Thursday, March 27, 2008
A fable for the catted
The Cat
Or,
How I Lost Eternity
By Jutta Richter
with illustrations by Rotraut Susanne Berner
Milkweed Editions, 2006
Translated from the German by Anna Brailovsky
Every day on her way to school, the eight-year-old girl communes with an old white cat who gives her advice that turns out to cause trouble. When the girl has trouble with counting, the cat suggests: "Numbers are determined by the mice . . . the mice that you've eaten."
The cat plays tricks: she's wise, but deceptive, and stopping to talk with her makes the girl late for school. When the girl tries to explain her tardiness, the school principal punishes her by assigning her to write, 200 times, "There are no talking cats." But the girl is willful, and proud of it, and she finds a way to subvert the punishment. After all, when she is communing with the old white cat, she feels that she is immortal.
Jutta Richter understands human children; she captures the world of the dreamy, imaginative child, her stern father and teachers, and her quirky neighbors. And Richter also understands cats; she details the white cat's sense of entitlement. After all, what mature cat doesn't think she owns the world and all the humans in it? What cat doesn't think she can dictate to her humans?
The cat and the girl both think they know more than the adults--the parents, the teachers, and even the priest. They know that they are the same, the cat and the girl. Their relationship is innocent as that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and they are both sure they will live forever. But the girl has a bitter lesson to learn.
Alas, humans! They grow up, and to be a human grownup is to lose eternity.
Labels: book reviews, books
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Krazy Kat was right
Yo, cats and catted ones! Darcy here.
Let me tell you, I can't believe I've been gone so long. That feline spa I checked into was sure relaxing.
What got me to come home is reading about the new edition of Krazy Kat comics over at Fantagraphics. Krazy Kat, if you ask me, was some smart cat, a cat after my own heart.
There's some confusion about whether Krazy Kat was male or female. The poet e e cummings wrote a famous essay to introduce an earlier edition of Krazy Kat, in which he assumed that Krazy Kat was female--maybe because Krazy kept getting bopped on the head by Ignatz Mouse. But the Kat's creator, George Herriman, referred to Krazy as both he and she, and many times the other characters seemed genuinely confused about Krazy's gender. Krazy said once:
"I don't know whether to take unto myself a wife or a husband."
If Krazy were living today, s/he would have done what I did: marry both a man and a woman.
Some humans have either complained about or praised the fact that Krazy Kat's plots kept repeating themselves. It's always Krazy in love with Ignatz, who ignores and abuses him/her. Then Offisa Pupp (yeah, there's a dog here) arrests Ignatz. The way I see it,
repetition is the soul of art.
In recent times, fans of Krazy have called him/her subversive. That's high praise, in this day and age. Krazy subverted ideas about gender, but also about race and class. Krazy is normally black, but there's one strip where Krazy turns white, causing Ignatz to fall in love with him/her. Sometimes Krazy is descended from royalty--Cleopatra's cat--but other times s/he sings minstrel songs about having been born in a cellar.
Krazy Kat is whoever s/he wants to be. S/he is infinite, always remaking him/herself. And who else but Krazy Kat could ask the ultimate question: "Why is lenguage?" and then answer it:
Krazy Kat is whoever s/he wants to be. S/he is infinite, always remaking him/herself. And who else but Krazy Kat could ask the ultimate question: "Why is lenguage?" and then answer it:
"Lenguage is that we may mis-unda-sten each udda."
But I'm outta here! More soon.
Darcy X
Thursday, April 05, 2007
More proof that cats are better than dogs
Iowa Library’s Cat Has a Rich Second Life as a Biography - New York Times
Dewey Readmore Books, the heroic library cat who ruled for 19 years in the Spencer, Iowa, public library, passed away last November, and now his life will be celebrated in a biography. The book just sold to Grand Central Books, for an advance of $1.25 Million! The Times' report compares this book to the very popular Marly & Me, which was about a Labrador retriever.
The article notes that the dog bio went for an advance of only $200,000. That's just more proof that, as I've always maintained, cats are better than dogs! Aside from the monetary implications, you have to admit that a cat so dedicated to books and libraries was truly a great public servant. Dewey, and the library he adopted, deserve every penny.
I'm sorry I never got to meet Dewey, although he lived not far from me. I'm going to ask for this book for Christmas! I'm sure that it will inspire me to write my own autobiography. I'm going to sit down and start writing the proposal right now.
P.S. You can find out more about Dewey on the Spencer Library site. His rules for cats who run a library are just perfect.
P.P. S., Despite my derogatory comments about dogs, I'll be keeping company with some of them, and lots of cats and birds (yummy!), at this week's Friday Ark. On Sunday, look for the Carnival of the Cats at Bad Kitty Cats. (At least I hope so; the cats report that their humans are having some computer issues. Check at the Carnival of the Cats home page for updates.)
Dewey Readmore Books, the heroic library cat who ruled for 19 years in the Spencer, Iowa, public library, passed away last November, and now his life will be celebrated in a biography. The book just sold to Grand Central Books, for an advance of $1.25 Million! The Times' report compares this book to the very popular Marly & Me, which was about a Labrador retriever.
The article notes that the dog bio went for an advance of only $200,000. That's just more proof that, as I've always maintained, cats are better than dogs! Aside from the monetary implications, you have to admit that a cat so dedicated to books and libraries was truly a great public servant. Dewey, and the library he adopted, deserve every penny.
I'm sorry I never got to meet Dewey, although he lived not far from me. I'm going to ask for this book for Christmas! I'm sure that it will inspire me to write my own autobiography. I'm going to sit down and start writing the proposal right now.
P.S. You can find out more about Dewey on the Spencer Library site. His rules for cats who run a library are just perfect.
P.P. S., Despite my derogatory comments about dogs, I'll be keeping company with some of them, and lots of cats and birds (yummy!), at this week's Friday Ark. On Sunday, look for the Carnival of the Cats at Bad Kitty Cats. (At least I hope so; the cats report that their humans are having some computer issues. Check at the Carnival of the Cats home page for updates.)
Labels: books, cats, catymology
