Writers are well known to have an affinity for cats (multiple books have been written on the subject)! As a cat lover, I get the appeal. Cats are good company, generally unobtrusive, frequently entertaining, and the perfect distraction when you need a few minutes away from the keyboard. If you’re lucky enough to have a lap cat, they’ll make sure you get work done by helpfully pinning you in place for hours (and they keep you warm too). My home would feel pretty sad and empty without my three kitties.
Cats can also provide literary inspiration, especially to poets. T.S. Eliot wrote an entire book about them (which then inspired a musical and, unfortunately, a movie). Jorge Luis Borges wrote these words:
Mirrors are not more silent
nor the creeping dawn more secretive;
in the moonlight, you are that panther
we catch sight of from afar.
By the inexplicable workings of a divine law,
we look for you in vain;
More remote, even, than the Ganges or the setting sun,
yours is the solitude, yours the secret.
Your haunch allows the lingering
caress of my hand. You have accepted,
since that long forgotten past,
the love of the distrustful hand.
You belong to another time. You are lord
of a place bounded like a dream.
-“To a Cat” by Jorge Luis Borges
It seems that what the ancient Egyptians started, writers are happy to carry on. I know I am.
Do you have cats (or other pets)? Tell us in the comments…
Don’t forget to take advantage of the July Summer/Winter E-Book Sale and get Love Lies Bleeding at 25% Off (there are no cats in the story, but there are plenty of fanged predators…)
Further Reading:
16 Famous Writers and Their Cats
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
