소년이 온다: 광주의 기억 편집하기 (부분)

===Eng===
'''Human Acts: The Memory of Gwangju'''

Han Kang’s novel <i>Human Acts</i> is set against the backdrop of the May 18 Democratic Uprising of 1980 and restores the voices of those who were silenced—both the victims of state violence and the survivors left behind. The novel does more than recount a historical tragedy; it transforms the memory of violence into the language and emotion of humanity, embodying in literature the “testimonies of the silent within history.”

The story centers on Dong-ho, a fifteen-year-old boy who witnesses his friend’s death under military gunfire and volunteers at a gymnasium used as a makeshift morgue, where he experiences unspeakable horror. Subsequent chapters unfold through the perspectives of the people who remain, intertwining the weight of grief and memory that endures beyond death. Through a calm yet restrained prose style, Han constructs a distinctive narrative that “sees the world through the eyes of the dead.” Publisher Changbi describes the work as “a novel that reexamines human dignity and solidarity through the memory of Gwangju.”

Since its publication in 2014, <i>Human Acts</i> has resonated deeply both in Korea and abroad. The English edition, published in 2016, was acclaimed as “a work that translates the trauma of modern Korean history into the language of world literature.” The novel has been translated into over twenty languages—including English, French, Italian, and Spanish—demonstrating the universal power of Han Kang’s literary vision and offering global readers a profound reflection on Korean history and human nature.

Recognized for “poetic prose that embraces human suffering,” Han Kang’s body of work finds its pinnacle in <i>Human Acts</i>. Within the novel, she revives voices silenced by violence and explores how human dignity endures even amid brutality and loss.

Upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, Han remarked in her lecture, “All my questions have been about love.” <i>Human Acts</i> is the embodiment of that question. Moving beyond a record of death and pain, it bears witness to the persistence of memory, compassion, and life itself—transforming Gwangju’s tragedy into an ethical and universal memory shared by all humanity.