South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize • Hacker News Board

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#11

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 4:30 PM UTC

bobosha wrote: post #4

am i the only relieved that for once a non-AI human has won the nobel?

[deleted]

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#12

Post by asdasdsddd » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 4:42 PM UTC

bnchrch wrote: post #2

Figure I'd pull an arbitrary quote from Han Kang for this. Translated obviously > “There is none of us whom life regards with any partiality. Sleet falls as she walks these streets, holding this knowledge inside her. Sleet that leaves cheeks and eyebrows heavy with moisture. Everything passes.” - Han Kang

its very sad that asian prose translates so terribly into english

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#13

Post by curiousllama » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 4:50 PM UTC

asdasdsddd wrote: post #12

bnchrch wrote: post #2

Figure I'd pull an arbitrary quote from Han Kang for this. Translated obviously > “There is none of us whom life regards with any partiality. Sleet falls as she walks these streets, holding this knowledge inside her. Sleet that leaves cheeks and eyebrows heavy with moisture. Everything passes.” - Han Kang

its very sad that asian prose translates so terribly into english

Even knowing no asian languages, I can just feel something missing, especially in the first sentence there

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#14

Post by akaike » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 4:51 PM UTC

That’s so awesome! My girlfriend read all her books and told me how beautifully she writes in Korean.

Definitely well-deserved!

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#15

Post by qart » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 5:00 PM UTC

asdasdsddd wrote: post #12

bnchrch wrote: post #2

Figure I'd pull an arbitrary quote from Han Kang for this. Translated obviously > “There is none of us whom life regards with any partiality. Sleet falls as she walks these streets, holding this knowledge inside her. Sleet that leaves cheeks and eyebrows heavy with moisture. Everything passes.” - Han Kang

its very sad that asian prose translates so terribly into english

I don't think that has anything to do with the continent. People like Haruki Murakami and Liu Cixin have achieved immense reader-bases with their English translations.

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#16

Post by throw_pm23 » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 5:08 PM UTC

qart wrote: post #15

asdasdsddd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its very sad that asian prose translates so terribly into english

I don't think that has anything to do with the continent. People like Haruki Murakami and Liu Cixin have achieved immense reader-bases with their English translations.

It probably has to do with linguistic distance though. It is safe to assume that Dutch to English translation loses much less in nuance than Korean to English.

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#17

Post by locuscoeruleus » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 5:10 PM UTC

carabiner wrote: post #8

I think the Nobels, especially in the arts, have lost their relevance, similar to the Michelin restaurant awards and the Oscars for film. We now know they're from a select group (of Norwegians in this case) with certain tastes no more noteworthy or transcendent than any of ours. The world has too much culture and achievement today to be marked by one group of awards like this per year. We have "Oscar bait," but I thi…

> We now know they're from a select group (of Norwegians in this case) with certain tastes no more noteworthy or transcendent than any of ours.

Only the nobel peace prize is handed out by Norway. What would you consider an example of nobel bait?

Re: South Korean Author Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

#18

Post by parodysbird » Thu, Oct 10, 2024, 5:11 PM UTC

carabiner wrote: post #8

I think the Nobels, especially in the arts, have lost their relevance, similar to the Michelin restaurant awards and the Oscars for film. We now know they're from a select group (of Norwegians in this case) with certain tastes no more noteworthy or transcendent than any of ours. The world has too much culture and achievement today to be marked by one group of awards like this per year. We have "Oscar bait," but I thi…

I enjoy Oscar bait films and Michelin star restaurants. Oscar bait film season (winter) is the main season I look forward to going to to the movies, not summer (blockbuster season). But it's not some attack on mainstream culture just because there are awards for niche/elite/artsy/etc culture. Similarly, just because the Nobel for literature goes to a niche literary author you don't know/like doesn't demean whatever your reading preferences are.