Han Kang's unblinking look at the world

THE victory of the South Korean writer Han Kang as the newest Nobel laureate in literature is universally acknowledged. No sour notes have been heard, so far. One cavil, though, is that her output seems rather thin. But aside from her novels, she has already written short stories, poems and essays, many of which have yet to be translated from Korean into English.

Her triumph is also seen as the natural progression of the Korean dominance in popular culture, and now, in literature. Korean dramas, music, fashion and beauty products are like tsunamis that have inundated the world. The latest in this Korean wave is their excellent writing that we are now only reading, because they have recently been translated into English.