Published: 2026-08-26

“The Vegetarian” by Han Gang: An Existential Diary of a Soul and Reflection on the Sense of Humanity in the 21st Century

Maria Anna Dudek

Abstract

The paper analyses a novel The Vegetarian by Han Gang, laureate of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature to check whether it is an ecocritic story on vegetarianism and post-Confucian patriarchy in South Korean society, or rather the author’s existential diary with a universal message for all humanity. In what regards methodology, Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics was applied, and as a theoretical framework served the theory of open text by Umberto Eco, theory of spots of indeterminacy by Roman Ingarden, and theory of archetypes by Carl Gustav Jung.

Keywords:

The Vegetarian, Hang Gang, Hang Kang, Korean literature, existentialism

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Citation rules

Dudek, M. A. (2026). “The Vegetarian” by Han Gang: An Existential Diary of a Soul and Reflection on the Sense of Humanity in the 21st Century. Colloquia Litteraria, 38(1/2025). Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uksw.edu.pl/cl/article/view/17009

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