Words from Han Kang.

My current reading is Han Kang’s much-lauded novel Greek Lessons; I’m finding the protagonist irritatingly self-absorbed (as is the case with so many novels in these self-absorbed times), but (as might be predicted) there’s quite a bit of linguistically interesting material. For one thing, she throws in Korean terms with no explanation, trusting the reader to look them up as needed; I consider that a laudable practice, especially now that explanations are a moment’s click away, since it normalizes foreignness and keeps people from living complacently in a bubble of the already-known. A couple of examples: “Are you okay, seonsaengnim?” asked the young woman with the curly hair and sweet eyes who sat at the very front of the class. Seonsaengnim (선생님) means ‘teacher’ (and is also a polite term of address for an elder male or female). I sit and rest on the wooden maru outside the public hall. Maru (마루) means ‘floor’s covering, especially for wood flooring’; I’m not quite sure why it’s…