Publication details
Die Ethik des Erinnerns! Trauma, Zeugenschaft und Würde in Han Kangs „Menschenwerk“
| Title in English | The Ethics of Remembrance! Trauma, Witnessing, and Dignity in Han Kang’s "Menschenwerk" |
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical (without peer review) |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | This article focuses on the South Korean author Han Kang, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024 and is the first and, so far, only South Korean woman to receive this honor. Her novel "Human Acts" („Menschenwerk“), published in German in 2017, is a literary reflection on the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and its long-term social consequences. It is used here as a case study to illustrate her unique literary style, through which she succeeded in addressing taboo subjects in South Korea. At the heart of the article lies the question of how Han Kang transforms memory, trauma, and resistance into poetic language, thereby creating an ethical form of remembrance. In addition to a literary-stylistic analysis, the article also examines the reception of the work in South Korea and highlights the socio-political significance of "Human Acts" in light of current authoritarian tendencies. The analysis combines passages from the novel with historical comparisons and relates the literary portrayal to historical documents, scholarly works in history and the social sciences, and the film adaptation "A Taxi Driver" by Jang Hun. |
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