Hanif Kureishi on his accident / ‘I believed I was dying, that I had three breaths left. It seemed like a miserable and ignoble way to go

 

Hanif Kureshi: ‘I began to feel I was both a helpless baby and a terrible tyrant.’ Photograph: Spencer Murphy/The Guardian. Grooming: Victoria Poland

Hanif Kureishi on his accident: ‘I believed I was dying, that I had three breaths left. It seemed like a miserable and ignoble way to go’

An exclusive extract from the writer’s new memoir

By Hanif Kureshi

Saturday 12 October 2024

On Boxing Day, in Rome, after taking a walk to the Piazza del Popolo, followed by a stroll through the Villa Borghese, then back to the apartment, I had a fall.

’Eventually I’ll be able to sign one of my own books again. That would be a big deal for me.’ Photograph: Spencer Murphy/The Guardian. Grooming: Victoria Poland

‘My body is broken, but I’m not going to give up’: Hanif Kureishi on life after the accident that paralysed him 

He was known for taboo-busting, transgressive stories about identity, sexuality and belonging. Then the author and screenwriter broke his neck. But he’s still every bit as provocative …

Simon Hattenstone

Sat 12 Oct 2024 07.00 BST

“Iwasn’t even pissed,” Hanif Kureishisays, as if somehow that would have made it better. The writer is talking about the accident that left him a tetraplegic. Or, as he likes to call himself with classic Kureishian brutality, a vegetable. Though he’s not. His body may be broken, but his brain isn’t.

Hanuf Kureushi / Accident ‘completely eradicated’ sense of self and privacy

 

Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi: accident ‘completely eradicated’ sense of self and privacy

This article is more than 9 months old

Author says he had to adjust to ‘becoming another person’ after injuries in Boxing Day fall last year

Jane Clinton

Tue 26 Dec 2023 12.30 GMT

Hanif Kureishi has spoken candidly of how his sense of self and privacy have been “completely eradicated” after a fall on Boxing Day last year left him unable to use his hands, arms or legs.

 

Han Kang

Interview

Han Kang: ‘Writing about a massacre was a struggle. I’m a person who feels pain when you throw meat on a fire’

This article is more than 8 years old

Interview by Claire Armitstead

The internationally acclaimed South Korean novelist on confronting the country’s violent history

Friday 5 February 2016

Early in 2015 a buzz began to build around a slim novel called The Vegetarian. It was about a woman who turned her face to the wall, refusing to eat meat and scandalising her friends and family, as a prelude to rejecting life itself. “It is sensual, provocative and violent, ripe with potent images, startling colours and disturbing questions,” wrote its Guardian reviewer.

 

Interview

Han Kang: ‘If I was 100% healthy I couldn’t have become a writer’

This article is more than 6 years old

Interview by Hannah Beckerman

The South Korean novelist on the death of her sister, the transformative power of writing – and how migraines helped

Sunday 17 December 2017

Han Kang is a South Korean writer whose novels in translation include Human Acts and The Vegetarian – for which she won the 2016 International Man Booker prize. Her latest work, The White Book, is a moving autobiographical meditation on loss and grief.

Han Kang’s Nobel win is testament to importance of small press publishing

Han Kang

Han Kang’s Nobel win is testament to importance of small press publishing

Literature in translation has long been reliant on indie presses to bring work such as the South Korean author’s to wider audiences

Catherine Taylor

Thu 10 Oct 2024 18.04 BST

The announcement of the South Korean writer Hawn Kang as the 2024 Nobel Literature laureate is a triumph not only for Korean literature but also a reminder of the huge reach and influence of small press publishing, which takes on so much of the heavy work of introducing literature in translation to a wider audience.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang / Review

 

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plant-like' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide and hospitalisation. She unknowingly captivates her sister's husband, a video artist. She becomes the focus of his increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, while spiralling further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming - impossibly, ecstatically - a tree. Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.

THE GUARDIAN

Five of the best

Five of the best body horror novels

This article is more than 2 months old

Tackling social issues with often grisly violence, you’ll need a strong stomach for these stories by authors from Han Kang to Stephen King, but they make an indelible impact

Monika Kim

Thu 18 Jul 2024 12.00 BST

Body horror is a genre that features the mutilation or transformation of the human body. Always graphic and usually grotesque, its trademark terrors range from dismemberment to cannibalism, which some authors use as a vehicle for political commentary or social critique.

In my novel, The Eyes Are the Best Part, Ji-won is a seemingly normal college student whose life unravels after her father’s departure and the arrival of her mother’s creepy new Caucasian boyfriend, George. After eating a fish eye for luck during a traditional Korean meal, Ji-won develops a morbid obsession with George’s blue eyes, culminating in acts of violence that confront the white male gaze in a very literal fashion.

If you have the intestinal fortitude for body horror tales, here are five of my favourites.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Yeong-hye is stuck in a nightmare. Against her family’s wishes, she has become a vegetarian. When her family physically forces her to eat meat, they set in motion a series of events that will change her life for ever. Han Kang’s writing is beautiful and evocative, and her ambitious novel tackles mental illness, consent, misogyny and autonomy.

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Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Murata’s novel is compulsively readable in spite of the many disturbing themes it covers. Natsuki, who is neglected by her family, seeks meaning in her existence after a series of traumatic events cause her to question gender norms and societal expectations. Bizarre and unpredictable, Earthlings features plenty of unsettling moments and will stay fixed in your mind long after you turn the last page.

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Misery by Stephen King

Novelist Paul Sheldon finds himself in a dire situation after waking up from a car accident that left his legs completely shattered. He’s been found by superfan Annie Wilkes, who decides to hold him captive while he rewrites the ending of his bestselling romance series to her liking. Annie goes to great lengths to make sure that Paul behaves – and can never leave. A classic, must-read horror novel with plenty of moments that will leave you squirming.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

In this debut novel, we follow an unnamed protagonist working at Holistik, a beauty and wellness store. Her work begins to take over her life, even as she starts to uncover terrible secrets about the cult-like company. Natural Beauty is a sinister and entertaining exploration of the cost of assimilation, toxic beauty culture and capitalism.

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Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

Irina is a photographer who focuses on taking explicit images of average-looking men. After being offered an exhibit at a respectable London gallery, she revisits old photographs and begins to descend into madness, leading her down a path of destruction. This dark and unsettling novel looks at power, gender roles, class and sexuality, and is sure to be a hit with fans of Bret Easton Ellis.

• The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim is published by Octopus.

  
  

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