Han Kang; trans. Deborah Smith
The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith, is an unusual novel unfolding in three parts.
Part 1 is in the first-person voice of Mr. Cheong, the husband of Yeong-hye. He describes his very ordinary existence with his very ordinary wife. All seems to go according to his plan until Yeong-hye begins having dreams drenched in blood and violence. She becomes a rigid vegetarian, refusing to allow any meat to enter her home. When her father tries to force meat into her mouth, she reacts by cutting herself. The family structure spirals downhill from there.
Part 2 focuses on Yeong-hye’s brother-in-law and his growing obsession with her body, especially her Mongolian birthmark. He convinces her to allow him to videotape him as he paints flowers on her naked body. She agrees because she has become fixated on vegetal life and wants to be plant-like.
Part 3 focuses on Yeong-hye’s sister as she struggles to deal with her sister’s mental breakdown and divorce; her own separation from her husband; and the disintegration of her family. All the while, she juggles work at her cosmetics store with the demands of single-parenting.
The novel explores a series of complex issues dealing with agency, social conformity, self-determination, identity, self-erasure, authentic personhood, thwarted and realized desires, exploitation, institutions for the mentally ill, and the amorphous boundary between sanity and mental illness. Peppering the narrative are short, italicized segments of Yeong-hye’s thoughts in fluid, stream-of consciousness sequences. The prose gradually lures the reader deeper into the horror of Yeong-hye as she withers away physically and disengages from reality mentally. The horror is intensified by acts of institutional and familial violence perpetrated against her, ostensibly for her own good.
The language shifts from the mundane, prosaic language of Mr. Cheong; to the blood-drenched narrative of Yeong-hye’s dreams; to the seductive language of entwined bodies painted with flowers; to the anxiety-ridden thoughts of Yeong-hye’s sister; to the visceral horror of Yeong-hye’s body as it whittles away.
Han Kang probes deeply into complex issues without offering facile responses. She forces her characters to confront what they would prefer to dismiss. Some, like the bland Mr. Cheong, will simply walk away; others, like Yeong-hye will aim for authentic selfhood regardless of the cost; while others still, like Yeong-hye’s sister, will struggle to search for answers.
Han Kang has performed an extraordinary feat. Her novel packs a powerful punch that goes well beyond its slim package of 190 pages. Deborah Smith should also be acknowledged for an English translation that does justice to this powerful and very unusual novel.
Highly recommended.