Han Kang featured in Guardian English novels list

Han Kang’s novel "The Vegetarian" has been included in The Guardian’s list of the “100 best novels written in English,” making it the only work by an Asian author to appear in the ranking.

The list, released on Saturday (local time), placed "The Vegetarian" at 85th. It covers only novels published in English and was compiled with input from 172 writers, critics and scholars.

In its introduction to the novel, The Guardian described Han as a Korean writer introduced to Western readers through Deborah Smith’s translation, noting that "The Vegetarian" won the International Booker Prize in 2016 and that Han later received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.

At No. 1 on the list was George Eliot’s 1871 novel "Middlemarch." The top five also included Toni Morrison’s "Beloved," James Joyce’s "Ulysses," Virginia Woolf’s "To the Lighthouse," and Marcel Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time."


김소민 기자 somin@donga.com