Han Kang's Human Acts was first published serially in the online literary magazine Window from 2013 to 2014. The novel was later published in full in 2014 by Changbi Publishers, with Deborah Smith finishing an English translation in 2016. The Korean title translates to The Boy Is Coming. Human Acts spans different perspectives and time periods (from 1980-2013). Each chapter follows a distinct character, all connected through their involvement in the May 1980 Gwangju Uprising. Han conducted extensive research on this historical event to write the novel.
The novel's central protagonist is a 15-year-old boy named Kang Dong-ho, who was killed by the army. Other narrators include Dong-ho's best friend Jeong-dae (who was also killed), an editor named Eun-sook, an unnamed man imprisoned by the military police, a woman named Seon-ju who worked in a factory, Dong-ho's mother, and Han Kang herself. Delving into these individual perspectives in the aftermath of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, Han explores wider themes such as violence and memory. As the English title suggests, the book captures how humans are capable of acting both brutally and compassionately.
Human Acts is among Han's most influential works. Many critics discuss the way Han deftly reckons with a defining moment in Korean history while also dealing with universal issues such as violence. Han was among the artists blacklisted during President Park Geun-hye's administration (2013-2017). These artists were perceived as opposing the conservative administration and were thus excluded from various government support programs. In response to discovering that she was blacklisted, Han stated in 2016 that it pained her that "the events of May 18 [the Gwangju Uprising] have not yet been fully resolved."
Han's work has shined a light on the Gwangju Uprising for new generations of Koreans as well as a global readership. Human Acts won the 2014 Manhae Prize for Literature and the 2017 Premio Malaparte. In 2024, Han received the Nobel Prize in Literature for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life."