Quote by Han Kang: “Violence is not a thing. It is a world without human beings.”

This quote redefines violence not merely as an action but as a condition or state of being that strips away humanity. It implies that violence creates a void where empathy and connection cease to exist, leaving only emptiness.

Set against the backdrop of the Gwangju Uprising (1980), this novel explores state violence and its aftermath, resonating with global conversations around human rights and authoritarianism.

South Korean novelist and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate in 2024. Her novel The Vegetarian, translated into English in 2015, examines bodily autonomy, violence, and resistance through a woman's refusal to eat meat in conformist South Korean society.