The Big New Yorker Book of Cats

601 Pages·2013·15.71 MB·English

by  The New Yorker Magazine

Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker Magazine
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing
Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.
RANDOM HOUSE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
All pieces in this collection, except as noted, were originally published in The New Yorker. The
publication dates are given at the end of each piece.
Handwritten draft of “Myself with Cats” by Henri Cole. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Roald Dahl’s handwritten notes for “Edward the Conqueror” © RDNL.
Reprinted by permission of The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.
Original draft manuscript of Ted Hughes’s “Esther’s Tomcat” taken from Lupercal, © Estate of Ted
Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. and the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare
Book Library, Emory University.
“Town of Cats” from 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, copyright © 2011 by Haruki Murakami.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Case of Dimity Ann” by James Thurber, copyright © 1952 by Rosemary A. Thurber.
Reprinted by permission of Rosemary A. Thurber and The Barbara Hogenson Agency. All rights
reserved.
James Thurber’s original draft manuscript of “The Case of Dimity Ann” (copyright © 1952 by
Rosemary A. Thurber) is published by permission of the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library of the
Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, Ohio, home of the James Thurber Archive, Rosemary
A. Thurber, and The Barbara Hogenson Agency. All rights reserved.
Credits for illustrations appear on this page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The big New Yorker book of cats / foreword by Anthony Lane.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-679-64477-4
eBook ISBN 978-0-67964478-1
1. Cats—Anecdotes. 2. Cats—Fiction. I. New Yorker (New York, N.Y.: 1925)
SF445.5B546 2013
636.8—dc23 2013013345
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
www.atrandom.com
Design by Susan Turner
v3.1_r2
(illustration credit col3.1)
“I know a lot of people will say, ‘Oh, no—not another book about cats.’ ” (illustration credit col4.1)
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
FOREWORD BY ANTHONY LANE
FAT CATS
DEATH OF A FAVORITE J. F. POWERS
THE CASE OF DIMITY ANN JAMES THURBER
DEFENCE OF CATS WOLCOTT GIBBS
THE SMOKER DAVID SCHICKLER
COLLOQUY WELDON KEES
CAT STORY JAMAICA KINCAID
THE WINESHOP CAT SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
BOOKSTORE CAT SUSAN SHEEHAN
TOMCAT TED HUGHES
FROM DIN-DIN THOMAS WHITESIDE
PAUNCH PAUL MULDOON
DEFECTION OF A FAVORITE J. F. POWERS
ALLEY CATS
THE CATS JOHN UPDIKE
DAY AND AGE DANA GOODYEAR
A CAT IN EVERY HOME KATHARINE T. KINKEAD
CAT HOUSE MAEVE BRENNAN
TOWN OF CATS HARUKI MURAKAMI
CAT’S ROBO-CRADLE MARGARET ATWOOD
LADY OF THE CATS WOLCOTT GIBBS AND E. F. KINKEAD
ARMY CATS TOM SLEIGH
CROUCHING TIGER, TREMBLING PENGUIN ROBERT SULLIVAN
HOW TO MAKE A CAT TRAP E. B. WHITE
THE CAT-SAVERS WALLACE WHITE
A DULL, ORDINARY, NORMAL LIFE IN MANHATTAN BERNARD TAPER
CAT GODDESSES ROBERT GRAVES
CAT FANCIERS
TIGER IN THE SNOW PETER MATTHIESSEN
WHERE I LIVE AMY OZOLS
INTERCAT HENDRIK HERTZBERG
THE LAST MEOW BURKHARD BILGER
PROPINQUITY ALASTAIR REID