeggiato 14 vincitori. Erano scrittori di fama mondiale; i cinque che si sono aggiunti da quando abbiamo ripreso fino all'anno scorso sono sicuramente alla loro altezza. Con Han Kang, se possibile, siamo perfino saliti di livello. Ne sono davvero orgogliosa.
- ^ Seo, Yeong-chae (2017). "Ethics in Literature, Politics in Aesthetics," Guilt and Shame. Namu Namu.
- ^ 지음, 한강. "소년이 온다". aladin. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "5·18 광주 민주화 운동", 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전 (in Korean), 2019-10-13, retrieved 2019-10-30
- ^ ""오월 광주는 인간의 폭력과 존엄이 맞붙은 보통명사죠"". 여성신문 (in Korean). 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ 한강 "벌 받는 기분으로 책상에 앉았다" | YES24 문화웹진 채널예스.
- ^ ""가장 맘이 가는 작품은 광주 다룬 '소년이 온다'예요"". www.hani.co.kr (in Korean). 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ 한강 "벌 받는 기분으로 책상에 앉았다" | YES24 문화웹진 채널예스.
- ^ ""오월 광주는 인간의 폭력과 존엄이 맞붙은 보통명사죠"". 여성신문 (in Korean). 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "[북리뷰]광주의 오월에 대한 곧은 시선". Weekly Kyunghyang (in Korean). 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "Human Acts". Book Marks. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
- ^ "Human Acts" (PDF). Bookmarks Magazine. p. 2. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "한강, '그분'이 '등한시'한 원인 알고 보니 … '소폭행보' 충격". m.post.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "5·18, 인간이 무엇이지 않기 위해 무엇을 해야 하는가". The Hankyoreh (in Korean). 2014-05-25. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "대전일보 :: "여전히 쓰라린 역사적 상처… 진심어린 글로 보듬고파"". 대전일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "그날 그들은 죽으러 도청에 갔다". Media Today (in Korean). 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "[리뷰]한강 '소년이 온다' 를 읽고-광주드림". 광주드림신문사 (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "대전일보 :: "여전히 쓰라린 역사적 상처… 진심어린 글로 보듬고파"". 대전일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "5·18, 인간이 무엇이지 않기 위해 무엇을 해야 하는가". The Hankyoreh (in Korean). 2014-05-25. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ 한강 "벌 받는 기분으로 책상에 앉았다" | YES24 문화웹진 채널예스.
- ^ "한강 작가의 폴란드 5·18 연극으로 재탄생". The Hankyoreh (in Korean). 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ "제29회 만해문학상에 한강 '소년이 온다'". KBS News (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ 현, 윤경 (2017-10-02). "소설가 한강, '소년이 온다'로 이탈리아 말라파르테 문학상 수상". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-10-30.
목차 토글
위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
《소년이 온다》는 소설가이자 시인인 한강의 6번째 장편소설이다. 2014년 창작과비평사에서 출판했다. 1980년 5월 18일부터 열흘간 있었던 광주 민주화 운동 당시의 상황과 그 이후 남겨진 사람들의 이야기를 들려주는 소설이다.[1]
2017년 9월에는 이탈리아어판 《인간의 행위》(Atti Umani)로 이탈리아에서 번역 출간되었으며, 10월 1일에는 이탈리아의 문학상 말라파르테 상을 수여받았다.[2]
작가 한강은 수상 소감에서 "존엄과 폭력이 공존하는 모든 장소, 모든 시대가 광주가 될 수 있다"며, "이 책은 나를 위해 쓴 게 아니며 단지 내 감각과 존재와 육신을 (광주민중항쟁에서) 죽임을 당한 사람, 살아 남은 사람, 그들의 가족에게 빌려주고자 했을 뿐"이라고 밝혔다.[2]
줄거리
중학교 3학년이던 소년 동호는 친구 정대의 죽음을 목격한 이후 도청 상무관에서 시신들을 관리하는 일을 돕게 된다. 매일같이 합동분향소가 있는 상무관으로 들어오는 시신들을 수습하며 주검들의 말 없는 혼을 위로하기 위해서 초를 밝히던 그는 시신들 사이에서 친구 정대의 처참한 죽음을 떠올리며 괴로워한다. 그리고 그날, 돌아오라는 엄마와 돌아가라는 형, 누나들의 말을 듣지 않고 동호는 도청에 남는다. 동호와 함께 상무관에서 일하던 형과 누나들은 5·18 이후 경찰에 연행되어 끔찍한 고문을 받으며 살아 있다는 것을 치욕스러운 고통으로 여기거나 일상을 회복할 수 없는 무력감에 빠진다. 저자는 5·18 당시 숨죽이며 고통 받았던 인물들의 숨겨진 이야기를 들려주며 그들의 아픔을 어루만진다[1]
단행본
===
Human Acts by Han Kang review
– solidarity and suffering in the shadow of a massacre
This article is more than 8 years old
Han tells the stories of survivors and victims of the 1980 Gwangju uprising in South Korea
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/13/human-acts-han-kang-review-south-korea
Eimear McBride
Sat 13 Feb 2016
Two thirds of the way into Human Acts, a victim of the torture carried out during the 1980 Gwangju uprising in South Korea remarks of the Korean platoons who had previously committed atrocities in Vietnam: “Some of those who came to slaughter us did so with the memory of those previous times.” Pages later, we’re reminded of a remark made by President Park Chung-hee’s bodyguard: “The Cambodian government’s killed another two million of theirs. There’s nothing stopping us from doing the same.” It leaves little reason to doubt the veracity of the novel’s assertion that “There is no way back to the world before the torture. No way back to the world before the massacre.”
When Park, South Korea’s military dictator, was assassinated in 1979, civil unrest ensued and martial law was imposed. Recently unionised workers protested their working conditions. Greater democratisation was called for and the increasingly authoritarian government responded in the traditional fashion. On 18 May 1980, protesting students at Jeonnam University were fired upon and beaten by government troops. Outrage was widespread and citizens of all ranks took to the streets in solidarity. Special forces were sent in but, rather than calming the situation, the soldiers – spurred on to ever greater acts of brutality by their superiors – clubbed and bayonetted students, and fired live rounds into the crowds. By 27 May it was over. Figures for civilian deaths remain disputed, running anywhere between the military statistic of 200 and the 2,000 estimated by some foreign press reports. What is not disputed is the appalling cruelty inflicted on those tortured by police in the aftermath, the suffering of the many bereaved and the long shadow the uprising still casts across the South Korean consciousness.
The final chapter of this novel is about Han Kang’s own connection to the uprising. Gwangju is her hometown: her family had moved to Seoul by the time of the uprising although none of her relatives was killed. But Dong-ho, a 15-year-old boy who was part of the family who bought their house, was; and it is this death that functions as both entry and exit wound for the novel. It opens with him helping to clean, tag and lay out corpses for identification in the municipal gymnasium. From there the author spins out into the stories of a representatively selected group of victims and survivors. After we are presented with the corpse of the boy’s friend, lying in a stack of bodies left to rot in the heat, Han shifts forward to 1985 and an editor struggling to manoeuvre a book on the subject past the censor. In a series of encounters, she then moves to 1990 when a prisoner is persuaded to relive the horrors of his torture for the sake of an academic’s thesis. In 2002 a former factory girl recounts her brutalisation at the hands of the torturers and the estrangement from her own humanity she has struggled with ever since. In 2010 Dong-ho’s mother speaks of the emotional legacy of that loss and the struggle for justice. Finally, the writer writes of her own journey into the novel and the terrible price of atrocity.
This is a book that could easily founder under the weight of its subject matter. Neither inviting nor shying away from modern-day parallels, Han neatly unpacks the social and political catalysts behind the massacre and maps its lengthy, toxic fallout. But what is remarkable is how she accomplishes this while still making it a novel of blood and bone.
The characters frequently address themselves to an unnamed “You”. Sometimes You is the dead, occasionally it is the reader but often, and most disturbingly, You is who people were before the violence and have now become irrevocably exiled from. This sense of dislocation is most obvious when a dead boy’s soul converses with his own rotting flesh – and it’s here that the language comes closest to the gothic lyricism of Han’s previous book, The Vegetarian (both are translated by Deborah Smith). At least the boy possesses a soul: many of the other victims are no longer certain that they do, and their shame at having survived is palpable.
By choosing the novel as her form, then allowing it to do what it does best – take readers to the very centre of a life that is not their own – Han prepares us for one of the most important questions of our times: “What is humanity? What do we have to do to keep humanity as one thing and not another?” She never answers, but this act of unflinching witness seems as good a place to start as any.
Eimear McBride’s The Lesser Bohemians will be published this autumn. To order Human Acts for £10.39 (RRP £12.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
====
소년이 온다, 창비, 2014년 5월 19일, ISBN 9788936434120
각주
http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9788936434120&orderClick=LAG&Kc=
http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/10/05/0200000000AKR20171005034400109.HTML
===
Goodreads
===
Human Acts
Han Kang
,
Deborah Smith
(Translator)
4.21
34,581 ratings5,460 reviews
In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed.
The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho's best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice.
An award-winning, controversial bestseller, Human Acts is a timeless, pointillist portrait of an historic event with reverberations still being felt today, by turns tracing the harsh reality of oppression and the resounding, extraordinary poetry of humanity.
Genres
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Historical Fiction
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Literary Fiction
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218 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2014
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Han Kang
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
소설가 한강
Han Kang is the daughter of novelist Han Seung-won. She was born in Kwangju and at the age of 10, moved to Suyuri (which she speaks of affectionately in her work "Greek Lessons") in Seoul.
She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. She began her writing career when one of her poems was featured in the winter issue of the quarterly Literature and Society. She made her official literary debut in the following year when her short story "The Scarlet Anchor" was the winning entry in the daily Seoul Shinmun spring literary contest.
Since then, she has gone on to win the Yi Sang Literary Prize (2005), Today's Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. As of summer 2013, Han teaches creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts while writing stories and novels.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
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Sean Barrs
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October 14, 2020
“I still remember the moment when my gaze fell upon the mutilated face of a young woman, her features slashed through with a bayonet. Soundlessly, and without fuss, some tender thing deep inside me broke. Something that, until then, I hadn't realised was there.”
This book is brutal and uncompromising; it begins with a flourish of blood and barbarity that is fast and unexpected. However, we only get the aftermath of such butchery. We see the devastation the event has caused, but only ever catch glimpses of it itself. And herein lays the brilliance of such writing.
When a crowd of student protestors took hold of a Korean city in the 1980s they were gunned down, beaten and just about obliterated by the government forces that occupied the area. The event was later refeed to as The Gwangju-Massacre, and it truly is one of the most disturbing acts of violence in the twentieth century. Many were left dead in the streets, more wounded, and the rest were rounded up and thrown into prison. Google it or, better yet, look at some dramatizations of it on youtube if you want to get more of the facts.
Han Kang side-skips the event itself and begins her novel with a pile of corpses and an ocean of blood; she begins her story with the bodies of all the young people that sung the national anthem whist they were mowed down by their own country’s soldiers. When they congregated into the streets with their flags and their cries for democracy, they were met with the result of dictatorship. What follows is the devastation such an event would cause. The people are left in ruins, and trying to pick up any sense of normal life afterwards became near impossible. Nothing could ever be the same for these characters and, no doubt, the people it happened to in real life. They would all remember this dark day.
“Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves the single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, slaughtered - is this the essential of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?”
description
The novel is also about legacy. It begins immediately in the morgue, and then moves to the consciousness of a boy looking for a sense of belonging after he has been killed. We then move five years into the future, seeing the malicious punishments inflicted on those that were thrown imprison. Eventually we see how after even twenty years, the effects of the event still haunt the steps of those that were involved.
This is a book about how a single event can, ultimately, change the face of a nation. How do people carry one calling themselves members of a country in the wake of such maliciousness? There is a sense of disheartenment and betrayal due to the sheer shock-horror felt in the wake of one’s own leader ordering such an action. Who are they afterwards? The nation is grieving and the people feel lost in this new place the event has caused. Disillusionment, estrangement and a lack of belonging are things that come to mind.
I have but one criticism of this book. The writing was concise and superb; it was emotive, bitter and almost snappy at points. Structurally speaking, the book was a great success. But there’s one voice missing in the symphony of souls that lived with the heart ache. What of the men who were just “following orders?” What of the men who pulled the trigger because this is what they were told to do? How did they feel afterwards? Did they actually care? I would love to have seen it represented here.
So if you want to read a book that is raw, real and powerful, then this is where to look. Despite the oversight I mentioned, this is still, without a single doubt, a five star read. Han Kang please carry on writting, and please get all your book translated to English!
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February 3, 2024
I don't have much to say about this book, beyond you should read it, and it's a wrenching masterwork, and it has so much to say on the subject of pain and suffering and war and power and empire and the evil that humans are capable of.
And that you should read it.
Bottom line: Stop reading my dumb words when Han Kang's are much better.
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a masterpiece.
review to come / approx 4.5
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Emily May
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June 2, 2017
I had mixed feelings after finishing Kang's The Vegetarian, but I cannot deny that the book sucked me right into it's dark, weird allegory. Which is why I'm surprised that this book left me feeling cold and detached. It feels so distant and impersonal, lacking an atmosphere worthy of the subject matter.
Human Acts tells an important story that I'm sure many people know nothing about - that of the South Korean Gwangju Uprising in 1980. In a daring plot choice that should have been far more effective than it was, Kang begins by talking about bodies. Specifically, the corpses lined up in boxes, waiting for family and friends to come identify them. One chapter is even told from the perspective of a dead body.
Are you horrified, and yet intrigued? So was I. Unfortunately, the second person narration is jarring and strange. Where The Vegetarian's weirdness kept me interested enough to read on, here the weird aspects left me feeling detached and bored.
All of the chapters, though connected, feel like individual stories. I jumped around from perspective to perspective, never coming to feel an attachment to any character or their story. I realize I am in the minority, perhaps not unlike how I was with The Underground Railroad, but I cannot connect with these books about historical horrors that lay out in the events in such a cold way, lacking any human emotion.
I appreciate that it is probably a conscious choice on the author's part; a decision meant to serve a purpose and - probably - demonstrate the cold inhumanity of such parts of history, but any book that leaves me feeling emotionally cold, whether intentionally or otherwise, is not one that will stay with me.
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jessica
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December 31, 2021
wow. this is a very raw reflection on the atrocious acts humans are capable of committing, as well as the resilience of those who survived them.
like the majority of reviewers, ive never heard of the gwangju student uprising/massacre, but what a crucial and heartbreaking moment in korean history. and i think the structure of this novel is quite clever in how it presents the overall effects of such an event. i like how the focus is on the death of one particular boy, rather than the uprising as a whole, and how his death has impacted so many lives throughout the years. the different chapters come together in a really cohesive way because of this.
i will say that when it comes to the storytelling, the second person narrative took some getting used to. im not a fan of second person POV in general and, for this story specifically, it actually made me feel more detached from the characters rather than the intended closeness. the story content reminded me a lot of ‘do not say we have nothing’ (chinese student uprising/massacre in tiananmen square), but i felt like that had a much more relatable narrative.
but this is still a really good novel for learning about and experiencing new perspectives about a lesser-known event in history.
↠ 3.5 stars
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zuza_zaksiazkowane
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December 27, 2021
2.5
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Elyse Walters
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February 11, 2017
That's it, my next book needs to be comic... erotic...or fantasy.....or maybe a cowboy dancer story.....but -- yikes -- don't read this book before bedtime!
It's Brilliant.......but, brutal bacteria brain bankruptcy!!!!
If the book cover - alone isn't a clue that this story isn't going to eat through your skin - burn away your flesh - down to your bare bones....then by all means...dive in and find out for yourself!
Inspired writing comes from a real event. Gwangju Uprising, South Korea... 1980
"Han Kang"....is a "QUEEN-BLEAK-GUT-WRENCHING-POWERFUL-STORYTELLER". She rattled my bones in "The Vegetarian", and hollowed them in
"Human Acts".
Local University students were demonstrating against the Chun Doo hwan government--then were attacked, fired upon, beaten, killed. It was a brutal massacre...by the army and police. They stood for justice - and died for it.
Over 600 people were killed. In Han Kang's book...
she focuses on a 15-year-old innocent boy, named Dong Ho, who was killed.
In the Epilogue.....Han Kang writes about a time - in 2009 - when she was glued to the television watching the towers burning in the middle of the night and surprised herself with words that came out of her mouth...
"But that's Gwangju. In other words, "Gwangju" has become another name for what ever is forcibly isolated, beaten down, and brutalized, for all that has been
mutilated beyond repair. The radioactive spread is ongoing. Gwangju has been reborn only to be butchered again in the endless cycle. It was razed to the ground, and raised up and anew in a bloodied rebirth".
I can imagine the guilty feelings Han Kang had of her 'thoughts'.
Many of the descriptions are gruesome and unbearable...but this story had been kept very quiet from the world ...perhaps by opening it up -there is a possibility for healing to begin.
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Pakinam Mahmoud
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April 28, 2024
"نفضل الموت واقفين علي أقدامنا عِوضَ الحياة راكعين.."
أفعال بشرية هو كتاب عن إنتفاضة غوانغجو التي وقعت عام ١٩٨٠ جنوب غرب كوريا وهي كانت عبارة عن مظاهرات طلابية رفضاً لقانون الطوارئ وتطورت لصراع مسلح بين المدنيين والجيش والشرطة وأدت إلي مصرع أكثر من ألفين شخص ..
الرواية عبارة عن شهادات مفصلة لأحداث الإنتفاضة من خلال كذا شخص منهم الحي ومنهم الميت! أو كما هو مكتوب في تعريف الكتاب هي قصة يرويها أحياء عن أموات وأموات عن
أحياء...
المفروض إنه كتاب مؤلم وكئيب ...بس هي الكتب الكئيبة أنواع..
في كتب كئيبة وممتعة في قراءتها علي الرغم من صعوبة محتواها...
وفي كتب كئيبة بس دمها تقيل وبتكون مكتوبة بأسلوب جاف ومش مشوق...
والرواية هنا من النوع الثاني...إسلوب السرد كان غير ممتع بالمرة..
علي الرغم من وحشية الأحداث إلا إنني لم أتعاطف مع شخصيات الرواية..
الكاتبة مقدرتش توصلي كم الوجع والألم الذي عاني منه كل هـؤلاء الضحايا...
الصراحة أنا جالي إحباط أثناء القراءة خصوصا إن هان كانغ الكاتبة، هي من كتبت النباتية وهي من أجمل الروايات اللي ممكن أي حد يقراها..
أحلي حاجة في الكتاب كانت مقدمة المترجم الذي أستطاع أن يعطي نبذة عن الأحداث بطريقة ممتعة ومفيدة -خصوصاً للي ميعرفش حاجة عن هذه الإنتفاضة(زيي كدة) -واللي ساعدتني جداً في فهم الكتاب وتفاصيله...
تقييمي نجمتين فقط لهذه الرواية المملة ولكن كالعادة برفع التقييم لما باستفاد من الرواية بمعلومات جديدة..
وأخيراً اللي حصل في كوريا مع الطلاب..مش جديد علينا..مازالت إراقة الدماء لمجرد التعبير عن الرأي بتحصل ..و مازالت أفعال العنف ضد المدنيين العُزل من قبل السلطة بدون ذرة ندم أو حتي تردد برضو بتحصل...
لكن أهم حاجة وأصعب حاجة إن مازلت محاكمة الجناة أمام العدالة لما أقترفوه في حق الشعوب ....مش بتحصل!
"لا طريق للعودة إلي العالم ما قبل التعذيب.لا طريق للعودة إلي العالم ما قبل المذبحة.."
"We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees."
Human Actions is a book about the 1980 Gwangju uprising in southwestern Korea, a student protest against the emergency law that developed into an armed conflict between civilians, the military and the police that killed more than 2,000 people.
The novel is a detailed testimony of the events of the uprising through such people as the living and the dead! Or as it is written in the definition of the book is a story told alive about the dead and the dead.
Alive...
It's a sad and sad book, but it's kind of a sad book.
In books that are depressing and fun to read despite the difficulty of their content...
And in gloomy books with her blood, it is written in a dry and interesting manner.
And the story here is kind of the second one, the narrative style was not very interesting.
Despite the brutality of the events, I did not sympathize with the characters of the novel.
The author of "How much pain and pain all these victims have suffered...
Frankly, I'm frustrated reading, especially since Han Kang, the writer, wrote vegetarianism, which is one of the most beautiful novels anyone can read.
The sweetest thing about the book was the introduction of the translator who was able to give an overview of the events in a fun and useful way – especially for those who know nothing about this uprising (Zeida) – and who helped me greatly in understanding the book and its details.
My review is only two stars for this boring novel, but as usual, I raise the assessment of what has been learned from the novel with new information.
Finally, what happened in Korea with the students is not new to us, bloodshed just to express opinion is still happening, and acts of violence against unarmed civilians by the Authority are still without a shred of remorse or even a reluctance to take place.
But the most important and the most difficult need is if the perpetrators are still to be brought to justice for what they have done against the people.
"There is no way back to the world before torture, no way back to the world before the massacre."
"무릎을 꿇고 사느니 차라리 발을 딛고 죽는 게 낫다."
《인간의 행동》(Human Action)은 1980년 한국 남서부의 광주항쟁에 관한 책으로, 긴급법을 거부하고 민간인, 군, 경찰 간의 무력 충돌로 발전하여 2,000명 이상의 사망자를 낸 학생들의 시위이다.
소설을 통해 반란의 사건에 대한 자세한 증언은 그래서 그들 중 살아있는 사람과 죽은 사람입니다! 또는 책의 정의에 명시된 바와 같이, 그것은 죽은 자와 죽은 자에 대한 살아있는 이야기입니다.
살아있는...
너무 슬프고 우울한 책들이 많은 것 같아요..أنواعالكتب
읽기에도 좋고, 읽기에도 좋은 책들, 비록 내용상의 어려움이 있더라도...
그녀의 피에 젖은 책들은 건조하고 신나는 방식으로 쓰여져 있다.
두 번째 이야기의 주인공은 '역지사지(易地思之)'였다.
그 잔인한 사건들에도 불구하고, 나는 소설 속 인물들을 동정하지 않았다.
작가님은 이 모든 희생자들이 겪어야 했던 고통과 아픔을 여러분께 전달할 수 있었습니다.
"솔직히 말하자면, 나는 글을 읽는 동안 좌절감을 느꼈는데, 특히 식물학자인 한강이 그것이 읽을 수 있는 가장 아름다운 소설 중 하나였다.
이 책에서 가장 필요한 것은 번역가의 소개였는데, 그는 이 사건에 대해 재미있고 유익한 방식으로 설명할 수 있었습니다. 특히 이 봉기에 대한 필요성을 전혀 알지 못했던 사람들에게요. 그리고 저는 이 책을 이해하는 데 많은 도움을 주었습니다.
이 소설은 두 개의 별을 가지고 있지만, 보통은 새로운 정보를 얻기 위해 리뷰를 작성합니다.
한국에서 학생들과 함께 일어난 일은 새로운 것이 아니며, 단지 의견을 표현하기 위해 유혈사태가 계속되고 있으며, 권력에 의한 무방비 상태의 민간인에 대한 폭력은 후회도, 마지못해 발생한 것도 아니다.
그러나 가장 중요하고 어려운 것은 아직도 가해자들을 정의의 심판을 받고 있다면, 그들이 국민의 권리를 위해 한 일은 정당화되지 않을 것이라는 점이다.
"고문 전 세계로 돌아갈 수 있는 방법도, 학살 전 세계로 돌아갈 수도 없다."
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Taryn
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February 10, 2017
Another powerful book by Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian.
After you died I could not hold a funeral,
And so my life became a funeral.
Some historical background: After 18 years of authoritarian rule, South Korean President Park Chung-hee was assassinated on October 26, 1979. Hopes for democracy were dashed when Army Major General Chun Do-hwan seized power in a military coup on December 12, 1979. On May 17, he placed the entire country under martial law under the pretext of national security concerns. The next day university students in Gwangju held a demonstration protesting his oppressive actions. Government troops were sent to forcefully suppress the opposition, but their brutality did not deter the citizens of Gwangju. People from all walks of life came out to defend their community. The fighting continued until May 27, when government forces succeeded in crushing the rebellion. (More detailed information on the Gwangju People's Uprising at the Korean Resource Center.)
In Human Acts, fifteen-year-old Dong-ho's best friend Jeong-dae is killed during a demonstration. Dong-ho ran for safety and feels immense guilt for leaving his friend behind ("There will be no forgiveness. Least of all for me"). The dead bodies are collected in a gymnasium so that families can walk through to find and identify their loved ones. While Dong-ho searches for his friend amongst the dead, he's recruited as a volunteer and incidentally becomes part of the rebellion. Dong-ho is killed by government troops. The chapters that follow are a collection of individual experiences all connected by the Gwangju Uprising and Dong-ho's death.
Our experiences might have been similar, but they were far from identical. What good could an autopsy possibly do? How could we ever hope to understand what he went through, he himself, alone? What he'd kept locked away inside himself for all those years.
The book covers a thirty-year period, from 1980 to 2013. Each chapter is from the perspective of a different person in a different year, but they are all living with the effects of that week in 1980. We hear from Dong-ho, his best friend's spirit, an editor that deals with censors, a man and woman who were imprisoned and tortured for their political activities, and Dong Ho's mother. The epilogue is told from author Han Kang's perspective. During the time of the Gwangju Uprising, she was only 9 years old and her family had just moved from Gwangju to Seoul. While she was out of harm's way, knowledge of the event left an indelible mark on her. She writes about what compelled her to write this book and about the real-life Dong-ho.
You feel the weight of an enormous glacier bearing down on your body. You wish that you were able to flow beneath it, to become fluid, whether seawater, oil, or lava, and shuck off these rigid impermeable outlines, which encase you like a coffin. Only that way might your find some form of release.
The introduction by translator Deborah Smith provides vital historical context and notes about her translation process. She also translated The Vegetarian. Both books are relatively short, but every single word packs a punch. The writing style is accessible, but the content emotionally difficult. There's a visceral physicality to the language and I felt the impact of every word. Han Kang has a remarkable ability to sum up a person or a relationship in just a couple of sentences. That ability is showcased in the portrayal of the relationship between Jeong-dae and his sister Jeong-mi. There are so many moving scenes, but one of my favorites is in "The Editor" chapter, which details the performance of a play with a censored script. It shows how impossible it is to suppress everything. Dong-ho's confusion about the displays of patriotism in a nation where the government is attacking its own citizens and the discussion of what a nation is also made an impression on me.
At that moment, I realized what all this was for. The words that this torture and starvation were intended to elicit. We will make you realize how ridiculous it was, the lot of you waving the national flag and singing the national anthem. We will prove to you that you are nothing but filty stinking bodies. That you are no better than the carcasses of starving animals.
The Vegetarian was the more unique reading experience, but Human Acts evoked stronger feelings in me. I prefer realism and Human Acts is more grounded, while The Vegetarian is surreal and dream-like. However, in both books characters suffer from the long-lasting effects of trauma and the desire to escape the confines of the body. There were several events in Human Acts that reminded me of The Vegetarian, especially in "The Editor" and "The Factory Girl" chapters. I think that reading The Vegetarian would be an even richer experience after reading Human Acts.
Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only hinge we share as as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves this single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, damaged, slaughtered--is this the essential fate of human kind, one that history has confirmed as inevitable?
In Human Acts , people's lives suddenly become unrecognizable. Many of them feel an instinctive call to protect their freedoms and the future of their nation, even in the face of almost certain defeat. Through the characters, we explore the push and pull of nobility and barbarism on human nature. What does it mean to be human? If we aren't innately good or bad, is there a way to steer us towards our better impulses? There are several instances where a character assumes decency in another, only to be proven wrong soon after. As bleak as many of the perspectives are, Han Kang doesn't ignore the good in the people. She also writes about the helpers and the soldiers who disobeyed their orders. It's been about six months since I read this book and I still get the same pit in my stomach when I think about it. It's a tough read, but worth the time.
Some of those who came to slaughter us did so with the memory of those previous times, when committing such actions in wartime won them a handsome reward. It happened in Gwangju just as it did on Jeju Island, in Kwantung and Nanjing, in Bosnia, and all across the American Continent when it was still known as the New World, with such a uniform brutality it's as through it is imprinted in our genetic code.
NOTES:
• I highly recommend reading the informative interview with Han Kang over at The White Review.
• I've read a number of books about citizen uprisings from the last seventy years that have taken place all over the world and there's a common thread that runs through most of them: United States support of these oppressive government crackdowns.
• The election of Park Chung-hee's daughter Park Geun-hye in 2013 reopened old wounds. She is currently suspended from office while undergoing impeachment proceedings.
• Related Books: Green Island (citizen uprising/martial law/brutal regimes/Asia), The Buried Giant (collective memory/scars from the past), Between the World and Me (destruction of the body).
I received this book for free from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It's available now!
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Esta
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July 16, 2024
Typically, I read for joy and escapism, and actively steer clear of books that might shatter my heart into a trillion tiny pieces. However, my book club chose this one, and I’m glad they did. This book is brilliant and important, but also horrific, shocking, raw, and heartbreaking. It’s based on the real events of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising/Massacre in South Korea and told from the perspective of multiple characters.
The Gwangju Massacre saw citizens rise up against an authoritarian government, demanding democracy. The response was barbaric—hundreds of civilians, many of them students, were killed, and countless others were wounded or imprisoned.
I highly recommend this for its historical significance because it was enlightening for me and I learned a lot. However, make sure you’re in the right headspace and have a much lighter read lined up afterwards, maybe a picture book with puppies.
I read this book a couple of years ago, but it’s one of those unforgettable stories that has haunted me since.
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Dalia Nourelden
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February 21, 2024
ماهي الإنسانية ؟! ماذا نفعل لنحافظ على الإنسانية بحيث تحمل مدلولا معينا وليس آخر؟
هذه الرواية من الروايات التى يصعب الحديث عنها وفى نفس الوقت يجب ان لاتمر هكذا دون الكتابة عنها على الأقل لأخراج جزء من الألم الذى شعرت به اثناء قرائتي واعلم انى لن استطيع الكتابة جيدا عنها .
عندما تكون كلمة المترجم وهو يعرفك الاحداث الحقيقية اللى حصلت فى انتفاضة غوانغجو فى كوريا فى مايو ١٩٨٠ اساسا توجعك فتخيل مدى الالم اللى فى الرواية حين تضع الاحداث وتأثيرها على لسان الشخصيات ! حين تتداخل معهم وتشعر بقلبك يتمزق ألما . و تحكى احداث مؤلمة وقمع وتعذيب للفترة التى تليها كأنهم لم يكتفوا بمن قتلوهم بل استمروا فى عمليات تشوية وتدمير للكرامة الانسانية وسحقها تماما .
أفعال عنف ارتكبت في وضح النهار من دون ذرة تردد أو ندم . قادة الجيش لم يشجعوا فقط ، بل أمروا تابعيهم من الضباط باستخدام أشكال الوحشية تلك
هى تعمي السلطة الأشخاص وتمحي ضمائرهم ومشاعرهم لهذه الدرجة ؟ بل وتمحي إنسانيتهم تماما؟
هل صحيح أن البشر قساة بالفطرة ؟ هل القسوة هى الشئ الوحيد الذي نتشاركه نحن - الجنس البشري ؟
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هل أرواح البشر ودمائهم رخيصة إلى هذا الحد!!
ان تخرج من منزلك ليتم قتلك ليس بسبب معارضتك أو تظاهرك ضد السلطة ، لا بل يتم قتلك لمجرد انك وُجدت فى التوقيت والمكان الخطأ .
يتم قتلك لمجرد انك تقف فى الاتجاه المعاكس حتى لو كنت مجرد طفل ترفع ايدك ومستسلم لن تسلم من رصاصات الغدر .
ألم ترق الدماء بما فيه الكفاية ؟! كيف يمكننا التغاضي بهذه البساطة عن كل تلك الدماء؟ أرواح الراحلون تراقبنا . عيونهم مفتوحة على اتساعها
جنودنا يطلقون الرصاص . يوجهون طلقاتهم إلينا !
هذا المطر دموع تذرفها أرواح الراحلين
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ودكتاتورية مابعد ذلك وحياة من شهدوا وعاشوا هذه المجزرة وكتبت لهم النجاة
حقيقة كونك الناجي الوحيد قد تكون أكثر شئ مخيف في العالم
أصارع . وحيدا أصارع كل يوم . أصارع عار أنني نجوت.أصارع حقيقة كوني إنسانا . أصارع فكرة ان الموت هو الطريقةالوحيدة للهروب من هذه الحقيقة
لماذا مات ؟
لماذا أنا حي ؟
لكن هل من لم يمت قد بقى حقا على قيد الحياة ؟؟ ام ان جسده فقط هو مازال يحيا لكن روحه قد تحطمت .
أنتظر الزمن كي يجرفني معه كتيار مياه موحلة .أنتظر الموت كي يأتي ويطهرني ، ان يعتقني من الذكري اللعينة لمن ماتوا، والتي لاتكف عن ومطاردتي لي�� نهار
والسجون والتعذيب الوحشي في السجون
8a0135b9adbcb0c46b815e673426d0ee
العملية برمتها مصممة على ادراك حقيقة واحدة بسيطة جسدي لم يعد ملكي . إن حياتى قد سلبت تماما من بين يدي ، وإن الشئ الوحيد المسموح لى بفعله هو أن أتألم . ألم مبرح جدا لدرجة أنني شعرت معها يقينا أنني سأفقد عقلى . ألم فظيع جدا لدرجة أنني فقدت السيطرة على جسمي .
و جاء الفصل الاخير تحت عنوان مصباح مغطى بالثلج ( الكاتبة ٢٠١٣ ) هان كانغ طفلة مدينة غوانغجو التى كانت فى التاسعة من عمرها فى ذلك الحين والتى سمعت حكايات الكبار رغم خفوت اصواتهم حتى لايسمعهم الصغار . وقصت علينا ماعرفته حين كبرت .
وكما كان هناك ضباط قتلة كان هناك فئة لاتزال تمتلك قلب لكنها ظلت مجزرة مخيفة .
باتت غوانغجو مرادفا لكل مايتعرض لعزلة قسرية ، وللسحق ، وللوحشية .لكل ما يشوه بشكل غير قابل للإصلاح .
هناك روايات سوداوية و روايات اجتماعية بائسة بس بالنسبالى اكثرها قسوة اللى بتبقى مبنية على احداث حقيقية وخصوصا اما تكون احداث مجازر ومعاناة بالشكل ده .
انا كنت في الاول بستنى ذكريات الماضى ماقبل الانتفاضة عشان افصل من جو المشرحة اللى انا عايشة جواه مع الرواية ، كنت حاسة انى جثة فى وسط تل الجثث الموجودة. بس بعد كده الكاتبة حرمتنى من الجزء ده لان ذكريات الماضى بقت ذكريات تلك الانتفاضة والارواح اللى زهقت والدماء التى انبثقت والتعذيب واللاانسانية .حسيت انى وسط اشخاص ضمائرهم واحاسيسهم ماتت وتحللت من زمان .
لو كنت استطيع الاختباء في الاحلام ..
او ربما في الذكريات
بعض الذكريات لاتشفي ابدا فبدلا من ان تتلاشي مع مرور الوقت ، تصبح تلك الذكريات الشئ الوحيد الذي يبقى حين يمحى كل شئ آخر . شيئا فشيئا يظلم عالمي مثل مصابيح كهربية ينطفئ الواحد تلو الآخر . أدرك الآن أنني لست إنسانا آمنا
ارهقتنى قراءة هذه الرواية لكن لا اندم انى قرأتها .بل لو كنت اعرف شعورى وتأثرى قبل ان اقراها كنت سأصمم اكثر على قرائتها رغم مابها من عذاب وألم لكن كان يجب ان تقرأ ليس اجبارا . فتألم قرائتها لا يساوى شيئا بجانب آلام من عاشوا احداثها بالفعل .
لا طريق للعودة إلى العالم ما قبل التعذيب. لا طريق للعودة إلى العالم ما قبل المذبحة
الرواية مؤلمة وممكن يكون الرفيو خوف البعض من قرائتها لكن هى فى نفس الوقت جميلة وتستحق القراءة ، استعد نفسيا وربما تقرأ او تشاهد معها شيئا خفيفا لتخفيف الحدة . اسلوب الكاتبة ايضا اعجبنى و انتقالها ما بين الماضى والحاضر جاء بطريقة سلسلة وجيدة .
لو حد سالنى ترشحى الرواية ده لحد هقول
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لو أمكننا الحفاظ على نظراتنا ثابتة حتى ترى النهاية المرة
وشكرا للمترجم ليس فقط على الترجمه لكن على المقدمة التى عرفتنى بالأحداث التى لم اكن اعرف عنها شيئا قبل قرائتي .
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인간이란 무엇인가? 인간성을 유지하기 위해 우리는 무엇을 해야 할까요? 다른 것이 아닌 특정한 고통을 감내하기 위해서요.
이 소설은 말하기 어려운 동시에 그것에 대해 글을 쓰지 않고는 통과되어서는 안되며, 적어도 제가 읽을 때 느꼈던 고통의 일부를 전달하고 제가 그것에 대해 글을 잘 쓸 수 없다는 것을 알고 있습니다.
번역가가 당신을 잘 알고 있다는 말을 들으면, 1980년 5월 한국에서 일어난 광주항쟁의 실제 사건들은 당신을 놀라게 할 것입니다. 당신이 소설 속에서 어떤 고통을 겪었는지 상상해보세요. 그들을 방해하고 마음이 찢어지는 고통을 느낄 때. 그 후의 고통스럽고 억압적이고 고문적인 사건들은 그들을 죽인 사람들 뿐만 아니라 계속해서 인간의 존엄성을 훼손하고 완전히 파괴하는 것처럼 말했습니다.
백주 대낮에 한 줌의 망설임도 후회도 없는 폭력 행위가 자행되었습니다. 군대의 지도자들은 그들의 부하 장교들에게 잔인한 형태를 사용하라고 명령했을 뿐만 아니라,
권력은 사람들을 눈멀게 하고 양심과 감정을 없애버리죠 그들의 인간성을 완전히 없애버린 걸까요?
인간은 본질적으로 잔인한가요? 잔인함이 우리 인간의 유일한 공통점일까요?
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인간의 피와 영혼이 그렇게 싸구려인가요?!"
집 밖으로 나와 살해당하는 것은 권력에 반대하거나 반대하는 척하는 것이 아니라, 단지 당신이 잘못된 시간과 장소에서 발견되었다는 이유로 살해당하는 것입니다.
당신은 단지 반대 방향으로 서 있기 때문에 당신은 단지 당신의 손을 들고 항복하는 아이가 배신 총알에 의해 항복하지 않을 경우에도 죽일 것입니다.
피를 충분히 흘리지 않았나요? 어떻게 우리가 그토록 많은 피를 흘리며 그냥 지나칠 수 있단 말인가? 죽은 영혼들이 우리를 지켜보고 있다. 그들의 눈은 활짝 열려있습니다.
우리 병사들이 총을 쏘고 있다. 우리에게 총을 쏜다!
이 비는 영혼들이 흘린 눈물이다.
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독재 정권과 이 학살을 목격하고 살아온 사람들의 삶 그리고 생존자들을 위해 글을 썼습니다.
당신이 유일한 생존자라는 사실은 세상에서 가장 무서운 것일 수 있습니다.
싸워라. 나는 매일 혼자 싸운다. 저는 제가 살아남은 것에 대한 수치심과 인간이라는 사실에 맞서 싸웁니다. 죽음만이 이 현실을 피할 수 있는 유일한 방법이라는 생각에 씨름을 했다.
왜 죽었죠?
내가 왜 살아있지?
"죽지 않은 사람은 정말로 살아 있는 것일까?" 그의 육체는 살아있으나 그의 영혼은 산산조각이 났다.
나는 죽음이 와서 나를 정화하기를 기다리고, 죽은 자들에 대한 나의 기억에서 나를 제거하기를 기다리고, 나를 계속 쫓고, 나를 쫓는 진흙 같은 물줄기처럼 나를 휩쓸기를 기다리고 있다.
감옥에서 잔인한 고문과 감옥에서
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모든 과정은 내 몸이 더 이상 내 것이 아니라는 단순한 사실을 깨닫기로 결심했다. 나의 생명은 내 손에서 완전히 빼앗겼으며, 내가 할 수 있는 유일한 일은 고통을 받는 것이다. 너무 충격적이어서 나는 그녀에게 내가 정신을 잃을 것이라고 확신했다. 고통이 너무 심해서 나는 내 몸을 통제 할 수 없었다.
마지막 장은 '눈 덮인 램프'(2013)라는 제목으로 출간되었는데, 당시 9살이었던 광주광역시의 어린이 한강은 어른들의 이야기를 들은 적이 있는데도 어린 아이들은 듣지 못했다. 우리는 자라면서 그를 알게 되었다.
암살 요원들이 있었던 것처럼, 여전히 마음은 있었지만 여전히 무서운 학살이었습니다.
광주는 강제적인 고립, 압제, 잔혹함에 노출된 모든 것과 마찬가지로 왜곡된 모든 것과 동일시되고 있다.
극악무도한 소설과 사회적인 소설들이 있는데, 이 소설들 중 가장 잔혹한 것들은 실제 사건들, 특히 어떤 형태의 학살과 고통에 기반을 두고 있을 뿐이다.
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Amazon
Human Acts: A Novel Hardcover – Deckle Edge, 17 January 2017
by Han Kang (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,635 ratings
See all formats and editions
From the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian, a “rare and astonishing” (The Observer) portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice.
In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed.
The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice.
An award-winning, controversial bestseller, Human Acts is a timeless, pointillist portrait of an historic event with reverberations still being felt today, by turns tracing the harsh reality of oppression and the resounding, extraordinary poetry of humanity.
Shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award
Amazon, 100 Best Books of 2017
The Atlantic, “The Best Books We Read in 2017”
San Francisco Chronicle, “Best of 2017: 100 Recommended Books”
NPR Book Concierge, 2017’s Great Reads
Library Journal, “Best Books of 2017”
Huffington Post, “Best Fiction Books of 2017”
Medium, Kong Tsung-gan’s “Best Human Rights Books of 2017”
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From Australia
Esta
4.0 out of 5 stars A haunting historical fiction about the 1980 Gwangju Massacre.
Reviewed in Australia on 17 July 2024
Verified Purchase
Typically, I read for joy and escapism, and actively steer clear of books that might shatter my heart into a trillion tiny pieces. However, my book club chose this one, and I’m glad they did. This book is brilliant and important, but also horrific, shocking, raw, and heartbreaking. It’s based on the real events of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising/Massacre in South Korea and told from the perspective of multiple characters.
The Gwangju Massacre saw citizens rise up against an authoritarian government, demanding democracy. The response was barbaric—hundreds of civilians, many of them students, were killed, and countless others were wounded or imprisoned.
I highly recommend this for its historical significance because it was enlightening for me and I learned a lot. However, make sure you’re in the right headspace and have a much lighter read lined up afterwards, maybe a picture book with puppies.
I read this book a couple of years ago, but it’s one of those unforgettable stories that has haunted me since.
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From other countries
Carolina
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Germany on 28 December 2022
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I have mix feelings with this book. I wouldn’t say it was easy to read but it keep you there, is one of those books in my opinion that keep you there reading and reading.
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Bera63
5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo
Reviewed in Italy on 13 May 2021
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Ottimo
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beth lamb
2.0 out of 5 stars Difficile à lire
Reviewed in France on 13 February 2017
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J'ai eu très difficile à me concentrer sur ce livre. A mi-chemin, il y a d'autres personnes qui parlent et c'est assez désorientant. Question contenu - très très bien écrit, (et certainement bien traduit)mais avec des scenes de torture très graphiques et hantantes. Très très noir comme livre.
Pas de tout pour les âmes sensibles.
Je n'acheterai pas un autre livre de ce style alors que j'ai aimé "Je me suis échappée d'Auschwitz" qui avait des touches d'humeur.
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Jenette Wetzel
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good read
Reviewed in the United States on 1 May 2024
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I lived the book very quick and easy read
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ACLndn
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and perfect
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2022
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Must read! It is so rare to find a book that is so fullbodied in its storyline and style of writing, while also masterfully pulling the strings of our emotions. Thank you Han Kang, this was absolutely delightful - I lived this perfect book with every word and it has left me a better human being! (And I am also buying it it as gifts for my friends)
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Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars Sad, but hauntingly beautiful
Reviewed in Canada on 7 May 2022
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Book arrived in good condition.
The story itself is beautiful and sad. I could only read one chapter a day because for me it just wasn't the type of book I could binge. It was horrifying in many ways, and tragic, yet touching and inspiring. I definitely recommend.
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Lizbeth Escobedo
5.0 out of 5 stars Llegó en buen estado
Reviewed in Mexico on 16 January 2023
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Fue un regalo de navidad y llegó en perfecto estado.
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Emilly
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it
Reviewed in Spain on 28 February 2022
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It came really fast! It wasn't as protected as I though I think i could be more protected but nothing bad happened to the book no marks, completely fine. And of course the book is amazing
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Naman
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book!!
Reviewed in India on 7 February 2024
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this was such an emotional read which got me confused a little in between but grew on my mind and swallowed it ever so slowly, making it numb to every other thing. The best read of 2023
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