As Korean born, I became interested in when I heard about a Korean won Nobel prize in literature. Recently, after some hesitation, I bought the book called Vegetarian written by Han Kang from Kindle bookstore. As she was the first Korean who ever won the Nobel prize in that field that gave me more curiosity and some expectations.

As an amateur writer, I admit that my qualification is short by expertise level to be a critic of her work. However, I was very impressed by that her work was extremely well detailed, delved and dissected. The depictions of how she analysed the profound inner feelings in human emotion was truly remarkable.

Nevertheless, it was quite inconsistent in the link between the chapters from a chapter to next that puzzled me. Whenever I entered next chapter felt as if it was a different book. In case, it was just me who sensed that way, I googled to see what the critic said. It surprisingly indicated the same quandary as I was wondering about.

Furthermore, the excessive characterisation in eroticism was uneasy that could upset the readers who were conservative minded including most Koreans. It might’ve been a part of the factor that contributed to the book to win the prize but reminded me of a very cheap level of pornographic novel. It even made my face flush red with degradation while reading it on my own. And I wondered how anyone could depict the lecherous and obscene story so elaborately.

However, there had been hardly any feedback or challenge in relation to it from Koreans that was a surprise. A renounced film actor said “I couldn’t carry on reading it any further because it was so scary” which was rather an awkward wording for feedback about the book. Usually, if a member of any SNS or literature societies wrote a story that has explicit sexual nature or connotation, people usually react vehemently. The contributor would be accused of being obscene, deprived or despicable etc. Nonetheless, many fellow Koreans were rather proud of it because was a glory to Korean nation and they even threw celebratory parties.

It is apparent that there is a limit in our perceiving capacity biologically against oversized objects or phenomena; we can’t hear the sound of earth’s spinning; we can’t see even our solar system let alone the whole universe. Perhaps the name value of Nobel prize was far too prestigious and greater to challenge for the most Koreans.

I was initially very curious about how much there was a difference to Korean version while reading the English version of the book. This excessive eroticism is not an issue in the most Western societies where are very open and tolerant. Thus, the critics on Google clearly speculated on the contents of Vegetarian novel that might’ve been distorted/ diluted during the translation. Some critics also pointed out that the selection of certain English words inputting in the Korean novel didn’t blend well that deviated from the original Korean text. These were the exact facets I had been concerned and attentive to.

Finally, I have my personal notion that attached considerable weight to the standard of Nobel prize. It seems to be levelling up with Netflix, the guru of modern recreation inclusive films, series and documentaries etc. The contents of Netflix productions are getting more extreme on reflection of the troubling world which are full of disasters such as wars and natural calamities etc. These drastic measures are a new trend of entertainments that satiate the viewers taste. And the Nobel (Literature) prize also tends to attract anti-establishment, anti-social and anti-ethical etc that are protestive in a negative/ anarchic way. They are, usually, compatible with a far left-wing stance.

Sadly, the Vegetarian, the Nobel prized too, shows the deep colour of this particular political agenda that is very regretful.