Greek Lessons

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2: Silence Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5: Voice Chapter 6 Chapter 7: Eyes Chapter 8 Chapter 9: Dusk Chapter 10 Chapter 11: Night Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14: Faces Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17: Darkness Chapter 18 Chapter 19: A Conversation in Darkness Chapter 20: Sunspots Chapter 21: Deep-Sea Forest Chapter 0 Acknowledgments Other Titles About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List v vi 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 175 ii 177 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Greek Lessons is a work of fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.
 Translation copyright © 2023 by Deborah Smith
 All rights reserved.
 Published in the United States by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
 Hogarth is a trademark of the Random House Group Limited, and the H colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Originally published in Korean as 희랍어 시간, or Huilabeo Sigan by Munhakdongne, Paju-si, South Korea, in 2011. Copyright © 2011 by Han Kang. This translation published in the United Kingdom by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Books, part of the Penguin Random House group of companies.
 Hardback ISBN 9780593595275
 Ebook ISBN 9780593595282
 randomhousebooks.com
 Cover design: Anna Kochman
 Cover image: Hans L Bonnevier, Johner/Getty Images
 ep_prh_6.1_143148854_c0_r0
 
 
 
 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 
 Chapter 2: Silence
 
 
 Chapter 3
 
 
 Chapter 4
 
 
 Chapter 5: Voice
 
 
 Chapter 6
 
 
 Chapter 7: Eyes
 
 
 Chapter 8
 
 
 Chapter 9: Dusk
 
 
 Chapter 10
 
 
 Chapter 11: Night
 
 
 Chapter 12
 
 
 Chapter 13
 
 
 Chapter 14: Faces
 
 
 Chapter 15
 
 
 Chapter 16
 
 
 Chapter 17: Darkness
 
 
 Chapter 18
 
 
 Chapter 19: A Conversation in Darkness
 
 
 Chapter 20: Sunspots
 
 
 Chapter 21: Deep-Sea Forest
 
 
 Chapter 0
 
 
 Acknowledgments
 Also by Han Kang
 About the Author
 
 
 _143148854_
 
 
 
 1
 
 As his dying wish, Borges requested the epitaph “He took the sword and laid the naked metal between them.” He asked this of María 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 now wanted to be buried.
 One researcher described that epitaph as “a blue-steel symbol.” For him, the image of the blade was the key that would unlock the significance of Borges’s writing—the knife that divides Borges’s style from conventional 
 
 
 2
 
 Silence
 The woman brings her hands together in front of her chest. Frowns, and looks up at the blackboard.
 “Okay, read it out,” the man with the thick-lensed, silver-rimmed spectacles says with a smile.
 The woman’s lips twitch. She moistens her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. In front of her chest, her hands are quietly restless. She opens her mouth, and closes it again. She holds her breath, then exhales deeply. The man steps back toward the blackboard and patiently asks her again to read.
 The woman’s eyelids tremble. Like insects’ wings rubbing briskly together. The woman closes her eyes, reopens them. As if