The Cat and the Human Imagination Feline Images from Bast to Garfield

Description:

The Cat and the Human Imagination is fascinating investigation of the changing cultural attitudes toward cats and the myriad ways they have been depicted in literature and art over time. Feline images have permeated civilization since the ancient Egyptians, and during this time the status of the cat has changed dramatically. The book examines those changing images -- fertility goddess, agent of Satan, aristocrat, spirit of the home, bloodthirsty killer -- and relates them to the contexts in which they arose. It also analyzes how human attitudes toward cats seem to have evolved in parallel with attitudes toward other animals, toward authority, and toward gender.

Katharine M. Rogers seeks out the cats who make appearances in an impressive range of Western literary and artistic works, providing the first critical look at the symbolic functioning of cat characters in Poe's "The Black Cat", Dickens's Bleak House, and Zola's Therese Raquin, among other literary works. The historical and artistic range is impressive, creating a rich compendium that is the ideal book for the cat lover seeking a refreshingly substantial and scholarly work about this fascinating animal.

Selected Reviews:

"The book--sheer catnip for the intellectual feline lover--implies that whether we consider it a symbol of the home, a paragon of independence, an agent of evil or a cherished friend, the cat will remain in our cultural imaginings for centuries to come."

--Zoë Helena Rice, New York Times Book Review