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The Greatest Awakening of a Woman: Becoming Herself
A Journey Toward Self-Liberation in a World That Demands Conformity
On October 10, 2024, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to South Korean author Han Kang for her novel The Vegetarian. This recognition sparked renewed conversations about the survival and emotional lives of East Asian women. The complexities of womanhood — especially within the confines of marriage and societal expectations — are powerfully examined through literature, providing a voice to those struggles.
As female writers continue to shape the narrative in the literary world, they reveal, through their unique perspectives, the tenderness and harshness of life as a woman — capturing both the quiet and overt pains endured in the pursuit of self-identity. Han Kang’s The Vegetarian is one of the many works that explore these themes, as is The Bright Night by fellow Korean author Choi Eun-young. Her writing is deeply immersive, resonating with readers on a profound emotional level.
The protagonist of The Bright Night, Ji-yeon, unravels the intergenerational struggles of women through letters, photographs, and the vivid memories of her grandmother, Yeong-ok. These women, though born into times of conflict and instability, survived by holding each other up, enduring hardship together. They…
