Catland

Kathryn Hughes is emerita professor of life writing at the University of East Anglia and a literary critic for The Guardian. She is the author of Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum and George Eliot: The Last Victorian.

1. Welcome to Catland 2. Early Terrors 3. The Beforetimes 4. Maternal Material 5. Thinking with Cats 6. It Wasn't Milk 7. Show Time 8. About Town 9. Ca-Doe-Mee 10. Court in the Act 11. Owls and Pussycats: Queer Lives in Catland 12. Odd Fish 13. Cats for Pleasure and Profit 14. Hitched 15. Caterwauling 16. Enter Peter 17. "She Smells of Fish" 18. Cat Man 19. Roundheads and Cavaliers 20. Cat Kin 21. The End of Everything 22. Catland-on-Sea 23. Pussies Galore 24. A Chat with Mr. Louis Wain 25. "Yellow Peril" 26. A Man Perpetually Laughing 27. A Cat May Look at a Princess 28. Metaphysics and Madness 29. Two Tales 30. Crossed Wires 31. Cat Burglar 32. Cat Man in the New World 33. Sisters Under the Cat Skin 34. Speed Demon 35. Cat Catcher 36. Home Front in Catland 37. Cats Under Canvas 38. Catland at the Kinema 39. Felix Turns the Tide 40. The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere 41. Scaredy-Cats 42. A Little Man Drawing Cats 43. Hardy's Heart 44. Bedlam 45. The Cat's Miaow 46. Months in the Country 47. Stuffed Cats 48. Wallpaper 49. The Myth of the Disintegrating Cat 50. On Margate Sands Sources and Resources Illustration Credits Acknowledgments Index

This is history as told by someone whose knowledge of and infectious enthusiasm for her subject is matched by obvious delight and warm, expressive writing. -New York Times A zesty account of the many ways in which the cat came in from the alley and took up its place at the hearth. Hughes makes the case that the new world of cats which Wain both chronicled and helped to create is a signal instance of modernism in all its confusion and uncertainty. -Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker A sparkling account of the 'great cat mania' that engulfed whole societies between roughly 1870 and 1920 and whose effects are still with us today. -Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal What's most delightful about Catland is how cleverly it explores so many corners of society. In the life and work of this peculiar illustrator, Hughes manages to open up a fresh venue on our 'magnificent cultural obsession'. -Washington Post Hughes's Catland provides the richest and most comprehensive account of Wain's life and times available and brings out nuances and connotations of his imagery that would be easy to miss. -Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed Hughes narrates her invigorating wealth of information in a clever prose style. It makes for a unique and amusing window onto turn-of-the-20th-century art and culture. -Publishers Weekly A tremendous literary feat in which we learn about Victorian sociology through the work of a remarkably unique artist. -Kirkus Reviews (starred) Through humour, elegance and sheer knowledge, Hughes builds something remarkable. -Literary Review Hughes leads us through the twists and turns of a time period that saw the rise of the professional cat fancier, the invention of the term "cat burglar" through a one-man crime wave that captivated London, and the literal trials and tribulations of cat ladies. Everyone who makes an appearance in the book is treated with care and rendered in great detail. Through Hughes's enthralling prose, we come to see Wain not as tragic mad genius, but as just another human being in this story about cats. -Erik Wenzel, Portable Gray