A presentable example of the now very elusive true 1st UK printing of the first English-translated work from multiple award-winning South Korean author Han Kang (b. 1970). This book was first published in Korean in 2007 and brought the author to global prominence when it was named as the winner of the 2016 International Booker Prize.
** On 10 October 2024, Han Kang was announced as the Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature by the Nobel Academy in Stockholm. She is the 18th female winner of the Prize, the first Korean to achieve this, and also the first Asian female winner **
'The Vegetarian ' published by Portobello Books (now sadly defunct) in London in 2015 (the book was not released in the US until 2016 by Hogarth), 1st edition/1st printing, standard modern paperback, [iv] + 183 pages. Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith.
Internally in near very good condition, no ownership inscriptions. On the face of it, this appears to be an unread copy. There is, however, a storage/production issue at the start of the book, where the outer fore-edge of the 1st chapter header and pages 1 to 10 have slight to significant nicking halfway up (somewhat tricky to photo the slighter elements but please refer to photo 11).
Externally in near very good condition, softcover in french flaps as issued, tightly bound, no spine creasing (thus seems to be an unread example), light wear at spine ends and edges, light marks to the top part of the fore-edge of the text block (see photo 8), light bumps to corners (see photo 9 showing lower front corner), light surface marks, handful of small round indents to the top part of the rear wrapper (see photo 10).
** First printings of the first work translated into English from the 2024 Nobel Laureate, which won the 2016 International Booker Prize, are now rare and highly collectable **
** Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2024 **
WINNER OF THE 2016 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary
people - dutiful wife and mild-mannered office worker. One day, prompted
by grotesque recurring nightmares, Yeong-hye decides to become a
vegetarian. But in South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of
and societal mores are strictly obeyed, it is a shocking act of
subversion.
Yeong-hye's passive rebellion rapidly manifests in
ever more bizarre and frightening forms, from sexual sadism to attempted
suicide, and in increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, as all the
while she spirals further into her fantasies...
Disturbing and beautiful by turns, The Vegetarian is a revelatory novel about modern day South Korea; a tale of shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others.
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