Stories Alive! Human Acts

Democracy at all costs

Zemii Tours is honored to present the fifth in many Stories Alive! Tours. The fifth tour is based off of the novel Human Acts by Han Kang. Published in 2017. This novel based on real world events takes you to the rising of youth against the former military dictator, Chun Doo-Hwan, in Gwangju, South Korea in the week of May 18-27, 1980. This award-winning and controversial novel portrays the universal struggle for justice and political unrest.

The Story

As described on Amazon:

This is a story seeped in South Korean history but rooted in the stronghold of humanity. In Human Acts, Kang recounts a violent uprising in Gwangju, South Korea in 1980 and begins unapologetically with the bodies – the bodies piled unclaimed and rotting of the students that were murdered. Dong-ho, a young teenager looks for his friend amidst the rubble, clinging to the proximity of his friend’s last breath. Refusing to go home, Dong-ho is murdered. From there, Kang’s epic novel blooms outward, telling the stories of…