I’ve discovered a new form of procrastination, wondering about my favorite authors’ pets. In fact, I just spent about 20 minutes trying to find out if Alexander McCall Smith has a dog. I know he writes about dogs, but then he also writes about cattle. Does that mean there’s a little herd in his back yard?
I’m not the first person to ask about authors’ pets. I found several articles mentioning Charles Dickens’s pet raven, Mark Twain’s cat, and Flannery O’Connor’s peacocks. Have you ever heard a peacock screech? What on earth was she thinking?
It was a surprise to find out that Hemingway was a cat person. I had imagined him as the hunting dog type. But then, Lord Byron’s comfort animal was a tame bear, since dogs weren’t allowed in his college dorm. I imagined that Marcel Proust would have a slow companion like a turtle, but according to rumor, he had a pet haddock. He also wrote letters to his friend Reynaldo Hahn’s dog, Zadig, although I’m not sure the dog wrote back.
As for me, I have both a dog and a cat because I always want the best of both worlds.
the dog and cat join
in a chorus of snores
I write to music
It is interesting that you mentioned Hemingway and his cats. This week I am taking care of a Hemingway (six-toed) cat named Hemingway. He is a tuxedo cat also with white whiskers growing above his eyes like eyebrows. The name really seems to suit him.
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Many cats like keyboards – does Hemingway?
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Ha ha. I wouldn’t be surprised. I have just been dropping in on him to feed him, and, so far, haven’t noticed him on a keyboard. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did like it, and that really would seem to suit his name.
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Kerouac is also famous for his love of cats and Elizabeth Barrett Browning had a spaniel companion named Flush.
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I did read about EBB
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