Han Kang; translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
The White Book by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith, is an autobiographical meditation using fragmented images of objects in the color white to serve as the backdrop for the narrator’s grief at the death of her older sister who died two hours after her birth.
The narrator opens the novel by listing items in the color white, many of which connect to her baby sister: swaddling bands, newborn gown, moon, shroud, etc. She describes snow, blizzards, frozen lakes, a white bird, a white dog, and other manifestations of white. Also included is her mother’s narrative of being alone while undergoing the premature birth and subsequent death of the infant. The fragmented images serve as catalysts for meditation.
While on a writer’s residency in Warsaw, the narrator observes how the remnants of bombed out buildings have been incorporated into new structures as permanent reminders of the past. She entertains a parallel thought that she has incorporated her sister into her being. She circles back to the scene of her baby sister’s birth and death several times and projects various scenarios incorporating her sister had she survived. By integrating her sister into her life and her writing, the narrator asserts her as a living presence.
Kang’s language is poetic and delicate; the tone elegiac and reflective. Each image invites contemplation. Some images are only a few lines long. The format is unusual in that there are blank pages and copious amounts of white space between images. This suggests the narrator offers the reader empty space to contemplate the image and/or to project meaning on the blank screen.
The cumulative impact of fragmented images, sensitive musings on the color white, and grief at a sibling’s death accentuate the transience and fragility of life. The narrator is haunted by her past, by her guilt at surviving when her sister did not. Her pain is evident, as is her longing to transcend that pain through language and imagery. What emerges is a compelling narrative in an unconventional format capturing the poignancy of dealing with loss.