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Publicado el 5 de enero de 2017
The Vegetarian (Korean: 채식주의자; RR: Chaesikjuuija) is a South Korean three-part novel written by Han Kang and first published in 2007. Based on Han's 1997 short story "The Fruit of My Woman", The Vegetarian is set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody, nightmarish dream about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life.Published on 30 October 2007 in South Korea by Changbi Publishers, The Vegetarian was received as "very extreme and bizarre" by the South Korean audience. "Mongolian Mark", the second and central part of the novel was awarded the prestigious Yi Sang Literary Prize. It has been translated into at least thirteen languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Chinese. The Vegetarian is Han's second book to be translated into English. The translation was conducted by the British …
The Vegetarian (Korean: 채식주의자; RR: Chaesikjuuija) is a South Korean three-part novel written by Han Kang and first published in 2007. Based on Han's 1997 short story "The Fruit of My Woman", The Vegetarian is set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody, nightmarish dream about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life.Published on 30 October 2007 in South Korea by Changbi Publishers, The Vegetarian was received as "very extreme and bizarre" by the South Korean audience. "Mongolian Mark", the second and central part of the novel was awarded the prestigious Yi Sang Literary Prize. It has been translated into at least thirteen languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Chinese. The Vegetarian is Han's second book to be translated into English. The translation was conducted by the British translator Deborah Smith, and was published in January 2015 in the UK and February 2016 in the US, after which it received international critical acclaim, with critics praising Han's writing style and Smith's translation. In May 2016, it won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. The Vegetarian thus became the first recipient of the award after its reconfiguration in 2015, prior to which it was awarded to an author's body of work rather than a single novel. It is considered as Korean translated literature's biggest win since Kyung-Sook Shin's Please Look After Mom won the closing Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012. Prior to it winning the prize, The Vegetarian had sold close to 20,000 copies in the nine years since its first publication. In June 2016, Time included the book in its list of best books of 2016.
Corea es para las nuevas generaciones lo que Japón supuso para la nuestra, una cultura lejana y exótica que provoca fascinación. Y, al igual que sucede con Japón, la trastienda de esa sociedad oculta muchas miserias. Kang retrata sin ambages una sociedad machista y ultracapitalista donde los individuos no son más que meros engranajes desechables cuya única finalidad es mantener en marcha una enfermiza maquinaria.
One of my favorite short stories which I read in college was Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivner." But Bartleby's got nothing on Yeong-hye. Her decision to become a vegetarian sends her family into a tailspin, as Han explores how an effort to renounce violence and reject the world's demands provokes a more and more violent reaction from those around her. Aspects of the story are absurd, but are told in a straight, just-the-facts-ma'am style that heightens the sense of how stark (yet simple) Yeong-hye's actions are. She determines, for her own reasons, to live as she wants, and the novel illustrates how challenging it is to take such a stance.
One of my favorite short stories which I read in college was Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivner." But Bartleby's got nothing on Yeong-hye. Her decision to become a vegetarian sends her family into a tailspin, as Han explores how an effort to renounce violence and reject the world's demands provokes a more and more violent reaction from those around her. Aspects of the story are absurd, but are told in a straight, just-the-facts-ma'am style that heightens the sense of how stark (yet simple) Yeong-hye's actions are. She determines, for her own reasons, to live as she wants, and the novel illustrates how challenging it is to take such a stance.
Posiblemente de los libros que más me gustaron últimamente. Su lectura engancha, aunque resulta en ocasiones bastante duro. Leyéndolo pensaba que, aparte de los relatos que cuenta en cada una de las partes, tiene mucho de filosófico; y me recordaba a los existencialistas. En el prólogo, que recomiendo no leer antes de leer la novela, comparan a su autora y premio Nobel de literatura de 2024, con Kafka. La primera parte nos habla de Yeong-hye, la vegetariana, a través de la mirada y el relato de su marido. El marido cuenta con toda naturalidad la opresión a la que está sometida su mujer a la que cosifica totalmente. Poco a poco vamos percibiendo esa cosificación y ese machismo que al final resulta insoportable. Al parecer, los críticos literarios coreanos, hombres de cierta edad y reconocimiento, hicieron durísimas críticas de la novela. Tal vez esta novela supuso para ellos un bofetón …
Posiblemente de los libros que más me gustaron últimamente. Su lectura engancha, aunque resulta en ocasiones bastante duro. Leyéndolo pensaba que, aparte de los relatos que cuenta en cada una de las partes, tiene mucho de filosófico; y me recordaba a los existencialistas. En el prólogo, que recomiendo no leer antes de leer la novela, comparan a su autora y premio Nobel de literatura de 2024, con Kafka. La primera parte nos habla de Yeong-hye, la vegetariana, a través de la mirada y el relato de su marido. El marido cuenta con toda naturalidad la opresión a la que está sometida su mujer a la que cosifica totalmente. Poco a poco vamos percibiendo esa cosificación y ese machismo que al final resulta insoportable. Al parecer, los críticos literarios coreanos, hombres de cierta edad y reconocimiento, hicieron durísimas críticas de la novela. Tal vez esta novela supuso para ellos un bofetón como el que el padre de Yeong-hye le da a su hija por negarse a comer carne. La segunda parte es un bello relato en el que se mezclan el arte y la sensualidad, y que supone un pequeño respiro en medio de la asfixia de los otros dos apartados. El último capítulo habla de la locura y la cordura, y es para mí el más existencialista. Contrapone la locura de Yeong-hye con la cordura de su hermana.
Yes, this plot is going places. But it finds very natural ways to take the reader along and experience this wild series of events in a believable way. Full review here.
Yes, this plot is going places. But it finds very natural ways to take the reader along and experience this wild series of events in a believable way. Full review here.
This was a difficult book to finish. I wanted to finish it, for about a week, but the last 50 or so pages are emotionally harrowing. Hard work.
Stylistically beautiful. Terse and without any extraneous detail, it reads a bit like a ascetic philosophical exploration of decisions in society.
A lot of other reviews (and the blurb above) focus on the book's setting in Korea -- traditionally meat-heavy diet, traditionally rigid patriachal family structure etc. I didn't find this -- apart from the names of people (which are few) and the descriptions of food, there is very little to locate this book in space or time beyond being somewhat modern.
This was a difficult book to finish. I wanted to finish it, for about a week, but the last 50 or so pages are emotionally harrowing. Hard work.
Stylistically beautiful. Terse and without any extraneous detail, it reads a bit like a ascetic philosophical exploration of decisions in society.
A lot of other reviews (and the blurb above) focus on the book's setting in Korea -- traditionally meat-heavy diet, traditionally rigid patriachal family structure etc. I didn't find this -- apart from the names of people (which are few) and the descriptions of food, there is very little to locate this book in space or time beyond being somewhat modern.
