Exploring the Literature of Nobel Laureate Han Kang: Pain and Empathy
Illustration: Nikas Elmehed
A Symposium with Keynote Speaker Yoon Sun Yang
Discover the profound literary contributions of Han Kang, recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature and the first South Korean and Asian woman to receive this prestigious honor. This symposium celebrates Han Kang’s body of work, renowned for its poetic exploration of South Korea’s history, empathy and philosophical reflection.
Thursday, March 27
Screening Room - 112 Center for the Arts
4–7 p.m.
A buffet reception with food, beverages, and engaging conversation will follow the symposium at 7 p.m.
All attendees are warmly invited to join.
All attendees are warmly invited to join.
Registration closes on Sunday, March 23.
- An introduction to “Human Acts” and the Gwangju Uprising of 1980.
- A multimedia reading of excerpts from “Human Acts.”
- A keynote address, “Feeling the Pain of Others: Nobel Laureate Han Kang’s Literature,” by Professor Yoon Sun Yang (Boston University), a leading scholar of Korean literature and culture.
Yoon Sun Yang
Professor Yoon Sun Yang is an Associate Professor of Korean and Comparative Literature and of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Boston University. Her book “From Domestic Women to Sensitive Young Men: Translating the Individual in Early Colonial Korea” (Harvard University Press, 2017) received the James B. Palais Book Prize of the Association for Asian Studies in 2020.
Sponsored by:
Asia Research Institute, Asian Studies Program, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of English, Department of Media Study, Humanities Institute, Office of International Education and the Korea Language and Culture Fund.