As his dying wish, Borges requested the epitaph ‘He took the sword and laid the naked metal between them.’ He asked this of Maria Kodama, his beautiful, younger wife and literary secretary, who had married Borges two months before he died, at the age of eighty-seven. He chose Geneva as the place of his passing: it was the city where he had spent his youth and where he wanted to be buried.
Do you ever read a book and get to the end only to find yourself wondering ‘did I enjoy that or not?’
Greek Lessons was like that for me.
It was also a book I finished reading the day before heading off on holidays. I made no notes (other than the underlined sections I noted as I read it) and gave it no more thought for 2 weeks. Now, a month later, I’m left scrambling to find something worthwhile to write about it.
It’s very slim, a novella really. Han Kang wrote it 12 years ago. It is also the first time I have read anything by Han and as the title suggests it is about language. The loss of language, the imperfections and limitations of learning another language and the imprecise nature of translation. It was a book that drew me in and kept me at arm’s length at the same time. It had some interesting things to say, some poetic, beautiful language but I also found it to be too contemplative, subdued and obtuse.
Starting her story with a Borges antecdote intrigued me and annoyed me at the same time. Borges has been haunting me in recent times to the point I am no longer surprised when he turns up yet again where I least expect him. Although I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him in a book all about language, time, identity and foreignness.
Language worn ragged over thousands of years, from wear and tear by countless tongues and pens.
The two unnamed characters in Greek Lessons are lonely and alone. She has become mute again (she was mute for a while during her teen years) and he is slowly going blind. He is a teacher of Ancient Greek; she is one of his students.
Words still reached her ears, but now a thick, dense layer of air buffered the space between her cochlea and brain. Wrapped in that foggy silence, the memories of the tongue and lips that had been used to pronounce, of the hand that had firmly gripped the pencil, grew remote. She no longer thought in language. She moved without language and understoof without language – as it had been before she learned to speak, no, before she had obtained life, silence, absorbing the flow of time like balls of cotton, enveloped her body both outside and in.
But there is a third character that grows larger as the story continues – language itself.
Language is not just a tool for humans to use, it is bigger, all encompassing, and a thing of itself that humans cannot quite grasp or contain. It has the power to convey more than we’re ready to accept. It can be self-sufficient, dangerous and unhelpful. Like Borges’ sword it has a sharp edge that can separate us.
Words and sounds track her like ghosts, at a remove from her body, but near enough to be within ear- and eyeshot.
It turns out that Han also had a year in her life when words failed her, when she was unable to write or read fiction. A year when she sought solace in nature and science books and documentaries instead. She understands completely what her two characters are going through, but I do not pretend to understand half of what Han was trying to say or do in Greek Lessons.
Facts:
- In 2018 Kang became the fifth writer chosen to contribute to the Future Library project.
Favourite Quote:
They say that to the Ancient Greeks, virtue wasn’t goodness or nobility, but the ability to do a certain thing in the very best way – arete was their word, the capacity for excellence.
Favourite or Forget:
- Although it felt like Han was trying to pack too many ideas in, which left the final pages almost impenetrable to me, I enjoyed her writing style, the tone she used and the premise of her story (‘the saving grace of language and human connection‘). I would certainly be tempted to read one of her other books. Can you recommend any of them?
- 2024 Novel Prize winner
- Judges motivation: “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”
Title: Greek Lessons | 희랍어 시간 Author: Han Kang Translator: Deborah Smith & Emily Yae Won
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