Throughout the world, people spend much of their time with animal companions of various kinds, frequently with cats and dogs. What meanings do we make of these relationships? In the ecocritical collectionReading cats and Dogs, a diverse array of scholars considers the philosophy, literature, and film devoted to human relationships with companion species. In addition to illuminating famous animal stories by Beatrix Potter, Jack London, Italo Svevo, and Michael Ondaatje, readers are introduced to thedog poems of Shuntar Tanikawa, a Turkish documentary on stray cats as neighborhood companions, and the representation of diverse animal companions in Cameroonian novels. Focusing on Stray and Feral Companions, The Usefulness of Companion Animals, and Problematizing Companion Animals,Reading Cats and Dogs aims both to confirm and topple readers assumptions about the fellow travelers with whom we share our lives, our streets and fields, and our planet. Fifteen contributors from various countries reveal the aesthetic, ethical, and psychological complexities of our multispecies relationships, demonstrating the richness of ecocritical animal studies.

Françoise Besson is emerita professor at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaures, in Toulouse, France

Zélia M. Bora is founder of the Commission for Animal Welfare and contributes to the postgraduate program at the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil.

Marianne Marroum is associate professor of English and comparative literature at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon.

Scott Slovic is university distinguished professor of environmental humanities at the University of Idaho in the US.

Table of Contents

Prologue by Kev Reynolds

Introduction by Françoise Besson and Scott Slovic

Section I: Stray and Feral Companions

Karla Armbruster, Our Feral Future: Dog Stories and the AnthropoceneÖnder Cetin, When You Love the Stray Animals as Much as Your Own Pets: The Case of Companion Animals in TurkeyMarianne Marroum, Identity, Love, and Abuse in Laila al-Othmans Cat StoriesLorraine Kerslake, Of Mice, Rabbits, and Other Companions in Beatrix Potters More than Human WorldNiroshima Gunasekera, Walking Through the Animal Kingdom: A Search for the Near and DearQianqian Cheng, From the Forbidden City to the Locked-down Megalopolis: Reading the Behaviors of Cat Lovers in China

Section II: The Usefulness of Companion Animals

Anna Re, Memorable Dogs of Italian LiteratureClaire Cazejous-Augé, Cross-species Cooperation: Hunting with Dogs in Contemporary American Nature WritingKeita Hatooka, Let the Sleeping Dogs Tell Lies: Companionship and Solitude inShuntar Tanikawas Dog PoemsKenneth Toah Nsah, Of Dogs, Horses, and Buffalos in Cameroon: Companion Animals in Cameroonian Fiction

Section III: Problematizing Companion Animals

Chen Hong, The Plight of Dogs in the Country-City Gap: Reading Chinese Dog Narratives across GenresWendy Woodward, Cat Killers, Black Diamonds, and a Talking Cat: Feline Companions in Post-Transitional South African FictionZélia M. Bora, The Paradoxical World of Animal Representation in the Brazilian NovelAs Horas Nuas in Light of Greek PhilosophyAthane Adrahane, Canine Initiation into Ecowisdom

Epilogue by Françoise Besson, Zélia M. Bora, Marianne Marroum, and Scott Slovic

Index