[Stage Voices]Han Kang's "The Sharp Edge of Time"

At the Edge of Time Lived,
Precariously Taking a Step Forward
We Must Consider the Consequences of Our Actions

Han Kang, the novelist who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, delivered a commemorative lecture titled "Light and Thread" at the Swedish Academy on December 7 (local time). She mentioned five of her novels, briefly explaining the background behind writing each work and summarizing their content. The lecture stood out for its frequent references to the concept of time.

"In January 1980, less than four months after leaving Gwangju with my family, a massacre occurred there. I was nine years old at the time." "So, in the spring of 2012, on a day when I was struggling to write a 'dazzlingly bright novel that embraces life'..." "Then, I visited Mangwol-dong Cemetery in December of the same year." "Thus, I completed 'Human Acts' and finally published it in the spring of 2014." "Love, the child of April 1979 wrote, is located in the personal place called 'my heart.'"

In the preface to her 2018 novel "The White Book," Han Kang wrote, "There are times when the sense of time feels sharp." She went on to mention "the sharp edge of time." "At the edge of a transparent cliff that is renewed every moment, we move forward. At the end of the time we have lived, we precariously place one foot, and without time for will to intervene, we unhesitatingly step the other foot into the void." Han Kang added that, because she stands on the sharp edge of time, she feels a sense of precariousness even at this very moment.

Yonhap News

Perhaps this acute sense of the present sharpness of time forms the foundation of Han Kang’s historical consciousness. We are always precarious beings, standing at the sharp edge of time, and therefore must always carefully consider and reflect on how our present thoughts and actions may lead to future consequences. It is likely from this sense of history that Han Kang wrote novels dealing with the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the April 3 Jeju Uprising.

The May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement seems almost inextricably linked to Han Kang. As she mentioned in "Light and Thread," less than four months after her family moved from Gwangju to Seoul, the May 18 incident took place in Gwangju.

Additionally, just one week before Han Kang’s Nobel Prize award ceremony, martial law was declared in South Korea for the first time in 45 years. It was the first martial law since the October 26 Incident in 1979. Because the October 26 Incident led to the December 12 Military Coup and the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, Han Kang once again found herself, as if by fate, linked to Gwangju at the pinnacle of her life. Most Koreans, witnessing the bewildering declaration of martial law, felt as though they had returned to the era depicted in Han Kang’s "Human Acts." For a country that had achieved democratization and risen to the ranks of advanced nations in the 21st century, the backward step of martial law was an unimaginable shock.

It is deeply ironic that Han Kang, who wrote about May 18 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature, faced a state of martial law that evoked memories of May 18 just before receiving her award. The person responsible for this unimaginable and paradoxical situation was the president. Why did the president declare martial law, only to retract it six hours later? Since the declaration itself was incomprehensible, it is not easy to find an answer. However, it is clear that the president lacks any sense of the "sharp edge of time."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.