Human Acts

The psychological novel “Human Acts” is the second book by Korean writer Han Kang translated into Russian; she received the International Booker Prize for her bestseller “The Vegetarian.”

1980. In the South Korean city of Gwangju, after a recent attempt at a coup d’état, peaceful citizens stage protests—brutally suppressed by the authorities. In just a few days of May, hundreds of innocent people die. The exact number of victims is still unknown. As are the identities of many of the dead.

In memory of those terrible events, Han Kang tells the story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Tonho. At the height of student unrest, he goes searching for his friend and ends up right in the middle of the slaughter. Tonho’s death leaves an indelible mark on the fates of those close to him. Censorship, torture, imprisonment, violence, death… These people had to survive what cannot be expressed in words. The things that cannot be silenced.

“Human Acts” is a way to document the consequences of that catastrophe—from problems with transporting the dead bodies and caring for them, to the attempt to drown out the grief that continues to hurt, and powerless rage that won’t go away for years.