Barks and Purrs

by Maire Kelly (Translation)

There are moments when one seems to come to life. One looks about and distinguishes a creature whose foot-print closely resembles the ace of spades. The thing says: bow-wow. It is a dog. One looks again. The ace of spades is now an ace of clubs. The thing says: pffffffff-and it is a cat. This is the history of the visible world and in particular, that of my god-children, Toby-Dog and Kiki-the-Demure. They are so natural-I use the word in the sense in which it is applicable to the savages of Oceania-that all their acts conspire to make of life, a very simple proposition. These are animals in the fullest sense of the word-animos-if I may employ the original orthography, capable of exclaiming with those of Faust: "The fool knows it not! He knows not the pot, He knows not the kettle."

120 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2013