Throughout the world, people spend much of their time with animal companions of various kinds, frequently with cats and dogs. What meanings do we make of these relationships? In the ecocritical collection Reading cats and Dogs, a diverse array of scholars considers the philosophy, literature, and film devoted to human relationships with companion species. In addition to illuminating famous animal stories by Beatrix Potter, Jack London, Italo Svevo, and Michael Ondaatje, readers are introduced to the dog poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Turkish documentary on stray cats as neighborhood companions, and the representation of diverse animal companions in Cameroonian novels. Focusing on "Stray and Feral Companions," "The Usefulness of Companion Animals," and "Problematizing Companion Animals," Reading Cats and Dogs aims both to confirm and topple readers' assumptions about the fellow travelers with whom we share our lives, our streets and fields, and our planet. Fifteen contributors from various countries reveal the aesthetic, ethical, and psychological complexities of our multispecies relationships, demonstrating the richness of ecocritical animal studies.
Francoise Besson is emerita professor at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaures. Zelia M. Bora is founder of the Commission for Animal Welfare at the Federal University of Paraiba and contributes to the Post-Graduate Program at the Federal University of Paraiba. Marianne Marroum is associate professor of English and comparative literature at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. Scott Slovic is university distinguished professor of environmental humanities at the University of Idaho.
Table of Contents Prologue by Kev Reynolds Introduction by Francoise Besson and Scott Slovic Section I: Stray and Feral Companions Karla Armbruster, "Our Feral Future: Dog Stories and the Anthropocene" OEnder Cetin, "When You Love the Stray Animals as Much as Your Own Pets: The Case of Companion Animals in Turkey" Marianne Marroum, "Identity, Love, and Abuse in Laila al-Othman's Cat Stories" Lorraine Kerslake, "Of Mice, Rabbits, and Other Companions in Beatrix Potter's More than Human World" Niroshima Gunasekera, "Walking Through the Animal Kingdom: A Search for the Near and Dear" Qianqian Cheng, "From the Forbidden City to the Locked-down Megalopolis: Reading the Behaviors of Cat Lovers in China" Section II: The Usefulness of Companion Animals Anna Re, "Memorable Dogs of Italian Literature" Claire Cazejous-Auge, "Cross-species Cooperation: Hunting with Dogs in Contemporary American Nature Writing" Keita Hatooka, "Let the Sleeping Dogs Tell Lies: Companionship and Solitude in Shuntaro Tanikawa's Dog Poems" Kenneth Toah Nsah, "Of Dogs, Horses, and Buffalos in Cameroon: Companion Animals in Cameroonian Fiction" Section III: Problematizing Companion Animals Chen Hong, "The Plight of Dogs in the Country-City Gap: Reading Chinese Dog Narratives across Genres" Wendy Woodward, "Cat Killers, Black Diamonds, and a Talking Cat: Feline Companions in Post-Transitional South African Fiction" Zelia M. Bora, "The Paradoxical World of Animal Representation in the Brazilian Novel As Horas Nuas in Light of Greek Philosophy" Athane Adrahane, "Canine Initiation into Ecowisdom" Epilogue by Francoise Besson, Zelia M. Bora, Marianne Marroum, and Scott Slovic Index
Within a mile of my home I encounter animals along a wide spectrum of constraint and freedom, ranging from pampered hyperdomestication to lethal neglect. This fascinating collection of essays extends that variety to the international, exploring animal-centred works of literature out of Beijing and Brussels, Soweto and Sri Lanka, Cameroon and Brazil. Spilling over into the philosophical and affectingly autobiographical, the contributions collectively challenge and valorise anew our views of animal companionship. Above all they emphasize that, enveloped by cross-cultural globalization, mass species extinction and slaughter, zoonotic pandemic and climate change, human and non-human animals' fates are irrevocably entwined. -Dan Wylie, author of Elephant -- Dan Wylie
