Han Kang's Nobel Prize Controversy: A Translator's Perspective: MEOW Literary Podcast Ep. 34

This podcast is a presentation of ⁠The Meow Library⁠.

Han Kang's The Vegetarian can be purchased ⁠here⁠.

The basis of Nobel laureate Han Kang's The Vegetarian is a line by Korean poet Yi Sang: "I believe that humans should be plants."

But some, like today's interviewee, believe that humans should be cats.

A Meow Library translator has taken exception to Han Kang being awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, citing the many errors in the English editions of The Vegetarian and her other, lesser-known works. Certain that the Nobel committee is unfamiliar with her books in their original Korean, and that the translated work is not truly of Kan's authorship, he feels that the award should be revoked.

"Any English translation of Han Kang is bound to mislead. The tonal properties of Korean are totally lost to the Anglophone world. Meows are the only language that could possibly convey the melancholy and gravitas of Kang's original prose -- and perhaps even surpass it," he remarks.

After a brief introductory statement, our translator recites a 27-minute passage of The Vegetarian, translated his way. It is his wish that the Nobel committee take note of his improvements and distribute the 2024 Literature prize accordingly.

This podcast is made possible by sales of our first translation for cats, ⁠Meow: A Novel⁠.