The South Korean comic artist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim already broke my heart with his graphic novels Grass And The wait. She once again delivers a deeply felt and expert story in her new self -fiction, Dog days.
Its compassionate illustration of the complexity of canine human relations examines the often intergenerational tensions dividing the urban and rural populations of the South Korean society. Hun and Yuna, a couple living in Seoul, adopt a Corgi named Carrot after a defeat in the family. The chronic anxiety of Carrot suspecting results from breeding in one of the The notorious “puppy factories” of South Korea – overcrowded and abusive reproduction installations – They decide to move to the countryside.
Adaptation to rural life is difficult because they sail on interactions with neighbors traditionally and the judgments of a united community. Dogs seem to be everywhere: errors, they are friends with walks, puppies belonging to their sympathetic neighbor, Mr. Han, who limits them to a kennel in the courtyard before disappearing mysteriously, and an abandoned puppy at their door, which they adopt and name the “potato”. Dogs tend to be overlooked in the village, and when more of them disappear, they begin to suspect the worst.
One rainy day, Yuna is shocked to trip on Mr. Han to prepare dog meat. That night, she has a disturbing nightmare drawn in wet gray wet washed wet – a striking stylistic change – in which her subconscious combines the revelation of her neighbor with a haunting childhood. When the van of a dog seller arrives in the village, it becomes clear that Dog meat consumption is a policeman's secret in the neighborhood. Yuna and Hun come to see their community with new eyes because they are faced with a dilemma that tests the limits of their additional capacity for responsibility.
Gendry-kim notes in the afterword These previous generations have experienced a food rarity and concern that its history could strengthen inadvertance of stereotypes. But she does not hesitate to face uncomfortable truths on cruelty to animals, boldly focusing her subjectivity and the convictions that led her to tell her personal story.
With a style of drawing both raw and tender, Gendry -Kim uses energetic dry brushes, a detailed online work and daring blacks to represent daily moments with intense emotion – to make tasks, chores that work and the sharing of silent company. It exceeds to represent the dogs in motion and the ephemeral beauty of nature, whether it is rain, sunlight through the leaves or the vegetation exhausted by the wind. The couple's dogs, integrated into their relationship, are sometimes drawn, dominating people and landscapes to symbolize their importance. Dog days is a poignant exploration of love and ethical responsibility, reminding us of the deep connections that we share with animals and the moral complications that these relationships can imply.
Dog days (2024) by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong, is published by Drawn & Quarterly and is available online and via independent booksellers.
