Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher

Book cover for Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea
Book cover for Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher

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Description

Famously referred to as part of the 'Axis-of-Evil', North Korea remains one of the most secretive and mysterious nations in the world today. A series of manmade and natural catastrophes have also left it one of the poorest. When the fortress-like country recently opened the door a crack to foreign investment, cartoonist Guy Delisle found himself in its capital Pyongyang on a work visa for a French film animation company, becoming one of the few Westerners to witness current conditions in the surreal showcase city.

Armed with a smuggled radio and a copy of 1984, Delisle could only explore Pyongyang and its countryside while chaperoned by his translator and a guide. But among the statues, portraits and propaganda of leaders Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il - the world's only Communist dynasty - Delisle was able to observe more than was intended of the culture and lives of the few North Koreans he encountered.

His astute and wry musings on life in the austere and grim regime form the basis of this remarkable graphic novel. Pyongyang is an informative, personal and accessible look at an enigmatic country.

About the Author

Born in Québec City, Canada, in 1966, Guy Delisle now lives in the south of France with his wife and two children. Delisle spent ten years working in animation, which allowed him to learn about movement and drawing. He is best known for his travelogues about life in faraway countries: Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen. He has since expanded his oeuvre by telling a Doctors Without Borders acquaintance's story as a nail-biting thriller (Hostage) and revisiting his teen years and first summer job (Factory Summers).

Critical Reviews

"Guy Delisle is a wry 37-year-old French Canadian cartoonist whose work for a French animation studio requires him to oversee production at various Pacific Rim studios on the grim frontiers of free trade. His employer puts him up for months at a time in 'cold and soulless' hotel rooms where he suffers the usual maladies of the long-term boarder: cultural and linguistic alienation, boredom, and cravings for Western food and real coffee. Delisle depicts these sojourns into the heart of isolation in [the] brilliant 'graphic novel' . . . "Pyongyang."" --"Foreign Affairs"

Publishing Information

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Pub date: 2018-10-02
Length: 192 pages

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