Han Kang’s novel “The Vegetarian” has received enthusiastic responses from German news media upon being released in the European country, a state-run literary agency said Wednesday.
The novel has gotten wide attention from readers in English-speaking countries and Europe since its English translation earned the author the prestigious Man Booker International Award in May.
Cover of German edition of Han Kang's “The Vegetarian”
The German-language edition of the Korean novel was released by the Berlin-based publisher Aufbau in the middle of this month and has since attracted a wide coverage from influential newspapers, magazines and broadcasters in the country, according to the Korean Literature Translation Institute.
In a book review dated on Aug. 15, for instance, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel said the book is reminiscent of Franz Kafka's “Die Verwandlung” and depicts violence that occurs when a society tries to keep a human in the boundaries of what is called a normal life. (Yonhap)
