여덟 살 때의 그날이 선명히 떠오릅니다. 학교 수업을 마치고 나왔을 때, 하늘이 갑자기 열리듯 비가 쏟아졌습니다. 그 매서운 비를 피해 스무 명이 넘는 아이들이 건물 처마 밑으로 몰려들었지요. 길 건너편에도 비슷한 건물이 있었는데, 그곳 처마 밑에도 또 다른 무리가 모여 있었습니다. 마치 거울을 보는 듯했죠. 쏟아지는 비를 바라보며, 팔과 종아리가 촉촉이 젖어들 때, 문득 깨달음이 찾아왔습니다. 나와 어깨를 맞대고 서 있는 이들, 그리고 길 건너 서 있는 저 사람들 모두가 각자의 '나'로 살아가고 있다는 것을. 그들 역시 내가 보는 이 비를 보고 있으며, 내 얼굴에 느껴지는 이 촉촉함을 똑같이 느끼고 있다는 것을. 그토록 많은 일인칭의 시선이 존재한다는 깨달음은 경이로움 그 자체였습니다.
돌이켜보면, 제가 읽고 쓰며 보낸 시간 속에서 저는 이 경이로운 순간을 거듭 체험해왔습니다. 언어라는 실을 따라 타인의 마음 깊숙이 들어가 그들의 내면과 마주하는 경험을. 제게 가장 절실하고 시급했던 질문들을 그 실에 맡겨 다른 영혼들에게 전하는 여정을.
어린 시절부터 저는 알고 싶었습니다. 우리가 태어난 이유를. 고통과 사랑이 존재하는 이유를. 이 질문들은 수천 년간 문학이 던져온 것이며, 오늘날에도 여전히 던져지고 있습니다. 이 세상에서 우리의 짧은 체류가 지닌 의미는 무엇일까요? 어떤 상황에서도 인간으로 남는다는 것은 얼마나 어려운 일일까요? 가장 어두운 밤에도, 우리의 본질을 묻고, 이 지구에 살아가는 모든 사람과 생명체의 일인칭 시선을 상상하기를 멈추지 않는 언어가 있습니다. 우리를 서로 연결하는 언어가 있습니다. 이러한 언어를 다루는 문학은 필연적으로 생명의 온기를 품고 있습니다. 그리고 필연적으로, 문학을 읽고 쓰는 행위는 생명을 파괴하는 모든 행위에 맞서게 됩니다. 이 자리에 함께 서서, 문학을 위한 이상의 의미를 여러분과 나누고 싶습니다. 감사합니다.
Han Kang
Banquet speech
Han Kang’s speech at the Nobel Prize banquet, 10 December 2024.
Your majesties, your royal highnesses, ladies and gentlemen.
I remember the day when I was eight years old. As I was leaving my afternoon abacus lesson, the skies opened in a sudden downpour. This rain was so fierce that two dozen children wound up huddled under the eaves of the building. Across the street was a similar building, and under those eaves I could see another small crowd— almost like looking into a mirror. Watching that streaming rain, the damp soaking my arms and calves, I suddenly understood. All these people standing with me, shoulder to shoulder, and all those people across the way — were living as an “I” in their own right. Each one was seeing this rain, just as I was. This damp on my face, they felt it as well. It was a moment of wonder, this experience of so many first-person perspectives.
Looking back over the time I have spent reading and writing, I have re-lived this moment of wonder, again and again. Following the thread of language into the depths of another heart, an encounter with another interior. Taking my most vital, and most urgent questions, trusting them to that thread, and sending them out to other selves.
Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to know. The reason we are born. The reason suffering and love exist. These questions have been asked by literature for thousands of years, and continue to be asked today. What is the meaning of our brief stay in this world? How difficult is it for us to remain human, come what may? In the darkest night, there is language that asks what we are made of, that insists on imagining into the first person perspectives of the people and living beings that inhabit this planet; language that connects us to one another. Literature that deals in this language inevitably holds a kind of body heat. Just as inevitably, the work of reading and writing literature stands in opposition to all acts that destroy life. I would like to share the meaning of this award, which is for literature, with you — standing here together. Thank you.
Han Kang
Photo gallery
Han Kang delivering her Nobel Prize lecture in literature on 7 December 2024 at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Anna Svanberg
Han Kang with flowers after delivering her Nobel Prize lecture in literature at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Anna Svanberg.
Han Kang with "Bröderna Lejonhjärta" - a book by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, during her visit in Lindgren's apartment in Stockholm, 8 December 2024. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Nanaka Adachi
Han Kang in front of a dress inspired by her Nobel Prize in Literature, made by Adrian Musa and Johannes Söderbäck Kirksaether, and shown in the exhibition ‘Nobel Creations 2024’ at the Nobel Prize Museum. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Anna Svanberg
Like many laureates before her, literature laureate Han Kang signed a chair at the laureates' get together at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm on 6 December 2024. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.
Eight of the 2024 laureates assembled at the Nobel Prize Museum, 6 December 2024. Back row: Victor Ambros, Han Kang, David Baker and Demis Hassabis. Front row: James A. Robinson, Simon Johnson, John Jumper and Gary Ruvkun. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.
Han Kang © Photo: Paik Dahuim. Courtesy of Natur & Kultur.
Han Kang. © Photo: Lee Chunhee. Courtesy of Natur & Kultur.
© Photo: Park Jaehong. Courtesy of Natur & Kultur.
