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Celebrating Writers and Their Cats!

11/11/2011

11 Comments

 
Why are writers attracted to cats? Barbara Holland once wrote: "A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It’s a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys." So is it because writers like someone to make life difficult for them? Are writers masochists? Or maybe like Andre Norton wrote: "Perhaps it is because cats do not live by human patterns, do not fit themselves into prescribed behavior, that they are so united to creative people." There certainly seems to be something otherworldly about cats.

In his Bartimaeus Trilogy Jonathan Stroud states that there are several planes of reality through which all sorts of entities from the spirit world move. He writes that most living things (including humans) can only see the first plane, with the exception of cats. Cats can also see the second plane. Have you seen how sometimes, for no apparent reason, a cat will jerk its head and stare wide eyed towards an area where there is obviously nothing worth staring at? It sort of makes you wonder what they can see that you can't.

These and other characteristics have created some problems for these felines. For example, in the Middle Ages Pope Gregory IX in the papal bull Vox in Rama linked cats to evil rituals. In the ensuing years countless cats (and sometimes their owners, too) were slaughtered, setting the stage for Europe to be overrun with rats carrying the black plague. However, in other times and places like, for example, Egypt, people were fond of cats and the ancient Egyptian Goddess Bastet was depicted as having the head of a cat. Depending on where you live today, a black cat may be associated with good or bad luck. Here in the U.S. we have the saying that a cat has nine lives.

No wonder cats have a supernatural aura about them. Perhaps it is because of this that creative people like writers are avid cat owners. Some writers go as far as to include cats in their fiction. The writer Lilian Jackson Braun published 29 books in which cats help a reporter solve murder mysteries. Perhaps staring at those haunting eyes framed by those pointy ears, helps writers establish a connection with their muse. On the other hand, there may be a more obvious explanation. Dan Greenburg wrote: "Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance." Be it as it may, if you are a writer and you own a cat you are part of a long and distinguished tradition. Today let's celebrate writers and their cats!

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Ernest Hemingway

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Jack Kerouac

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H. P. Lovecraft

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Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

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Ray Bradbury

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Jean Paul Sartre

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Stephen King

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William Burroughs

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Jacques Prevert

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Austin Spare

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Jean Cocteau

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Jorge Luis Borges

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Somerset Maugham and Max Ernest

                                    ***
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11 Comments
Barbara Alfaro link
11/13/2011 11:41:46 pm

What a fun post! And great photos of some literary greats. Where did you find these photos? I think part of the feline mystique is that they are superb at playing, and also relaxing -- things our species sometimes forgets to do. And, I think some of the best writing "comes" to writers when they are calm. I've always been a cat lover. I had to give up my two Russian Blues for adoption when I met my husband because he is highly allergic to cats. I was heartbroken.

Reply
phantomimic link
11/14/2011 11:41:46 am

Thanks for your comment Barbara. Yes, I think cats may be soothing, more so than dogs, and maybe that is why writers like them. As to your other comment, your husband is a lucky man!

Reply
Ingrid link
11/14/2011 12:15:47 pm

I love this, Phanto. Hmmmm...maybe I need a cat. Maybe it will give me a little inspiration...

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phantomimic link
11/16/2011 07:07:39 am

Maybe they can serve as the link between writers and their muses; the middleman, so to speak. Who knows? Just stare into their eyes...

Reply
Cara Bristol link
11/21/2011 08:56:07 am

My cats can be quite demanding when I'm trying to write. They know when my attention is elsewhere and not on them.

Reply
phantomimic link
11/21/2011 09:59:14 am

Thanks for your comment. I do think they act like the universe revolves around them!

Reply
Lyndsay Wheble link
1/14/2012 11:22:13 pm

How funny - I love this! I think it's the procrastination thing, as well as the fact that writers spend so much time alone that it's nice to have something else around. Bravo!

Reply
Rolando link
1/15/2012 12:58:18 am

Who knows, cats may be muses in disguise! : ^ D

Reply
Dave Perlmutter link
1/15/2012 08:42:49 am

Just clicked onto your blog from the Third Sunday Blog Carnival….

Follow mine at http://thewrongplaceatthewrongtime.blogspot.com/

I also have a post on the Third Sunday Blog Carnival……

Best

Dave Perlmutter

Reply
A. E. Poynor link
2/1/2013 06:30:50 am

Great post, particularly the very true description of a heard of buffalo in the room. That worthless flea-bag of mine is a constant source of distraction.

Reply
Rolando link
2/1/2013 09:56:07 am

LOL, I claim they are addictive. Thanks for your comment! : ^ )

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