{"id":29945,"date":"2023-01-30T13:33:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T17:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=29945"},"modified":"2023-01-30T17:33:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T21:33:25","slug":"han-kang-the-middle-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2023\/01\/30\/han-kang-the-middle-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Han Kang: “The Middle Voice”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/span><\/div>

“The Middle Voice”<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Han Kang<\/span>
\ntranslated from the French by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won<\/span>
\nfrom the February 6, 2023 issue of\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

\"\"G<\/span>reek Lessons<\/em>, the forthcoming book from which this story is an excerpt, will be the fifth book we get from Han Kang (if my quick scan is right). I didn’t hear about Convalescence<\/em>, her first novel translated into English, but I well remember the publishing phenomenon that was her second, The Vegetarian<\/em>. I read and enjoyed The Vegetarian, but not enough to rush to read the next two, Human Acts<\/em> and The White Book<\/em>. I’d be curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on those!<\/p>\n

Greek Lessons<\/em>\u00a0has an interesting premise: a woman taking a Greek language course finds herself unable to speak; the teacher finds himself losing his sight. This excerpt goes through that portion of the story. Indeed, here is the first few paragraphs, when she loses her ability to speak as she watches the teacher write on the blackboard.<\/p>\n

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The woman brings her hands together in front of her chest. Frowns, and looks up at the blackboard.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cO.K., read it out,\u201d the man with the thick-lensed, silver-rimmed spectacles says with a smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s lips twitch. She moistens her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. In front of her chest, her hands are quietly restless. She opens her mouth, and closes it again. She holds her breath, then exhales deeply. The man steps toward the blackboard and patiently asks her again to read.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Where will this all go? I’m not sure, and, while I remember well the strangeness (in both tone and content) we find in\u00a0The Vegetarian<\/em>, I do not know what kind of tone and subject matter we find in Han Kang’s other work. Please let us know your thoughts on this story (or the other work) below!<\/p>\n<\/div>