Book description
In Pet Projects, Elizabeth Young joins an analysis of the representation of animals in nineteenth-century fiction, taxidermy, and the visual arts with a first-person reflection on her own scholarly journey. Centering on Margaret Marshall Saunders, a Canadian woman writer once famous for her animal novels, and incorporating Young's own experienceā¦
Why read it?
1 author picked Pet Projects as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love what Young is doingābreaking out of her ācollege profā shell and talking directly to us about her life with animalsādead and alive. She starts with her dog Frankieās cancer diagnosis and wraps her own reactions to his treatments into her study of 19th-century fiction that focuses on animalsālike the famous horse narrative Black Beauty and the equally-famous-but-now-forgotten dog narrativeĀ Beautiful Joe. Her travels take her through both physical and imaginative time and placeāfrom Beautiful Joeās origins in Nova Scotia to her meditations on the art of animal taxidermy. I learned a lotā¦
From Susan's list on The best books blending memoir, travel, and history.
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