Fruit of My Woman Key Facts
- Full Title: Fruit of My Woman
- Original Title: 내 여자의 열매 (Nae Yeoja-ui Yeolmae)
- Author: Han Kang (1970–Present)
- Language: South Korean
- English Translation: Deborah Smith
- Written Date: Around 1996
- Published Date: 1997 in Literary Joongang (South Korea) ✪✪✪
- First Collected In: Fruit of My Woman (Short Story Collection, 2000)
- Genre: Symbolic Psychological Short Story ✪✪✪
- Form: Modern Prose Fiction with lyrical and surreal tone
- Narrative Style: Primarily First-person (Husband’s narration) + Epistolary (Wife’s final letter to her mother)
- Structure: Divided into 8 short sections forming a continuous transformation narrative
- Tone: Melancholic, Symbolic, Poetic, and Hauntingly Tender
- Climax: The husband finds his wife fully transformed, green, rooted, and blooming. It symbolizes both death and rebirth.
- Famous Line: “Soon, I know, even thought will be lost to me, but I’m alright. I’ve dreamed of this, of being able to live on nothing but wind, sunlight and water, for a long time now.” ✪✪✪
- One Line Summary: A woman slowly transforms into a plant, symbolizing her silent escape from human pain and confinement.
- Point of View: First-person narration (Husband’s perspective) mixed with the wife’s letter.
- Setting:
- Time Setting: Late 20th century (modern urban Korea)
- Place Setting: A small apartment in Seoul, with the balcony as the main symbolic space of transformation.