By Woo Jae-yeon
Han Kang, the acclaimed South Korean author, has won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for her novel “We Do Not Part,” published in English translation in 2024. The award was presented at the NBCC’s annual awards ceremony in New York on Thursday night (U.S. time).
Heather Scott Partington, chair of the NBCC’s fiction committee, lauded “We Do Not Part” as “a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax” before announcing the winner.
She further described it as “a subtly rendered sketch of trauma in the wake of the Jeju massacre — a rumination on creation and truth amidst loss. This artful novel lingers like an atmospheric, arresting dream.”
Due to her absence, David Ebershoff, vice president and editor-in-chief of Hogarth and executive editor of Random House, accepted the award on Han Kang’s behalf and read her acceptance speech.
In her speech, Han Kang expressed gratitude to everyone “who helped me while I wrote this book over seven years,” adding, “In this book, there are ones who have resolved not to bid farewell. Instead of an impossible farewell, they choose to stay within tenacious mourning, they light candles below the sea.”
She concluded, “In the pitch-black plunge of the night, I still hope to believe in the blinking light which we have in us, and to move forward, holding it with tenacity.”
“We Do Not Part” explores the themes of resilience and human connection in the face of historical trauma. The novel centers on the tragic Jeju uprising of 1948, portraying the events through the eyes of three women.
The Jeju uprising on April 3, 1948, was triggered by protests against U.S. military-led rule. The then government falsely labeled the uprising as a communist revolt, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.
The character Jung-shim, though appearing frail and sorrowful, embodies the determination to grieve and bid farewell, ultimately symbolizing resilience in the face of historical tragedy, as emphasized by the author.
Previously, the French edition of the novel, titled “Impossibles adieux,” was awarded the Prix Medicis for foreign literature in 2023 and the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature in 2024.
Han Kang, who began her literary career as a poet in 1993, has openly discussed the challenges of writing “We Do Not Part.”
“It took me seven years to finally complete the story and when I did that, it was the happiest moment for me,” she stated at a press conference on Nov. 14, 2023, following her Prix Medicis win.
She also expressed her desire to explore more personal themes after focusing on historical events in previous works.
“I’ve had enough of feeling cold, as it snows so much in ‘We Do Not Part.’ I would like spring to come,” she said.
Reflecting on life, she added: “Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be alive. We are given this one-off life as a gift, whether we like it or not, and must eventually return it. I want to develop the idea of being alive and write about spring.”
