The book starts with a list of white items, including swaddling bands, newborn gown, snow, ice and shroud. Han Kang Photo: Park Jaehong. Music is often associated with memory. I really enjoyed the previous two novels I read by Han Kang and was looking forward to reading this. The narrator proceeds to make a list of the white things that are directly or obliquely in conversation with her sister’s death and life: swaddling bands, salt, rice, bones, pills, hair, breast milk, fog ... She hopes that the process of writing “would be transformative, would itself transform, into something like white ointment applied to a swelling, like gauze laid over a wound”. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. To laugh whitely means to laugh but not to mean it: “Laughter that is faint, cheerless, its cleanness easily shattered. For God’s sake don’t die. Gebundene Ausgabe. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. It re-imagines that baby's life in tandem with the narrator's own life who came into existence only because her older sibling did not survive. Gwangju, South Korea, 1980. The White Book by Han Kang review. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. She won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 for. (...) Kang's book is marked by a wonder of the incorporeal world. Han Kang’s The White Book is a meditation on grief using a study of white objects in the author’s life to spark memories of events she did—and did not—experience, specifically the birth and deaths of her older sister (and a quickly mentioned older brother, who also succumbed to premature birth) and their mother. Summary; Book Summary. “Standing at this border where land and water meet, watching the seemingly endless recurrence of the waves (though this eternity is in fact illusion: the earth will one day vanish, everything will one day vanish), the fact that our lives are no more than brief instants is felt with unequivocal clarity.”, “Each moment is a leap forwards from the brink of an invisible cliff, where time’s keen edges are constantly renewed. 18 likes. Han Kang’s The White Book is a meditation on grief using a study of white objects in the author’s life to spark memories of events she did—and did not—experience, specifically the birth and deaths of her older sister (and a quickly mentioned older brother, who also succumbed to premature birth) and their mother. THE WHITE BOOK becomes a meditation on the color white, as well as a fictional journey inspired by an older sister who … 160 pages. Around an hour later, the baby was dead. Only when the creature believes it will not be hurt by the human observing its journey does it stand still and allow the sun to dry its feet. But what was it about? Now shortlisted for the Man Booker International - and alongside Flights, one of the two outstanding remaining books: This comes across as a series of meditations on things that are white, written as vignettes in probing and poignant language you could call prose poetry. I loved it. We get little nuggets suggesting hard life during the Korean War and sources of grief like her mother’s loss of a prematurely born sibling. The White Book eBook: Han Kang: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store. Trans. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Kang has created a beautifully meditative exploration of grief from a distance. 흰 | The White Book 2016, Novel. Is there an official Dutch translation for this book? I found, fans of Kang and poetry or flash fiction fans. Refresh and try again. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. I just prefer, however, her other stories to this one. What follows feels like essay, like Knausgaard with his lists of topics in his seasonal books, but with a definite female perspective. The White Book . "The White Book is Han Kang's most experimental fictional work to date. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. But do we need to? The narrator is living in an unfamiliar country, where she knows little of the language, and finds herself reflecting on the brief life and death of her sister – a baby her mother delivered herself at the age of 22; a child who lived for mere moments. Reflecting on a particular white pebble, Han notes: “If silence could be condensed into the smallest, most solid object, this is how it would feel.” The dominant theme is of transience, of fleeting life and the acceptance of human fragility. Her characteristically poetic writing, driven by the visual ornaments of the colour white, is most potent in short fragments. There are chapters on salt, snow, the moon, and white birds, all of which convey Kang’s reflections on the different topics in fragments. I didn't connect with this one, unfortunately. Some chapters are only 1 paragraph long; none are more than 3-4 pages. The following is from Han Kang's novel, The White Book, a meditation on the color white, as well as a fictional journey inspired by an older sister who died in her mother’s arms, a few hours old. Because The White Book is less a book and more an embracing feeling of familiarity. This short book is structured as a series of meditations on 'white things', from snow and white birds to the more abstract: silence; spirit; the concept of 'laughing whitely', a Korean phrase which describes forced, mirthless laughter. I am quite unsure how to review this brilliant little book. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. “The White Book” is autobiographical. Interesting concept but hard for me to get very invested in, especially because this reads more like poetry at times. Focused on the central theme of an infant’s death, progressing through The White Book is like chronicling the trauma. Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. We’d love your help. • Deborah Levy’s memoir, The Cost of Living, will be published next year. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Available for everyone, funded by readers. The White Book Overview Set in Warsaw and Korea, Han Kang’s novel The White Book delves into what it means to be human and how to reconcile human life’s beauty with its chaos and uncertainty. Translated seamlessly by Smith, The White Book succeeds in reflecting Han’s urgent desire to transcend pain with language. Windows Phone. Deborah Smith. But I was also drawn past delight to accommodation to dark and melancholy paths. The narrator of this book doesn’t have a name in the book, although it’s no secret that this is an autobiographical work by this author and is a love letter to her long deceased older sister. She is based in Seoul. This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Han Kang, a phenomenal contemporary Korean writer. The White Book, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (trans) (Portobello Books, November 2017) As the story develops, the narrator’s incantatory invocation of white objects—salt, snow, moon, ice, rice, waves, white hair, a white dog—gradually envelops the reader like the creeping Warsaw fog that slowly rubs away the borders between sky and earth. Han Kang. Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith. by Han Kang . This is the third book I have read by Han Kang. While on a writer’s residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. In a sequence of interconnected chapters… Content warning: mentions of domestic abuse. In "The White Book", the author employs the color white to meditate on the experience and what it meant for her parents and herself, the child that probably wouldn't have been … To order The White Book for £7 (RRP £10) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. 22,00 € Weiter. By Han Kang Translated By Deborah Smith “The White Book” (Hogarth, 2019) by Han Kang (photo by Park Jaehong) The following excerpt is from Han Kang’s The White Book, translated by Deborah Smith and out this week from Hogarth.Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize, The White Book is a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief, written through the prism of … And while I could certainly 'appreciate' what she does here, I must say the results left me rather ... cold and indifferent; even though the sad event that occasions her musings here are something I can relate to, having had a stillborn older sibling myself. While on a writer's residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried when I read these words: Han Kang and Deborah Smith are a match made in heaven. And it's also one of the smartest reflections on what it means to remember those we've lost.” Das Mädchen war eine Frühgeburt und starb schon zwei Stunden nach der Geburt. But I was also drawn past delight to accommodation to dark and melancholy paths. Each section is composed of a motif, an aspect related to the event that is lyrically and masterfully crafted with poetic language and rich vocabulary. Published in USA Feb 2019 160 pages Genre: Novels Publication Information. This book is something you live and feel, and all of this is created by its use of empty space. From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian comes a stunning meditation on the colour white; about light, about death and about ritual From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian Both the most autobiographical and the most experimental book to date from South Korean master Han Kang. Buy This Book. She understands that her sister’s presence, like that pillar, is part of her history, and wonders if in writing about her death, she could give her new life. Now and again, another colour interrupts this palette of white: the red feet of a bird, a crane making its way out of the water towards a rock. Han wisely gives as much value to the baby's heightened two hours of life as she does to her death. You can read the whole book in one sitting. By Han Kang “ The Vegetarian ” and “ Human Acts ” introduced English-language readers to the explosive fiction of the South Korean writer Han Kang. Han Kang. IRIS DENG/THE VARSITY. Deborah Smith's translations from the Korean include two novels by Han Kang, The Vegetarian and Human Acts, and two by Bae Suah, A Greater Music and Recitation. “I adored Han Kang’s eerie English-language debut of denial, excess, and transformation, The Vegetarian, and I can’t wait to read her next tale, which promises to be equal parts Italo Calvino, Angela Carter, and something entirely Han Kang’s own. Like “Each moment is a leap forwards from the brink of an invisible cliff, where time’s keen edges are constantly renewed. Korean English(UK, US) Dutch Chinese Japanese French Spanish Catalan Portuguese Czech Arabic Romanian 8,49 € Deine kalten Hände: Roman Han Kang. London: Portobello Books, 2017. In the wake of a viciously suppressed student uprising, a boy searches for his friend's corpse, a consciousness searches for its abandoned body, and a brutalised country searches for a voice. At its most engaging, the writing edges close to becoming a brilliant psychogeography of grief, moving as it does between place, history and memory. In an interview with Granta, Kang said that when writing this book, she imagined her prematurely dead sister had lived and visited the city ‘in … This way the interplay between the blank spaces on the page, the photography, and the writing worked to. And the face that forms it.”, The White Book is a mysterious text, perhaps in part a secular prayer book. I am quite unsure how to review this brilliant little book. Descriptions of the feelings these things invoke, politics, reminders of the past, present. Han Kang wrote it whilst living in Warsaw, though in the book the city is never named explicitly. In 2015 Deborah completed a PhD at SOAS on contemporary Korean literature and founded Tilted Axis Press. 4,3 von 5 Sternen 57. Welcome back. An unnamed narrator moves to a European city where she is haunted by the story of her older sister, who died a mere two hours after birth. this was innovative, raw, meditative and delicate. Skip to main content.ca Try Prime Hello, Sign in Account & Lists Sign in Account & Lists Returns & Orders Try Prime Cart. This comes across as a series of meditations on things that are white, written as vignettes in probing and poignant language you could call prose poetry. Han Kang's The White Book is a meditation on grief using a study of white objects in the authors life to spark memories of events she did--and did not--experience, specifically the birth and deaths of her older sister (and a quickly mentioned older brother, who also succumbed to premature birth) and their mother. It’s been thrilling to see the recent high acclaim and popularity for Han Kang’s powerful distinctive writing. All rights reserved. The author of The Vegetarian has written a powerful autobiographical meditation on the life and death of a newborn sister. Running through these thoughts is the story of the author’s young mother whose first child died only a cou. Apple. A snow storm in Warsaw erases the detail of its streets, yet when it falls on a black coat sleeve, it will “reveal its crystals even to the naked eye. It is a book about mourning, rebirth and the tenacity of the human spirit. Han wrote it while she was on a writer’s residency in Warsaw. My edition is from Granta. Han wrote The Vegetarian, and its sister-work, Mongolian Mark by hand, as overuse of the computer keyboard had damaged her wrist. This book is a series of very short chapters consisting of meditation-like bursts of thoughts. It is as if this story itself has become a womb in which the author “has grown up inside”. The White Book by Han Kang Paperback CDN$ 15.42. A short and intensely personal and poetic meditation but a very difficult one to encapsulate in a review. FREE Shipping on orders over CDN$ 35. Sometimes, at the most random of times, when I am doing something of no importance, I am reminded of Han Kang’s The … As she contemplates the child's short life she focuses on the whiteness and all it symbolises. In other words, rather than May 1980 suddenly springing into being, I wanted to show how the military government’s oppression of human rights in the 1970s, and the labour movement, became the kindling.

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