Thursday, November 14, 2013

Five notable pets in literature

Adam Thorpe is a poet, playwright and novelist...and a translator of Madame Bovary.

"Pets are said to reflect their owners, which makes them a godsend to novelists," writes Thorpe in Telegraph, "but they can also serve as counterpoints, bringing a deeper colouration to a character, or – as in The Hound of the Baskervilles – a growl of terror."

One entry on Thorpe's list of memorable pets in literature:
Dickens was persuaded by his children to include their pet raven, Grip, in his great, underrated novel Barnaby Rudge (1841). Grip became simple Barnaby’s chatty best friend, and inspired Poe’s famous poem “The Raven”.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue