The Bull of Guernica… 7

Recommended by novelist Kang Hwa-gil and reporter Lee Da-hye
The 9th Korea Content Awards Grand Prize Winner with a prize of 100 million won
“I feel like I’m going crazy.
Yeah, that's it."
A well-made psychological thriller that keenly captures the surface of a psychology torn apart by violence.

Han Iri's "The Bull of Guernica," which won the grand prize at the 9th Korea Content Awards (formerly Story Contest) and was praised as "a story full of tension, an immersive development, and a very three-dimensional and mad work," has finally been published after four years of revision.
Armed with sharper and more vivid sentences, a more robust story, and weighty questions that confront reality, we present readers with a well-made psychological thriller.

Kate, a Korean-American artist, was fascinated by Picasso's Guernica as a child and decided to become a painter.
She has been taking medication regularly since she began seeing visions of a "bull" jumping out and attacking her in Guernica, but voluntarily stopped taking it when she could no longer find inspiration.
Then, gradually, the distinction between dreams and reality begins to blur.
One day, Kate sees a masterpiece by a woman named Erin in her dream and makes a deal with the dream Erin to make Erin's painting come true in reality.
Then one day, Erin commits a murder and runs away, and Kate realizes that what she thought was a dream may have actually been reality, and the case gains momentum.

With its precise descriptions that instantly transport readers to the heart of New York City and its vivid and captivating dialogue that almost makes you hear the voice as you read, The Bull of Guernica is a stylish psychological thriller that masterfully portrays the psychology of a woman who moves between dreams and reality, desire and trauma.
Meanwhile, like Picasso's Guernica, The Bull of Guernica exposes the life of a woman torn apart by violence, and goes beyond mere exposure to confront reality in a virtual way, captivating readers with an energy stronger than reality.


“They won’t side with the crazy girls.
So I have to kill that son of a bitch with my own hands.”

The novel follows the life of Kate, a Korean-American painter.
Kate, who grew up hearing the story of her mother who had received a divine revelation as a child and killed her husband and tried to kill her daughter, is afraid that she too might one day become a murderer. However, she is captivated by Picasso's "Guernica" and decides to become a painter.
Kate, now in her twenties, teaches art therapy classes at a mental hospital run by her adoptive father, Carl Burnham.
Unsuccessful as an artist, she always paints masterpieces in her dreams.
But when she wakes up from her dream and cannot remember what she drew, she begins to wonder if her dream has stolen her drawing.


“It was stolen, the dream.”
I woke up again shouting like this.
In the darkness before my eyes, a blank canvas gaped open just like before.
But this time, no picture came to mind.
The picture that had been so vivid before my eyes just a moment ago seemed like a lie, and I couldn't remember it at all.
Just like it always has been when I wake up.
As if the dream had really stolen the picture from my head.
So I knew I was really awake this time.
―Page 48

As she struggles to bring the painting she saw in her dream to life, she dreams of meeting a patient named Erin, who is locked in a secret room in the hospital where she works as an art teacher.
Erin's raw, unconventional drawings overwhelm Kate.
Kate agrees to help Erin escape the dream asylum in exchange for her painting.

From the moment I took Erin out of the hospital room, I decided not to wonder anymore if this was a dream or reality.
I pledge to myself right here and now that I will no longer try to find out by writing a diary while I am so anxious.
It doesn't matter, whether this is a dream or reality.
okay.
I will repeat this to you often from now on.
It's something I recite like a spell whenever dreams and reality get confused.
It doesn't matter, whether this is a dream or reality.
If only everything would go my way in the end.
―Page 149

Kate, who brought the painting Erin gave her into reality, suddenly becomes a genius painter and brings Erin to the secluded villa of her dreams to paint in her place. However, when Erin commits murder and runs away one day, Kate is shocked to realize that the things she thought were dreams all along may have actually been reality...

“She is the one who wants to know who I am.”
A modern-day Jekyll and Hyde you'll remember

The Bull of Guernica is a powerful work that maximizes the appeal of the psychological thriller genre while expressing the fierce struggle of a divided human being at odds with reality and anger toward violence.
From a seedy studio in Brooklyn to the glitzy art scene of New York City to a luxury villa overlooking Central Park.
From the smell of blood spilled like a velvet carpet to the scent of oranges that brushed my nose at the most desperate moments.
The locations and charming characters, depicted in meticulous detail and style, captivate readers until the last page.
Meanwhile, the clash between two completely different female characters is reminiscent of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' at first glance.
Kate, with her intense desire to paint, and Erin, driven by madness and rage to be free from oppression, clash head-on, creating a powerful and captivating energy.
They vividly contrast the human psyche torn apart by violence, while simultaneously exposing hidden moments of violence and revealing the faces of women who take revenge on themselves.

Picasso's Guernica, which captivated ten-year-old Kate, contains a history of violence.
Therefore, it was inevitable that Kate, a victim of violence, would be drawn to Guernica.
However, the violence inflicted on Kate is so shrouded in ingenious layers that its true nature can only be grasped through a new system called dreams.
The Bull of Guernica confronts dreams and reality, focusing on the human rift created by violence and bridging the gap through narrative.
As the novel says, "Perhaps revenge for a crime so absurdly unrealistic could only be achieved in equally absurdly unrealistic ways," The Bull of Guernica, through its faithful narrative, creates a place for those who wish to be free from violence.
It is a virtual space that confronts the problems scattered throughout reality head-on, recalling realizations and revenge that are impossible in reality.
The overwhelming anxiety and anger that permeates the novel, and the moment you emerge from it, you will remember Han Iri's "The Bull of Guernica," not Picasso's "Guernica."