Novelist Han Kang (54) has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, sparking various reactions among netizens. They are sharing Han Kang’s works such as ‘The Vegetarian’ and ‘The White Book,’ and highlighting her background in the humanities field, expressing reactions like “I apologize for being a humanities major” and more.
On the 10th, the Swedish Academy announced that novelist Han Kang was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. This marks the second time a Korean has won the Nobel Prize following former President Kim Dae-jung’s Peace Prize in 2000.
On social media, netizens expressed reactions such as “I heard the news while boiling instant noodles and immediately poured water to make it into Han Kang to eat,” “I should read ‘The White Book’ and ‘The Boy Comes,'” and “It’s amazing that a Nobel Prize in Literature has come from Korean literature.”
Han Kang’s background in the humanities field is also receiving attention. After graduating from Yonsei University with a degree in Korean literature, she began her career as a poet in 1993 and then debuted as a novelist the following year.
Netizens on social media are reacting to Han Kang’s background with comments like “‘I apologize for being a humanities major’ is now prohibited from today,” “What do you do with a degree in Korean literature? You win the Nobel Prize in Literature…!”, and more. The phrase ‘I apologize for being a humanities major’ is used by humanities students to humorously acknowledge their difficulty in finding employment.
The publisher of Han Kang’s novels such as ‘The White Book’ and ‘The Vegetarian,’ Changbi, congratulated her by stating, “The author Han Kang, who built a distinct world of literature and has touched the world with her works, is selected as the first Korean Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.” Another publishing house, Munhakdongne, introduced the reason for her Nobel Prize selection as “confronting historical trauma head-on and revealing the fragility of human life in intense and poetic essays.”
Film critic Lee Dong-jin and members of the boy group BTS also congratulated Han Kang. BTS member V said, “I read ‘The Boy Comes’ in the military. Congratulations.” RM shared a news article about the award with a crying and heart emoji. Actors Ryu Jun-yeol, Moon Ga-young, Ok Ja-yeon, and Kim Min-ha from the Apple TV series ‘Pachinko’ also congratulated Han Kang via social media.
Singer HYNN, who was moved by the sentence “Even if I get dirty, I will only pass on the white things” from Han Kang’s novel ‘The White Book’ and took her stage name from it, expressed through her agency that she has made a resolution to express sincere and pure emotions through music regardless of any hardships, inspired by that sentence. She stated, “It is even more prideful that through your unique perspective and insight, you have touched the whole world with Korean works.”