Han Kang’s "The Vegetarian" Makes The Guardian’s List of Top 100 English Novels as the Only Asian Author

The Guardian Selects 100 Greatest Novels Based on Votes from 172 Experts
Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” Ranks 85th with Four Votes
Strong Presence of Female Authors... Genre Fiction Excluded and Debated

Han Kang's novel "The Vegetarian" has been named one of the world's top 100 English-language novels by the British daily, The Guardian.

Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Asia Business Daily DB

According to Yonhap News Agency on May 19, The Guardian released its list of "100 Best Novels" on May 16 (local time), based on a vote involving 172 writers, critics, and academics from around the world. Each participant selected their top 10 English-language novels of all time, ranking them in order of preference. The Guardian then calculated the final list by combining the number of votes and a weighting for each individual ranking.

"The Vegetarian" received votes from four individuals—Japanese novelist Sayaka Murata, British novelists Sophie Mackintosh and Tahmima Anam, and British journalist Emma Loffhagen—placing it at 85th on the list. It was the only novel by an Asian national to be included. Among works by authors of Asian descent, Kazuo Ishiguro, the Japanese-British novelist and 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, had two works on the list: "The Remains of the Day" (24th) and "Never Let Me Go" (59th).

The Guardian introduced Han Kang by stating, "Deborah Smith's translation introduced this Korean author to Western readers, leading to the International Booker Prize in 2016 and the honor of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024." Regarding "The Vegetarian," the paper explained, "This three-part story centers on a woman who, after a series of brutal dreams, refuses to eat meat and ultimately ends up in a psychiatric hospital."

The top spot among the 100 novels went to "Middlemarch" (1871) by British Victorian author George Eliot, which received votes from 56 participants. The Guardian described the novel as "an intricately woven epic exploring work and marriage, ambition and creativity, selfishness and community spirit, all set against a backdrop of political, social, and technological upheaval." Other highly ranked works included "Beloved" by Toni Morrison (2nd), "Ulysses" by James Joyce (3rd), "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf (4th), and "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust (5th).

This year's list was noted for the significant rise of women writers. In contrast, major figures of late 20th-century American literature—such as Norman Mailer, John Updike, and Philip Roth—were absent, which some attributed to discomfort with their portrayals of women. Prominent British writers like Martin Amis and Ian McEwan were also omitted. Nevertheless, Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" was included despite its controversial subject matter.

Meanwhile, genre literature and children's novels such as J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and the "Harry Potter" series were excluded. The British weekly magazine The Spectator criticized the selection, questioning whether the list had prioritized authors' national backgrounds over literary merit.

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