Reading Cats and Dogs offers fifteen examples of ecocritical animal studies from around the world. The essays in this volume complicate the concept of "companion animals" by exploring our relationships with stray and feral animals, utilitarian...
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Reading Cats and Dogs offers fifteen examples of ecocritical animal studies from around the world. The essays in this volume complicate the concept of "companion animals" by exploring our relationships with stray and feral animals, utilitarian relationships with other species, and the troubling realities of domestication, ownership, and abuse. Cover -- Reading Cats and Dogs -- Series Page -- Reading Cats and Dogs -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Prologue -- Introduction -- Notes -- References -- Section I: Stray and Feral Companions -- Chapter 1 -- Our Feral Future -- Dogs as Allies in the Human Conquest of Nature -- Dogs Caught in the Middle of the Human-Nature Conflict -- Ferality as an Alternative to Domestication -- Dog Boy: Imagining a Feral Life -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 2 -- When You Love the Stray Animals as Much as Your Own Pets -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3 -- Identity, Love, and Abuse in Laila al-Othman's Cat Stories -- "The Cats and I" -- "Meowing" -- "Two Trials" -- Note -- References -- Chapter 4 -- Of Mice, Rabbits, and Other Companion Species in Beatrix Potter's More than Human World -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 5 -- Walking through the Animal Kingdom -- References -- Chapter 6 -- From the Forbidden City to the Locked-down Megalopolis -- Cats in the Forbidden City -- University Cats -- Pet Cats and Stray Cats in Wuhan -- Cats Encountering Violence and Death -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Section II: The Usefulness of Companion Animals -- Chapter 7 -- Memorable Dogs of Italian Literature -- Literary Dogs -- Italo Svevo, Argo, and Other Dogs -- Umberto Saba, dogs, and many other animals -- Febo, Curzio Malaparte's Dog -- Barone, Carlo Levi's dog -- Dino Buzzati and His Many Dogs -- Mario Rigoni Stern and His Mountain Dogs -- Italo Calvino, Ottimo Massimo, and Other Dogs -- Alberto Asor Rosa and "la Cana Contessa" -- From Workmates to Life Companions -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 8 -- Cross-species Cooperation -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 9 -- Let the Sleeping Dogs Tell Lies -- The Distance between Haiku and Tanikawa's Poetry -- Snoopy and Astro Boy -- A Quiet Dog without Blind Loyalty.
