Talking Animals In Literature: Why Do We Love Them So Much?

The Guardian:

From Achilles' horse to Lassie, animals provide moral authority and sympathy in fiction, often giving voice to the silenced and oppressed. Andrew O'Hagan, who has written a novel from the perspective of Marilyn Monroe's pet terrier, on what literature's eloquent creatures tell us about being human

Read the whole story: The Guardian

Comments

[DreamWeaver2nd]

03:10 PM on 05/04/2010

Wonderful essay. I will reread at my leisure for sheer pleasure.

"The child's experience of reading is a very odd experience in our culture, because it represents both a gain and a loss. The gain is the "special relationship" that is felt to exist between children and animals, as if children were somehow more like animals, closer to unspoiled nature. The loss is, well, the loss of that: we are expected to grow up to find the connection ridiculous."

If the adult could only remember the child we would not ever forget to take care, to take better care.... We would accept that chimps are emotional and that elephants have families and we would protect ...

Thank you for a great read that invites more reading with my grandson.