WHAT A CAT - ASTROPHE!

THE FELINE: A PROTEAN “SYMBOLLON”

(CATS IN AND OUT OF LITERATURE)

Ina Alexeij
2003

1
Leman, Martin, Painted Cats, London: Pelham Books, 1988.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INSTEAD OF A RATIONALE………………………………………………
…......................................p.3
2. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DISCUSSION………………………………
…..................................p.4
3. CATS OUT OF LITERATURE………………………………………………
…......................................p.6
3.1.The Mythical and Cross-Cultural Cat………………………………
…...............p.7
3.2.Gaze, Alignment and Mutual Manipulation Between Cats and
Us…..................................................................................
...................p.12
4. CATS WITHIN THE PATTERNS OF LITERATURE……………………
…................................p.17
4.1. The Paw Can Step Further: Transcending and
Intertwining
Paradigms...........................................................................
.......................p.18
4.2. “The Poetical
Cat”.....................................................................................p.21
5. A FINAL ASSESSMENT……………………………………………………
…......................................p.24
6. NOTES………………………………………………………………………
…...........................................p.26
7. CITED WORKS……………………………………………………………
…..........................................p.30

2
 1. INSTEAD OF A RATIONALE:

• “…The cat takes it for granted that it has a right to life in a

pleasant temperature, with a soft bed, a quiet background,
and the assurance of a nicely varied diet: it demands these
things sometimes seductively, sometimes indignantly, but
always with a distinct air of being entitled to them. And when
everything does go according to the cat’s wishes, it will show
its pleasure with positively indecent abandon…”2

• “…A warm place makes people more passionate; a warm

atmosphere causes a pleasant unrest. This is probably why
cats have such a beneficial effect on sensitive and spiritual
people […] cats are gracious electrical batteries…”3

• “…I love cats because I love my home and little by little they
become its visible soul. A kind of active silence emanates from
these furry beasts, who appear deaf to orders, to appeals, to
reproaches, and who move into a completely royal authority
through the network of our acts, retaining only those that
intrigue or comfort them…”4

2
Akif Pirincci &Rolf Degen, Cat sense, London: Fourth Estate, 1994, p. 10;
3
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Fur, Iasi: Polirom, 1999, p. 33;
4
Martin Leman, Painted cats, London: Pelham Books, 1988, p. 1, apud Jean Cocteau;

3
 • “…Sunday, January 27, 1884 – There was another story in the
paper a week or so since. A gentleman had a favorite cat
whom he taught to sit at the dinner table where it behaved
very well. He was in the habit of putting any scraps he left on
the cat’s plate. One day puss did not take his place punctually,
but presently appeared with two mice, one of which it placed
on its master’s plate, the other on its own…”5

• “…We may learn some useful lessons from cats […] cats may
teach us patience and perseverance […] In their delicate
walking amidst the fragile articles on a table or mantelpiece, is
illustrated the tact and discrimination by which we should
treat rather than force our way, and in pursuit of our own
ends, avoid the injuring of others…”i

• “…M stands for mew.

Mews can be divided into three classes:
1. The sad mew.
2. The conversational mew.
3. The utilitarian mew. […] As they walk, they
talk…”ii

5
Martin Leman, Painted Cats, p. 7. A quote from Beatrix Potter’s“Journal”, published by Viking
books;

4
2. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS ABOUT TO UNFOLD:

Cats are independent, moody, and full of personality and despite their
taming, they still wonder roofs that are most often, inaccessible to us.
Perhaps it is this particularity that determines us to look at them as objects
that we paradoxically believe to own, but that are still able to escape
through our fingers. We look at them, try to objectify them... but do they
not do the same with us, when they give us condescending looks, when
they indifferently take our place in an armchair, or when they manage to
easily purr us into feeding them one more piece of meat?

Initially denominated as “felis sylvestris lybica”, the cat gradually became

“felis domesticus” – the elusive domesticated cat. The tamed feline is
herein treated as a genuine “symbollon” – the Greek variant of the word
“symbol”. It hence receives “res rei” connotations; it becomes an object of
study, the object of our caresses, the nimble and pretentious feline that
we like to observe.

5
Although word motivation might seem similar, the initial meaning of
“symbollon” (as outlined in Plato’s “Banquet”) is no longer popular.
“Symballo” stands for harmony, for the basic unification of two opposite,
yet complementary factors. The description of this concept herein is not
arbitrary. It implies a main idea to further be inculcated: cats will be
discussed as double-valenced mythological and literary characters,
throughout ages and cultures, only to later look at how they embody
symbolical duality/ambivalence (and why not, sometimes even a plurality
of meanings…), namely, the way in which the cat as symbol, unifies its
own antinomies.

Substantially clear-cut differences between the images, the conceptual

shapes and the symbolism of cats can be easily drawn up.

It is more than obvious that an attempt to outline a holistic description of

the image of cats throughout cultures and literature(s) is more than a
sysyphic one… This is due to the multitude of conceptual and imaginative
exercises that cats have been the subject of throughout time and pursuant
of the fact that cats have always been, are and will be multilaterally
symbolical individualities, as well as sly embodiments of what we call
animal irrationality, undergoing a permanent change in our perception of
them.

Cats are engaged in a “merry-go-round” of symbolism, circumstances and

realities, thus, it is difficult to perfectly sum up their role in literature or in
any other realm for that matter. At the same time, the cat stands among
the most appreciated and respected (!) domestic animals and yet, it has
not been entirely tamed (they leave whenever they please, they hunt they
are friendly towards us all when they please and at the same time they are
cunning, witty animals).

Cats will be herein briefly looked at throughout history and through

different cultures - one can but ponder whether a portrait of the “cross-
cultural” cat actually be drawn?…

6
The cat is a pet in the Western world, while it still bears the role of a
hunter and a helper of man in the East, where, its domestication is still
quite incomplete. Akif Pirincci and Rolf Degen underline, for instance, that
the Western PET’s perception of color has diminished ever since cats have
solely become a decorative object (objects meant for man’s entertainment
and company). As cats are not primarily regarded as hunters in the
Western, “civilized” world, they are no longer in need for abilities such as
the perfect distinction of color.iii Does civilization thus mean a decrease in
potencies from all points of view? We shall look at the manner in which
human action and perception altered cats, as well as the manners in which
cats changed, still do and will change humans.

When the verb “to look (at cats)” was initially used, it did not occur as
such a meaningful term, however, it perfectly fits the paper’s attempt at
rendering exactly the way in which we (humans) “LOOK” at cats (with
admiration, as if we contemplated objects of decoration, or rationally), and
the way in which cats look at us (sometimes with sleepy eyes,
accompanied by a lazy meow that could cast an instant smile on anyone’s
face, sometimes condescendingly… we are at their mere disposal…). In
the same order of ideas: what do we see (or what do we want to see) and
what do we think they see in us?

As outlined earlier, the essay herein intends to render the manifold

description of and perception upon cats as personalities, all around the
world (a global perception of the cat’s image) and this raises issues such
as that of mutual manipulation. From John Berger’s point of view,
contemporary animals are manipulated and exploited by us, in our
tendency to materialize and concretize all objects and beings, in order to
fit a pragmatic postmodern world (animals are used as decorative objects
or accessories that match a pretentious star’s wardrobe, or a cruelly used
as decorative parts… an expensive fur is highly appreciated at any
time…).iv On the other hand, when referring to cats and their hypnotizing
eyes, it must be noted that they look at us just as much as we watch

7
them.v Animal “reification” is a topical and problematic issue, nevertheless,
when it comes to cats…we should think again…Like no other pet
(especially the obsequiously submissive dog), when a cat does not feel like
purring or playing – despite our efforts to draw it into it – it will not!

These animals are characters and images representative for children’s

literature, however, adults and children can have (and do have) different
views upon them. Thus, we are going to see that cats are games of
alternatives in themselves, no matter whether in reality or in literature.
Cats’ images and perceptions of them, vacillate between them being
representatives for a whole range of dichotomies: instructive / amusing;
hesitantly moral / spontaneously happy; Dionysian / Apollonian vi
,
domestic / wild; loving (purring) / cunning (also purring…) ; real house pet
/ fictional-allegorical ; house pet / individualistic; sensual / comic
anarchists ; animals hic et nunc / animals that mythically transcend
temporality and spatiality ; divine / diabolical…
The richness of the topic is overwhelming, it can always take
different turns, divagations can always occur, however, we shall try to
“stay loyal” to the point concerning the ambivalence of cats as trans-
cultural and trans-literary symbols.

3. CATS OUT OF LITERATURE:

We have earlier offered a wide-ranging list of dichotomies which can

make us assume that the symbolism of the cat that we are talking about is
not exclusively summarized to aesthetic / literary views upon it. The fact
that cats as characters are indulged in so many instances of animism,
anthropomorphism, but also naturalism and fantasy – as we shall later see
– must have a historical or mythical initial point. The dual image of the cat

8
as natural – hic et nunc, or fantastic – transcending the borders of our
reality, must have deep roots somewhere…
The cat has always been appreciated, probably due to its duality: it
stands for an elegant hedonism, yet, despite its (not rare) egocentrism, it
is also entirely dedicated to its master (should he be divine, like the
Egyptian god Re, or evil - like the cat servant of the devil in M. Bulgakov’s
”Master and Margarita”). The praise of cats might be due to their
intelligence, or to unexplainable facts like their capacities to find their way
back home, no matter how far, and to accurately be able to follow weekly
rhythms.vii They are controversial, bivalent and mysterious animals. For
instance, it is interesting to find out that no matter how cunning cats may
be in hunting and despite the numerous bad connotations they are
attributed, in ethologist studies upon animal techniques of deceit towards
humans, cats are not mentioned, because “…honesty favours survival in
their natural ecological niche…”viii
Cats are seen as psychically able to transcend the psychological and
rational borders of the human condition. As women / sorcerers have
always been seen in the same way, cats are directly connected to women.
Throughout the world cats are seen as zoomorphic embodiments of female
sexuality. This has roots in antiquity, in the middle Ages, and in the cliché
images of witches eternally accompanied by a black (tenebrous, dark) cat
(sexual, sensuous) which can be loving to her mistress and turn into a
wild, devilish beast once strangers ( intruders) occur .
“…Cats have been described as lustful, lazy, coaxing and seductive[…] the cat’s sharp
claws, similar to fingernails, its light and restless sleep, its capricious nature, its fear of
thunderstorms and love of comfort. < In the cat I see woman with her ever-changing
sensitive soul > said Cassanova. Woman and cat are both seen as creatures who,
although domesticated, can never be entirely mastered…”ix

In modern times, cats also became symbols of elegance and due to

their sleek and elegant shape,we can see them as cliché images in Art
Deco Fashion. In Martin Leman’s painted, naïve representations of cats, we
encounter the ultimate praise of cat. In his painting “Peace on Earth”x, the
temple is no longer guarded by two lions but by two cats.
Through their gentleness in this case, the cats stand for repose and
contentment, unlike the fierce lions. On the other hand: perhaps the
modern soul as ultimately profane, does not take the temple as a
9
reference point any longer, thus it does not really have to be guarded
anymore…
But then, even the Sphynx has paws…”…All cultures familiar with
cats have credited them with access to the supernatural and a mysterious
world beyond our own…”xiand to prove this, including the ideas we
outlined above, in the following sub-chapter we shall look at cats
throughout cultures.

3.1. THE MYTHICAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL CAT:

We can now in detail touch upon the issue of the cat as an eternal
ambivalent and protean symbol throughout cross-cultural mythology.
After consulting such books as Victor Kernbach’s “Dictionary of
Mythology”xii, we can draw a conclusion which is not generally valid for
other mythological characters but the cat. The mythical image of the cat
seems to be a “contagious” one, we could say, and this is not a common
phenomenon throughout mythology.. Apparently, its image has
“contaminates” cultures as they temporally developed and appeared ( i.e.
The cat was tamed in Egypt around III – II BC, while European cultures
“contacted” it around I AD. xiii
). Usually, mythological characters have
different origins cross-culturally and they have different roles from one
culture to another, due to variations in environment, space and time.
Nevertheless, we believe that the cat has proved to be a symbol of
extreme consistency, together with its mythological game of alternatives –
its symbolical ambivalence or polyvalence. It has an almost identical
symbolism throughout different cultures, while its image is unmissable.
Perhaps the only variation to the theme of the cat is the amount of
positivity or negativity that each culture has conferred to it (i.e. The
Egyptians held it as exclusively sacred, while Slavonic cultures see it as
entirely evil and uncanny).
Due to its phosphorescent eyes and due to its nocturnal erotic
manifestations, “felis domestica” has often been associated to magic, to
the moon – to all the moon goddesses and their symbolism – and to the
tenebrous aspects of the night.

10
 Firstly domesticated and anonymously praised in Ancient Egypt, the
cat was to become a major goddess figure, through the Egyptian image of
the Sacred Cat – Bastet ( the sister of Re! )This way we can see what an
importance cats played in people’s lives as long as they stoo for the main
God of the époque. ( It was generally depicted as a cat in flames) . the cat
goddess was naturally depicted as a woman, she was a Selenar goddess
( Needless to mention that analogously, all the symbolical valences of the
moon as feminine principle, vital and lethal at the same time, tenebrous
and protective, are identical to the cat’s traits) xiv , a goddess of fertility and
a “…protector of pregnant women…”xv
“…The Egyptian cult for the cat goddess seems to be the outcome of an early fetish from
the early epoch of the domestication of the cat; a fetish generated by the Egyptians’
admiration of the feline’s fertility, vivacity and agility…”xvi

The cat was adored and celebrated in what we could call “The Feline
Mysteries”, because it seems that the processions of adoration were more
or less identical to the Eleusinian Mysteries, that is, theses were long
journeys and celebrations for praising the cat in our case, processions that
most often concluded with sacred orgies.xvii
Referring to the rich symbolism of sacred orgies, we can assert that
their direct connection to the adoration of the cat, enriches the feline’s
valences. As the catalyzer of the orgy, the cat thus appears as the sacred
unity that draws diversity (otherness) into a ritual of unification. The cat is
also assumed to resemble the alchemic symbol of the woman ( the iconic
circle that has a conterminous cross added to it)xviii , thus it also
symbolically stands for the woman as principle within the corpus of the
orgy. Another plausible explanation for the image of the cat as woman and
the cat as ambivalence, is the statement that Julius Evola makes when
referring to the state of ecstasy . The state of sexual ecstasy is the point
xix

in which Eros and Thanatos are conterminous, they meet ends and
become one, and this way the bivalence of the cat is subsumed again,
within the corpus of the orgy. Above all, we can observe that basically is a
divine figure of universal unity, conflating two antinomic poles: life and
death. More than that, in Eliade’s account of the symbolical orgy, we can
identify the resemblance of the cat as unity, to the status of the woman:
Eliade refers to orgies as a state in which the woman’s capacity and

11
freedom of becoming one with the great “all” are displayed simultaneously
with the meaningful potentiality of the male power to capture fertility (we
already know that both the woman and the cat are embodiments of
fertility)xx.
In “Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Non-Verbal Communication”,
Fernando Poyatos makes references to kinesic icons that are or not
symbolically identical throughout cultures. The author entitles the icons
that have the same symbolical meaning as “homomorphs-synonyms”
( same form, same meaning)xxi In the same order of ideas we believe that
only with slight alterations, the cat is itself a consistent homomorph-
synonymical symbol throughout cultures.
Our earlier comparison of the “orgies in the name of the sacred cat”
to the “Eleusinian mysteries” is not arbitrary, because such orgies are also
encountered within the rites of praising Demeter – the fertility goddess in
Ancient Greece. The Greeks were not as submitted to the sacred
symbolism of the cat, as the Egyptians were (Egyptians went as far as to
embalm each dead cat and bury it in a temple, while in the “Book of the
Dead”, Re was himself depicted as an enormous tomcat)xxiiHowever, the
Greeks strongly reserved and reconsidered its exceptional traits. Thus,
being one of the most influential goddesses of fertility, agriculture and
earth (thus being both sensuous and chthonian), Demeter (the patron of
the Eleusinian Mysteries) would sometimes herself be “…represented in
feline form…”xxiii
The fact that the cat is a “contagious” mythical figure, is also seen in
the fact that similia similibus evocantur, in Ancient China it also
represented the agrarian goddessxxiv (fertile and chthonian, as we outlined
above).
The “contagiousness” of myths is a complex phenomenon which
may rise a wide range of questions. A rather traditional manner of
interpreting these “homomorph-synonymous” myths would be C.G.Jung’s
theory of Archetypes, or the “ancestral uncounsciousness” and we could
add that in what cross-cultural common folk- beliefs, mythology and
occultism are concerned, the archetype theory is the one applied most
often.

12
 On the other hand, Gilbert Durand refers to such matters of
“contagiousness” in other terms. As the title of his book underlines, the
French anthropologist refers to teriomorphic symbols by including them
within a series of ancestral representations of the human imagination,
intertwined with anxieties. This seems to be the reason for which once a
teriomorphic figure has been conferred either teratomorphic valences or
solar / sacred ones by the “general anthropological structures of
imagination”, it will never (and in no culture) receive any other valences
but those already rooted in the general imagination.xxv Subjectively
speaking, we could consider that this is the main reason for phenomena as
the one we called “contagious mythology”.
Going back to the description of the cat’s role throughout cultures,
we must mention Scandinavian mythology as well. In this case we
encounter Frigg (Odhinn’s wife)always depicted in a carriage pulled by two
enormous white cats, and on the other hand, we cannot omit that in
Roman mythology Frigg is equal to the image of Venus.xxvi Thus, the cat is
a venusian character, entirely submitted and an essential helper of the
seductive goddess. We can now see it as a symbol of female power and a
guide (for the cat pulls the carriage) of the principles of marital love and
maternity – principles that Frigg and Venus stood for.
It is here possible to make a short parenthesis on the issue of
seduction in connection to the symbolism of the cat. In Latin languages,
“se/ducere” has the indirect meaning of “fooling and shoving somebody
around” ( Lat.< ducere = To take smth. /smb. somewhere) and in this
context we must think of the cat’s intelligent and cunning manipulation.
We can add Jean Baudrillard’s statement to this assertion: “…La seduction
est toujuors cette du mal… “xxvii and this can only give us more hints
concerning the cat’s symbolical mutiplicity.
Informations on the “cross-cultural cat” can be found I almost all
mythologies. Thus, we have encountered instances of meaningful cats as
divine images again, as Totemic symbols, as objects of divination ( in
Sumatra tribes and in Cambodia cats are used to invoke rain). The cat is
praised in Islam too, where it has positive connotations, because “…
Mohammed is considered to have given it the capacity of always landing

13
on its feet…”xxviii In all of these situations, the cat is an exclusively solar
image and appearance, like in Siam where especially Siamese cats are
guards of the treasures in temples.xxix
Antithetically, as Christianity bloomed in Europe, the prevalent traits
of the cat became negative, perhaps due to their nocturnal ventures. As
we know, the middle ages brought negative symbolism within the
ambivalent equation that the cat is nowadays. It was seen as a witch or as
an indispensable helper of the witch (still, as witches were also equated to
sexual aberrations, we can assume the fact that the cat has never lost its
sensuous and seductive parameters) and Kernbach mentions that cats
themselves used to be burnt on special built pyres and he describes
European habits in France and Holland, for example, where even until the
1900’s, cats used to be burnt alive or thrown from high towers, so as to
abolish evil.xxx
The cat’s mythical symbolism is quite heterogenous as we can see,
and again, this can simply be explained through the animal’s antinomic
attitudes: both tame and wildly extrovert. In the same order of ideas, jean
chevalier presents the Sumatra aboriginal people’s attitudes whom they
see as the equal helpers of an aboriginal Cerberus, while the North
American Indians see it as a crafty, wise and witty character. xxxi

Within the Celtic mythical tradition, both Chevalier xxxii and

Kernbachxxxiii agree upon an attitude of fear and retrievement of the people
in front of the feline. Chevalier mentions Chenn Chaitt, an usurper who led
Ireland to ruin, baring the appellative of “Cat-Head”. We are also told
about punitive mythical cats which burnt felons to ashes through lethal
rays that sprang from their hypnotizing eyes. An interesting fact is that
immediately after killing, the cats always returned to their playful,
innocent games, unhindered. Kernbach too, talks about the cat as a
horrifying beast: “…One of the most glorious deeds of King Arthur is the
defeat of a monstrous tomcat…” xxxiv

In his “Anthology of Mythical Romanian Beasts”, Mihai Coman makes

an astonishing analysis of the manner in which the cat is perceived in the
Romanian folklore and again, its plurivalence is thoroughly displayed.xxxv
Due to limitations of time and space, we shall not stop upon all the

14
statements , but some are indeed worth mentioning. Being God’s creation
( On Noah’s Arch, which mice wanted to chew up until it sank – for no
other reason but because mice are creations of devilish essence – God
threw a glove which turned into a cat supposed to devour all the mice) and
being pure in the beginning, the cat impregnated itself with the “…devil’s
essence…” after eating its first mousexxxvi. The cat is also a utilitarian
animal, as it destroys mice – enemies of the household – but on the other
hand, “…it eats its Master’s nose…” after he diesxxxvii The nose in itself if a
“…gate for the soul…”xxxviii and as long as it is gone, the imprisoned soul
will never rest and the cat is the evil catalyzer of this process. At the same
time, Otilia Hedesan offers a folkloric survey of mythical beliefs and
traditions among the Bulgarians, the Serbians and the Romanians from
The Valley of Timoc and here, we again have the image of mythical cats as
synonymous, for they appear as guides for the human being when
confronted with the Devilxxxix. The cat lives in the same environment with
the naïve human being, but it knows the ways of both this world and the
other worlds, for it is a being whose knowledge and capacities transcend
our space, temporality and power of perception. It is a protector, but it
could also be on the side of the evil. It guides human beings in what they
should do to protect themselves, however mythology also knows cats that
work mischeviously against their master ( like those who eat their
noses).The cat is thus, a “guide towards the light” within apotropaical
myths and at the same time it is seen as evil gist, especially within
superstitions – a thing that re-iterates the animal’s substantial
ambivalence.
We cannot go into detail with the folk stories concerning animals,
nevertheless, we consider that the cat has always been a factor of
extreme importance within myths, rituals and cross-cultural beliefs, as
long as such notions as: animism, zoomorphism, metempsychosis and
metamorphosis exist in every culture’s mythology and tales and elevated
literature. People have always attempted to understand animals and we
could assume that perhaps it is the mystery of the zoomorphic kingdom
that determined people to include animals within so many of their myths
and rituals. These myths attempt to explain the mysteries of animals

15
themselves, by taking them as protagonists. Even the self-identification to
the animal, this teriomorphic “interpersonal decentration”xl is one of the
many attempts to understand the miracles and mysteries of the animal
kingdom.
In a less “mystical and mythical” pace, we could conclude this part
of our essay by describing some less mysterious views upon cats. A few
pragmatical cultures have probably renounced trying to find answers to
intricate questions and thus, myths have been transformed into mere
fables, this being the case of the Dacian and the Russian cultures, where
we encounter rather humorous and moralizing fables, than unexplainable
myths, as Tache Papahagi outlines in his “Dictionnaire folklorique”xli .
Analogously, in Pinah Sadeh’s“ Jewish Folk Tales” ( and thus, implicitly, in
Jewish beliefs), we encounter a view on the cat that needs no explanation:

“…As a man and his wife were having their supper together, a black cat jumped through
the window […] and began to eat with them.
< Husband […] take a stick and chase the cat away! >
< Don’t you know, woman, that one must never strike a black cat? If we do, we’ll go
mad, God forbid! >
< But, husband, if you don’t chase it away we’ll be left with nothing to eat! >
What a dilemma! And while the two of them were arguing what to do, the cat gobbled up
their supper…” xlii

3.2. GAZE; ALIGNMENT AND MUTUAL MANIPULATION

BETWEEN CATS AND US:

The topic under discussion is so wide that it could never be fully

covered: we cannot entirely divide literature and folk-literature from other
aspects of culture, thus fields of discussion are always going to be
interwoven – mythology, literature, non-verbal communication…
Do we or do they manipulate? We believe that the commercial,
literary, and after all, general exploitation of animals is a topical issue,
however, even in this, cats have a privileged status, due to their own
capacities of expressing attitudes. Do we reduce cats to the status of res
rei , or do they know how to use us as well?
“…The cat […] is playing a double game: at the centre it has the vision of a beast of prey,
on both sides the vision of the victim. The lion and the gazelle are both present in her
eyes…”xliii

16
 Presenting scientific results of measurements and research on the
cat’s vision, the authors of “Cat Sense” reached the conclusion outlined
above. This is quite an inspired statement, rendering the ambivalence of
the cat who watches and is being watched. In the following lines, we shall
see that we DO exploit cats, just like any other animals, however, unlike
other animals, cats fully exploit us as well.
Referring to our ancestral representations of animals, Gilbert Durand
states:
“…We could say that there is nothing more familiar to us, even from early childhood, like
the representations and depictions of animals. Even for the little Occidental town-child
such images as the teddybear, Poos-in-Boots or Mickey, stangely render the teriomorphic
message…xliv

The anthropologist refers to the Westerner by using the particle “even”, as

if this awkward creature of civilisation should normally be remote from all
kinds of contacts with the realm of animal life and behaviour. From this
perspective, we should like to make a differentiation between two cultural
and spacial attitudes towards animals (cats, in our case). Lucian Blaga –
the Romanian philosopher, made an inspired spiritual/ philosophical/
literary and attitude division between the Western world and the Eastern
one ( including the Balkans). In his essay entitled “Ana-basic and Cata-
basic”xlv the central idea is that of a clear-cut difference of posture and
attitude between the Oriental and the Occidental spiritualities. The
Occidental man is one who praises generalities. He always desired to leave
his imprints throughout history (and he did). The Westerner has a constant
drive of possession and conquest (of territories and people). His
movement is a perpetual and ascending one, called Ana-basic by Blaga.
On the other hand, he places the Eastern/ Oriental man at the opposite
pole, a pole that marks stagnation as a spiritual state of well-being. The
Oriental man constantly retrieves himself from society, so as to descend
within himself. He contemplates and analyses himself knowing that he
finds answers this way. The principles of non-action and non-intervention
are typical for him, thus, the Easterner does not intend to intervene in any
way within the natural order, so as not to trouble the order of the
Universe. This is the Cata-basic attitude.xlvi We believe that these are two
opposite attitudes that are also valid in what animals are concerned. There

17
are the Western PETS and cartoon characters (Musette or Tom in Tom and
Jerry) and the Eastern helpers of man. Thus, we encounter a new feline
dichotomy that differentiates between Eastern and Western cats. This can
also be discussed from the point of view of tales: there are Western cats
(serious, polyvalent, moralizing, wise cats who are also intermediaries
between two worlds xlvii
. and Western cats (eternally sleeping, fat pets,
protagonists of no actual “serious” tales, but of soapy cartoons – The
AristoCats – representatives of genuine dumbness – Tom and Jerry or
representatives of OUR anxieties – Poe’s “Black Cat”). In the first case we
have an unaltered and multilaterally potent cat, while in the latter case we
mostly have a retarded image of a televised cat.
In the same order of ideas, in J. Berger’s essay on “Why Look at
Animals?”, we have an extreme view on the exploitation of animals,
nevertheless, Berger makes a competent statement about the natural
relationship of the peasant with the animals : it is only the traditional,
xlviii

old-fashioned peasant (nowadays predominant only in the Eastern world,

that we talked about earlier) who still has a natural, unaltered and
mutually common-sensical relationship to the animal: for the peasant, the
cat still is a hunter, a utilitarian animal , just like it was when IT “tamed”
Egypt for the first time). On the other hand, the Western cat seems
nothing more than an animal made by its owner to wear a matching rain
coat on rainy days… However, taking into consideration that it is CATS we
are talking about here, we could say that Berger’s opinions are from this
perspective, rather extreme. This is for no other reason but because we do
not need any scientific research to know that cats cannot be confined to a
match-box apartment. They always preserve their independence: the cat
will always walk the roofs at night…
We earlier mentioned Egypt as the root of the domestic cat and we
said: the cat itself tamed Egypt. This was because it seems to have
domesticated itself by approaching the grain repositories of Ancient Egypt,
and eventually by discovering COMFORT…They seemed to have
discovered civilisation by themselves and then made US accept THEM
(probably through a purr…).They became accepted (not tolerated)
intruders…xlix Nowadays, the cat seems to exploit its Western owner who

18
accepts it on the most comfortable cushions and spends money on exotic
canned food, while the cat leaves whenever it pleases…Thus, are they the
manipulators? We shall see that the discussion about the feline’s
independence is rather controversial and double-fold. Earlier, we
argumented that (unlike other pets) a cat cannot be confined to a 4-walled
room, nevertheless, we always have a BUT…a “but” due to exaggerated
owners who made it a mere res rei . An expressive example is a recent
TV-programme showing an owner who constantly overfed her cat in order
to make it into the Guinness book as the owner of the fattest cat…The cat
itself weighed around 23 kilos…Despite the instinctual independence of
cats, it seems that we are able to trap them not only into confined
apartments, but into their bodies… Besides this, albeit the pet walks the
roofs at night, the metropolis does not offer it its genuine hunting
environment, and this is an indirect exploitation. Taking (buying) them as
decorative items, we threw them in the middle of our environment. The
aftermath of this is the fact that their “...brain volume decreased by 25%
during its transition from the wild to domestication…”l We need to
somehow identify with the animal once it enters our own home but, Steve
Baker makes an interesting point: we identify with the animals only after
we clean them, dress them up, cut their hair and make them our…PETS…
We cannot but avoid animality and this shows that we that we cannot
actually identify with them…we only use themli.
Another level of our making use of animals is the one that basically
includes our representations of ourselves and of our disturbing and
repressed realities! In his parable describing “the myth of the cave” – our
projections of ourselves against its walls, Plato differentiated art/literature
from reality. Taking advantage of this distance between art and reality, we
can include the idea of “pretexts throughout literature” and this is another
way in which we use animals: to us, they are mere masks…We can take
Poe’s “Black Cat” to see how the cat was employed to represent a
repressed and dubious side of the author’s psychology and tribulations.
Everything seems much simpler once we cast it upon someone (and
something) else. And we do not only write them, we sell cats too…

19
“…The use of bears, or elephants or badgers […] does universalize and avoids problems
of race sufficiently perhaps to short-circuit the limitations of realism…”lii

“…The character of Catwoman in the latest Batman movie, a figure of unbridled

sensuality […] reflects a collective piece of erotic wish fulfilment on the part of the
modern man…”liii

“…The notion that talking animal narratives are not really about animals – that the worth-
wile ones, at least, must surely be about something more important than animals, is quite
consistent with the far wider trivialization and marginalization of animals…”liv

We do indeed make animals talk for us, but we also mould them to
our reality by offering “the perspective of the animal upon us”. We
encounter numerous humorous pieces of writing which offer us the
perspective of the animal (cf. Pat Albeck’s “A Cat’s Guide to England”lv, for
example), but even this perspective that seems to offer the animal all the
freedom, does not do anything but confine it to the writer’s experiential
ego (like Albeck’s cat who, like its author, seems to be sponsored by The
National Trust and advertises for it…). Even in these usually humorous
instances in which we seem to allow the cat to give its opinions on us,
there is a “but”, because the author actually filter’s the animal’s integrity
through his subjective assumptions of the possible views that it could have
upon us. Again, the animal / the cat is a pretext, but it is commendable
that we at least try to pretend we understand the animal… We do not only
take teriomorphic masks which we divide ( also through our perceptions
of them and our “free-ranging “ power) into “clean” and “dirty” animals –
if we were to quote “ The Stowaway”. Thus, why do we use pigs or
donkeys for offense while on the other hand we have diminutival images
of cats, dogs and rabbits as endearing symbols of our and our children’s
nature? We consider ourselves to be empowered to everything, including
the categorization of animals according to our perceptions of them.
An eloquent example of simlplifying the representation of grave
issues is Warner Bros.’s animated film: Gay Purr-eelvi . An extremely well
produced and complex film, featuring Judy Garland’s voice for the main
female character – Musette, the film is the story of a naïve, white-furred,
country-side cat, symptomatically called “Musette”, who leaves her
country-side suitor Jaune-Tom, to head for Paris with Miaowrice – her new
skinny, stylish, Paris suitor which “wears” a seductive French accent and a
suit…While Jaune-Tom sets off to look for her, Musette is taken to a matron

20
and simply exploited into behaving like a “model” so that she could be
sold as a wife later. Although the film obviously has a happy en, it still does
not make it more than a “soft” display of the contemporary “flesh-trade”
and exploitation of women. The cat stands for a tragic, both rational and
irrational, mentally anthropomorphic character, as it is entangled in an
irrational elopement and meets the deceiving world of men (represented
by “the cats of the night”) in which the female is nothing but a commercial
item for trading. Another interesting issue that we can observe in the film,
is the fact that Musette is painted by famous painters (not
photographed…) in a wide range of appealing positions and instances. The
painters range from Rembrandt to Toulouse-Lautrec. Is this a subtle hint at
the image of art as a simple trade, in the context of Paris as a modern
metropolis of prostitution at all levels?
A middle and objective perspective on the cat is given by Mihai
Coman in his “Anthology of Romanian Mythological Beasts”, where he
discusses the cat’s alignment to partner, so to speak. The cat observes us
in the interior of our house and the Romanian mythological opinion is that
(as usual, unlike the kind dog), the cat has mischeviously “infiltrated”
itself within the hearth, so as to take advantage of the goods and the
comfort that the inside of the house provides. (Coman mentions that from
all these perspectives, the folk opinions equal the cat to women again)lvii.
On the other hand, by anlysing the actual basically independent
status of the cat within the household, we can ask ourselves: don’t we go
through a counter-manipulation with cats? Who manipulates who? Or
maybe: who purrs? Who has a penetrating sight?
“…People who could purr would be bound to make friends…” lviii is
quite an expressive statement perfectly describing the traits of cats’
capacities, and we cannot omit that besides the friendly purr which they
utter, cats also know how to exploit their unique capacity: they purr us into
opening cans of food etc, as Pirincci and Degen would put it. The purr is
ambivalent as well: it stands both for a sincere friendship, and for
cunningness too. Cats are indeed mysterious and independent, while at
the same time, they can instantly turn into a purring clew of fur. This is
why we could also look at cats from the perspective of non-verbal

21
communication, because we can undoubtedly call purring “cat
paralanguage”…
Wee earlier mentioned Pat Albeck’s “A Cat’s Guide to England” and
we can assert that this is a two-fold book because, while the image of the
cat is exploited to somehow advertise for The National Trust, it also has
didactic valences. Unlike other animals, cat characters are conferred an
aura of independence and integrity (an argument could also be the fact
that also unlike other animals, cats are quite rarely tied up in leashes or
chains…) . It also is symptomatic that in cartoons (i.e. Gay Purr-ee) cats
have extremely strong and mature voices (i.e. Judy garland’s voice for
Musette). Often, animals look and sound childish, but cats’ voices are as
anthropomorphosized as possible and this is what can also give them the
power of offering didactic advice:

“…One thing I have noticed: there are very few toy cats around; There are many more toy
bears. […] I suppose most children grow up with a toy bear and a real cat […] Small
children often treat cats as toys, I wish they wouldn’t [sic!]…”lix

It is worth mentioning another artistic perspective on cats. Edward Gorey’s

contemporary artistic perspective is that cats might manipulate more than
we realize. His collection “Gorey Cats”lx is not a depiction of anonymous
cats but a representation of the honourable cats featuring in “The Old
Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”lxi. Gorey’s detailed graphics ingeniously
sum up Eliot’s poems. The drawings are Gotham-like, humorous images of
a cliché cat-as-witch-and-mystery, as we can see in the depiction of the
nasty Tugger floating (rather than jumping) through space like an
enchanted cat, towards the sowing, fig-like, black clothed, old, Gothic
figure of his owner that he terrorizes…The “Gorey cats” (embodying T.S.
Eliot’s respectable cats) play people around, like Mr mistofelees plays with
hats and dice, and Just as the Rum Tum Tugger
“…do
As he do do
And there’s no doing anything about it!...” lxii , just as there is nothing to
do about the cat which wants “A chair of” its “Own” and tells the story of “
A chair of One’s Own and how to Achieve it”, as Paul Gallico’s story is
entitled.lxiii

22
 As a conclusion, we could say that our relationship to the
independent cat is a mutual and equable one, no matter whether humans
and cats are sincere to each other, manipulate or look at each other…
To end this part of our discussion “with a smile”, we can mention a
book that extremely humorously touches upon a perfectly equal
manipulation between us, our cats and the space we share: Burton silver’s
“Kama Sutra for Pussy-Cats” (“ The Kama Sutra fah Putee-Katz”) . A new
Zealand writer with a quibbly sense of humour, Silver poses a troublesome
question: “…Ever wondered if the cat that sleeps on your bed knows
what’s going on under the covers?...” lxiv

“…The cat who fails to conduct itself according to the rules of the Land of Heavenly
Humps, disturbs the equanimity of the land […] purring should be discreet al all times […]
it is extremely poor taste for any cat to enter the land while moulting…”lxv

4. CATS WITHIN THE PATTERNS OF LITERATURE:

No matter how varied their symbolism might be throughout cultures, cats

have always remained a unique source of inspiration for writers. They have
not only become cross-culturally admired domestic animals, but their
enigmatic, yet playful nature has inspired literature just as strongly.
“…From ancient china and Egypt, to the medieval monasteries of Celtic Ireland […] to the
apartments of today’s New York […] cats’ nature – playful but deeply serous, solitary, yet
intimate – has evoked limitless affection in their owners…”lxvi

4.1.THE PAW CAN STEP FURTHER: TRANSCENDING AND

INTERTWINING PARADIGMS

23
 Cats have not had a long history only from the point of view of
myths, but they have always constituted praised literary subjects. We can
look at cats throughout literature from ancient times to Romanticism (cf.
infra Keats), Victorianism (cf. infra Hardy), and Modernism (cf. supra and
infra T.S.Eliot).
As the cat as symbolical element transcends literature (and history
in general) from tradition to modernity, we can assert that the lyricized
and mysticized feline conflates two essential paradigms in the most
original manner. As tradition and modernity are two entirely antithetic
paradigms, the instances in which these two patterns are combined in an
elegant manner (as they are in the case of feline symbolism) are quite
rare.
Once these two existentially, historically, socially, culturally and
religiously opposite paradigms have been mentioned, we could stop upon
them for awhile and briefly draw a few differences between them. This
attempt is one that seems rather forlorn, as we shall never be able to fully
differentiate between these universal coordinates, but we shall
nevertheless offer some hints which, we believe , can be encountered
within the analysis of “cat literature”. The interweaving of these themes in
what feline symbolism is concerned, re-iterates its ambivalence.

SYMBOLICAL CATS

TRADITION MODERNITY

- sacredness (Cats in ancient Egypt) - profane/decadent

parameters of existence
- divine unity and coherence / the symbol of the - chaotic views /
confusion. No rituals
centre as axis mundi / a teocentrical, myth- preserved. Loss of
beliefs - monstrous
centred world. Pervading equilibrium (the cat tribulations of the
existentially lonely

24
 as supreme god in Egypt cf. Kernbach: smtm. Soul - the cat as pet in
the Western world
Re himself was depicted as a cat)

- belief in bodily capacities (the sleek and beautiful - caricatural images

of the world ( Tom
feline as divinity) and Jerry)
- apollonial orderlxvii - dyonisian orderlxviii
These two aspects are uniquely intertwined, as the cat is always both a
silent guardian of the hearth and a symbol of orgies ( analogously to the
woman).
- perfect balance between affect and rationality -
neurosis:depression prevails
- the body as a source of energy ( Bast) - a handicapped
body ( Poe – the
blind cat)
- electrically sexual - grotesque
Valences that make the cat resemble the woman.
- celestial; solar (Bast, Re – the cat - telurical; gloomy
(Poe –The Black
as a divine / vital symbol) Cat)
- Nostos (< Gr. = destination), identity and - no secure spaces
for the soul, no
belonging + Thelos (< Gr. = purpose) (The cat identity, no
belonging ( the present

always finds its way back home / Musette and home is just a
jail for the mere pet)
Jaunetom undergo a voyage of initiation, to return
Home again, in the end)
- pantheism, immanence and transcendence - - Thanatos is the
only reference point
all the existential values function at a hyperlevel ( the symbol of
the woman in

25
 (the fertile, potent and independent cat) Modernism is
“the minx cat”lxix)
- magic, eros pharmakon - heavy
materiality, exclusive
chthonian views
- Eros and Thanatos interwoven - Thanatos prevails
- Myths, mystery, miracle, mysticism – MY - Pro-phanum ( the
pet, or Poe’s cat
In Sanskrit, this particle is used in connection which is
symptomatically blinded)
to sacred activities affiliated to the belief in the
inner gaze. ( the mythical cat)
- Kosmos, fertility - barenness
- ascendant movement (Re) - Descenssus ad
inferno (cf. infra
the Owl and
The Pussy-cat)

This has been an extremely brief (even superficial) view upon the
conflation of paradigms within cat symbolism, and we included it in order
to re-iterate the idea of the cat as symbol, as a “symballo”. It seems to be
a rather strange and extremely important character as long as it
harmonizes these two paradigms, while at the same time it remains a
singular eternal element: the cat per se.
It is amazing to see a symbol embodying both these parameters. We
can refer to T.S. Eliot’s “The Naming of Cats”lxx, from this perspective.
Firstly, we can look at it from a general “literary” perspective. Due to
limitations of space we shall no longer tackle upon children’s literature as
well, however, in the case of this poem, we must mention that cats
themselves are indulged in controversial poems and postures, being
created for varying audiences. Albeit a book for children, “The Practical
Cats” is a complex book for a “dual audience”…lxxi
“…First, authors may write…for a single audience, using single first address; their
narrators will address child narrates…showing no consciousness that adults too read the
work…Secondly, they may write for a double audience, using double address…their

26
 narrators will address child narrates…and will also address adults, either overtly…or
covertly, as the narrator deliberately exploits the ignorance of the implied child reader
and attempts to entertain an implied adult reader by making jokes which are funny
primarily because children will not understand them. Thirdly, they may write for a dual
audience…more usually…writers who command a dual audience do so because of the
nature and strength of their performance…confidentially sharing a story in a way that
allows adult narrator and child narratee a conjunction of interests…”lxxii

“The Naming of Cats” is in its turn a dual audience poem. We can

vacillate between a humorous play upon rhyme, letters and words, while
on another level we might interpret it as a poetical display of modern
ambiguity. We cannot decide upon a name for the cat…thus, identity is
uncertain… Is it the cat’s identity that lacks or is this just an indirect lack
of identity at human level, for no other reason, but because it is us who
cannot decide on a name from the wide range of nomine felarum… On the
other hand, the cat elegantly, condescendently and amazingly
interweaves this lack of identity at one level, with the ultimate knowledge
that it ancestrally acquired: the cat knows THE name, the “..deep and
inscrutable, singular NAME…”lxxiii
From the perspective of dividing tradition and modernity, Perrault’s
1792 romantic character “Poos-in Boots” builds around it the frame of a
western fairy tale, with a kind of Eastern sobriety. An inscrutable
traditional intelligence is conferred to the cat in red boots. Nevertheless,
we believe that in what children’s perception of feline figures is concerned,
in the Western world we are presently witnessing a decrease in value.
From the image of Poos- in- Boots, we are in the 20 th and in the 21st centuries left
only with a mock image of a rather idiotic televised figure such as Tom
(Tom &Jerry). This is perhaps, regretably due to the fact that “…the
modern adult has been taught to downgrade the imagination…”lxxiv

4.2. “THE POETICAL CAT” lxxv

Throughout times, poetry has paid homage to the cat as a repository

of meanings. Looking at a few concrete works, we can observe the
intertwining of the eternal polivalences of cats.

27
 The cat is a metaphor per se and what we have earlier called its
“paralanguage”, that is purring, is just the same. The English verb “to
purr” is only an imitation of the feline onomatopoea, however, Latin
languages have used and still use it as a synonym for “spinning”. Spinning
itself, as an action, has connections to weaving fiber and eventually the
entire texture of a linen. Analogously, the word “text” comes from the
Latin verb texere with the meaning “to weave”. Actually, the text is in
itself a tapestry of experiences, memories, aesthetics and other formal
factors such as referents and symbols. However, our point will be that the
cat as a complex symbol had something to say in the literature built
around it – it span within it and it has a tale to tell…
In Felicity Bast’s anthology of cat poems we shall encounter a whole
cross-cultural range of attitudes towards the feline.
Stevie Smith’s (1982-1971) “The Singing Cat” lxxvi
is an ode to the cat
that submits human affect like a charming singing siren. “…He lifeteth up
his innocent voice / […]he singeth / And all the people warm themselves /
In the love his beauty bringeth..”. The cat is again a paradoxical
combination of innocence and seduction.
At the same time we have the chance of reading a Vietnamese poem
of Nguyen Trai (1380-1442) and this will render the behaviour of the cat
both in the East and in the West: “…You serve the Buddha well, unseen by
the temple monks, / In the kitchen you hang about while the dog gets
kicked out…” lxxvii
The cat has from the oldest times been a manipulator, as
she is an independent individuality that preserves its personality. Can we
again say that it was the cat who tamed humans into accepting it? – “…
Life will go on forever / With all that cat can wish / Warmth and a glad
procession / of fish and milk and fish…” lxxviii

In A.C. Swinburne’s “To A Cat” it is obvious that the Pre-Raphaellites

could not have omitted this ultimate symbol of paganism and mythology,
which is the cat. Its nobleness is poetically displayed , to eventually
equate its appearance to a seductive woman’s : “…Stately, kindly, lordly
friend / Condescendent […] / Golden eyes , love’s lustruous meed / On the
golden page I read…” lxxix

28
 One of the most symptomatic instances we encountered was Kawai
Chigetsu-ni ‘s Haiku – “Propriety” (1632-1736) – “…Cats making love in the
temple / But people would blame / A man and wife mating in such a
place…” lxxx
After all the cat seems to have pervaded every side of the
human topos. Albeit its sometimes carnavalesque , histrionical and
cunning nature, the cat “weaved” its way into human spaciality,
temporality and most important: in beliefs and religion. Once inculcated
within religion, within “the temple”, the cat will never fade away as
symbol, and it will never decrease in importance. Indeed, the cat features
here as a catalyzer and a mould for human beliefs. It itself drew man
towards its symbolism.
Cats feature in poems from Plutarch lxxxi
(who re-identified them to
fertility, to womanhood and to the phases of the moon) to Yeats’ “The Cat
and the Moon” lxxxii
(symptomatic title!), to Ogden Nash’s playful, yet not at
all meaningless “The Kitten”lxxxiii ( for the cat will eternally raise problems,
won’t it?), to Vita Sackville-West’s “The Greater Cats” lxxxiv
- a romanticized
view of the human condition and its limitations, remnant of the image of
the fierce lion pathetically placed behind man-made bars. On the other
hand, Baudelaire lxxxv
identifies cats to women and thus, to the “initial
moment” of latency and potentiality of the whole universe. Both fertile,
the woman and the cat symbolically stand for the latent, yet potent acorn
which is the basis of the forest…
In Mother Goose’s “Six Little Mice” lxxxvi
- “…Says Puss: You look so
wondorously wise […..] / The mice were so pleased that they opened the
door / And pussy soon had them all dead on the floor…” , we encounter a
conspicuous display of feline cunningness and intelligence. This is a fable
told to children even today, rather a moralizing tale in verse that
uncovertly resembles LaFontaine’s variant with the cunning fox and the
conceited raven.
Thomas Flatman (1637-1688) transcends from a tame image of the
feline to a teratomorphic and brutally sexual aspect of it. This is a striking
ambivalence for a 17th century poem: “…Ye cats that at midnight spit love
at each other […] / Puss! Puss! Lasts not long, but turns to cat-whore!...”
lxxxvii

29
 “…Sleep, sleep, cat of the night […] / Take care of all our dreams /
Control our obscurity / Of our slumbering prowess!...” lxxxviii
is Pablo
Neruda’s obvious description of the cat as the holder of and the symbol of
our anxieties. Gilbert Durand’s theory of the infernal animals that equate
human tribulations is valid here.
On the other hand J. R. Tolkien’ s “Cat on the Mat” displays an image
entirely opposed to the “lion” as an ancestral memory of the cat. Have we
imprisoned a dreamer in its own body, by making the cat “…the fat…”
pet? – “…The fat can on the mat / May seem to dream…” lxxxix

Chaucer’s “Mice Before Milk” xc

proves that at least ever since the
time of “The Canterbury Tales”, cats could not be parted with their
instinctivity of hunting , despite “…milk and flessch…”.
In “Cat Goddesses” xci
, the “English high Anti-Modernist” Robert
Graves is conservative in the image of the cat resembling the woman as
an outcast / esoterical , frightening image of the concupiscent witch.
Romantic poets as well, could not have omitted such a sleek,
gracious and symbolical factor as the cat and thus we came across Keats’
“ To Mrs. Reynold’s Cat” – a poem of admiration towards an old feline of
still perfect condition. This is a cat with a tale…We can ask ourselves:
would they purr out their stories, conquests and history if we understood
them? – “…tell me all thy freys / of fish and mice, and rats and tender
chick…” xcii

In order to also refer to our subject of discussion from a strong

Modernist point of view, we must go back to “ The Old Possum’s Book of
Practical Cats”. While we are struggling through the “Doom’s Day Book” of
nomines felarumxciii , the cat ignores us and condescendently and
egocentrically selfish meditates upon its ancestral name ( Woman? Lion?
Witch? God? Freedom? Pet? CAT?) which “…the cat himself knows and will
never confess…”, that “…inscrutable, singular NAME…” xciv
Cats are
mysterious and unknown , like “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” – “…the
master criminal who can defy the law…”xcv, or like Mr. Mistofelees, the
clever cat:
“…Well, I never…
Did you ever…
Know a cat so clever…”

30
And above all, the not subservient cat, because: “…A CAT IS NOT A
DOG!...” xcvi
Eliot’s histrionical play on rhymes and words renders the cat as
manipulator in a humorous and witty manner, because: “…A cat’s entitled
to expect / These evidences of respect…”. However, a problem arises: is
this a “dual audience” book? Are these sheer cats, or are they
teriomorphic embodiments of ourselves? Do we identify with the
zoomorphic images in order to catch their own essence, or do we simply
wish to understand ourselves and our environment?
Another rich poem we want to refer to is “The Owl and the Pussy-
Cat” xcvii
. Here again we are conveyed the nictomorphic aspect of the
symbollon that constructs the cat’s figure, however, in this poem we can
trace myths re-iterated. “…hand-in hand” with the owl-a symptom of
death and of descenssus ad inferno the cat actually performs this transient
process. The two beasts seem to be rowing Charon’s boat towards the
tenebrous world – the only which would bless their unification and
grotesque (though childishly presented) sexual entanglements – “…O
lovely Pussy! O, Pussy my love…” . The unification will be confirmed only
with a ring (a circle of life perhaps, but which also indissolubly includes
death). In this poem not only does the moon as a cliché symbol of fertility,
not stand for that, but it appears as an exclusive temporal coordinate for
the barenness of the infernal wedding. “…On the edge of the sand…” is a
symptomatic spatial parameter for the representation of barenness, for it
describes the extreme side of a baren area, which nevertheless does not
at all ( although it logically should) reach water here ( the sand is the
baren pole for the symbol of water which in its turn stands for fertility).
This voyage in death which the tenebrous animals undergo (most
likely being punished for the uunrighteousness of their relationship) is
represented by the money they took with them. In folk funeral rituals, the
dead ( also called “the one who travels”) will always have some coins
next to him in the coffin, so that it could pay for Charon’s help and all the
other borders he has to cross ( should the dead not have money to pay for
the barriers, he would come back…). xcviii

31
 Secondly, we encounter an “Inferno”-like topos in “…The land where
the Bong-tree grows / […] there in the forrest…”. In the context of an
infernal world, this place strongly resembles Dante’s 7th circle where, in
the dark forrest with”…Not foliage green, but of a dusky color…” ,
xcix

forever withered the souls of suiciders…

Finally, another possible myth we could trace in the poem is the
Manicheic myth of the confrontation between good and evil which has
Ahti-Man as the negative protagonist, the emperor of darkness who sets
off to battle. While Ormuzdt, his opponent comes from a solar place, Ahti-
Man sets off from a dark forest, driving a heard of pigs ahead of him.
After the completion of the doomed act of unifying two
teratomorphic forces, the infernal procession “…danced under the
moon…”.
Among all the controversial views upon cats, we finally encounter
Thomas Hardy’s verse as well. In “Last Words to a dumb Friend” c, Hardy
proves the Victorian affinity with pet companions and he lets us know ( as
a mere relief), that a cat can above all be the warmest and closest
companion…
5. A FINAL ASSESSMENT:

A final poem featuring in Felicity Bast’s anthology is a Persian

legend about an enormous lawful cat, appeared in the country illo
tempore, simultaneously with the whole Cosmogony. The legend of the
sacred cat deals with the supposed order that it maintained in Persia by
extinguishing symbolical rats, because:
“…HE was a CAT , whose paws were the LAW
and THAT WAS THAT!...”ci
Are cats laws in themselves? Apparently, to us they are. They are still
uncovered mysteries. Thinking back on their roots, all cats appear to have
been here illo tempore . Are they tolerating us in their world? Man should
only sysyphically struggle to unveil their mystery.
Cats posses us without us even being aware of it ( or perhaps we do
not want to admit it ?) : they take over our most comfortable chairs, they

32
leave when they please, they play with us whenever THEY please, they
“sweet-miaow” us into opening their cans of food…
In vain do we try to “pet” the cat, for:
“…The hose-cat is a four-legged quadruped, the legs as usual being at the
corners. It is what is sometimes called a tame animal , though it feeds on
mice and birds of prey. Its colors are striped, it does not bark but breaths
through its nose instead of its mouth. Cats have nine liveses [sic!], but
which is seldom wanted in this country coz’ of Christianity. Cats eat meat
and most anythink [sic!] speshuelly [sic!] where you can’t afford [sic!].
This is all about cats.”
( A schoolboy’s essay, 1903) cii

6. NOTES

33
i
Martin Leman, Painted Cats, p. 11. A quote from E.V. Lucas’ “The Cat as Teacher”.
ii
Martin Leman, Painted Cats, p 35. A quote from Beverly Nichol’s “Concerning Mews Both Conversational and
Utilitarian”, in: “Cat’s ABC and XYZ”, courtsy of Eric Glass Ltd.
iii
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 40
iv
John Berger, “Why Look at Animals?“, in: About Looking, New York: Pantheon, 1980, p.4.
v
cf. Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, pp. 24-51. We are presented in detail all the amazing biological “oddities”
and exceptional traits of the feline eyes.
vi
Cf. Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Birth of Tragedy From the Spirit of Music”, in : From Apollo to Faust, Bucharest:
Meridiane,1978, pp. 178-201.
vii
Cf. Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, „Sense, Super-sense or Nonsense? “, in : Cat Sense, pp.191-207.
viii
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p.232.
ix
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 12.
x
Martin Leman, Painted Cats, p. 28.
xi
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 191.
xii
Victor Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, Bucharest:Univers, 1983, pp. 98-99.
xiii
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Deggen, Cat Sense, p. 10.
xiv
Cf. Mircea Eliade, The Way To the Centre, Bucharest: Univers, 1986, p. 247.
xv
Victor Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p 98.
xvi
Victor Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p.99.
xvii
Victor Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, pp. 98-99.
xviii
Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrandt, A Dictionary of Symbols, Bucharest: Artemis, 1995, pp 100-101.
xix
Julius Evola, The Metaphysics of Sex, Bucharest:Humanitas, 1994, pp. 345-353.
xx
Mircea Eliade, „Orgy“, in The Way to the Center, p. 247.
xxi
Fernando Poyatos, Cross-cultural Perspectives on Non-Verbal Communication , Toronto : Hogrefe, 1988, p.47.
xxii
Victor Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p.557.
xxiii
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 12.
xxiv
Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrandt, A dictionary of Symbols, p.99.
xxv
Gilbert Durand, The Anthropological Srtuctures of Imagination, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2000,pp.69-73.
xxvi
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p. 55
xxvii
Jean Baudrillard, De la Seduction, Bucharest :Humanitas, 1996, p.6.

xxviii
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, pp.557-558.
xxix
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p 558.
xxx
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p.559.
xxxi
Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrandt, A Dictionary of Symbols, p. 100.
xxxii
Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrandt, A Dictionary of Symbols, p.101.
xxxiii
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala , p. 558.
xxxiv
V. Kernbach, Dictionar de mitologie generala, p.558.
xxxv
Mihai Coman, Bestiarul mItologic romanesc , Bucharest: Editura fundatiei culturale romane, 1996,pp.72-79;
xxxvi
Mihai Coman, Bestiarul mitologic romanesc, p.72.
xxxvii
M.Coman, Bestiarul mitologic romanesc, p.74.
xxxviii
Annick de Souzenelle, Le symbolisme du corps humain, pp.363-370.
xxxix
Otilia Hedesan, Pentru o mitologie difuza, Timisoara: Marineasa, 2000, pp.110-111 / 124-125.
xl
Vintila Mihailescu, Quoting J. Piaget in Fascinatia diferentei, Bucharest: Paideia, 1998, pp.4-7.
xli
Tache Ppahagi, Petit dictionnaire folklorique, Bucharest : Minerva, 1979, pp.50-51.
xlii
Pinah Sadeh, The Black Cat, In. Jewish Folk Tales, New York : Anchor Books, 1989, p. 306.
xliii
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 34.
xliv
Gilbert Durand, The Anthropological Structures of Imagination, p.70.
xlv
Lucian Blaga, „ Ana-basic and Cata-Basic“, in : Trilogia cunoasterii, Bucharest: Humanitas, 1997.
xlvi
Lucian Blaga, “Ana.basic and Cata-basic”
xlvii
In Otilia Hedesan’s, Pentru o mitologie difuza, we are told the tale of the cat who a san intermediary between
worlds is a character that transcends the barriers of the universe. The cat in this story knows how to advise the young
girl about how to defend herself from the Horses of St.Tudor ( an Orthodox Saint). They are evil moralizers who come
to dance with the girl until they kill her, as a punitive act because she worked on a holy day. The cat is the one who
knows exactly how to procede in order for this not to happen. It als appears as the wise leader of all the animals on the
farm which the cat indulges in the action, and thus they all save the girl.
xlviii
John Berger, Why Look at Animals?, p.5.
xlix
akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p.7.
l
Akif Pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p 7.
li
Steve Baker, „Of Mouse and More“, in:Picturing the Beast: Animals , Identity and representation, Manchester:
Manchester UP, 1993, p.120-161.
lii
Peter Hunt, An Introduction to Children’s Literature, Oxford: OUP –Opus Collection, 1994, p.169-170.
liii
John Berger, Why Look at animals? p.17.
liv
Steve Baker, „ Of maus and more“, p.138.
lv
Pat Albeck, A Cat’s Guide to England , London: Boxtree, 1993
lvi
Gay Purr-ee , a 1962 Warner Bros. animated film, directed by Abe Levittow , Screenplay by Arnie red Buttons,
featuring the voice of Judy Garland on Soudtrack.
lvii
Mihai Coman, Bestiarul mitologic romanesc, p 75.
lviii
Akif pirincci & Rolf Degen, Cat Sense, p. 71.
lix
Pat Albeck, A Cat’s Guide to England, p.96
lx
Edward Gorey, Gorey cats, London: Pomegranate Ltd., 2001
lxi
T.S. Eliot, The Old Possum’s book of Practical Cats, London: Faber and Faber, 2001.
lxii
T.S. Eliot, „The Rum Tum Tugger“, in: The Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, p.27.
lxiii
Martin Leman, „A chair of One’s Own and how to Acheive it“ – a story by Paul Gallico, in: Painted Cats,p30.
lxiv
Burton Silver, The Kama Sutra for Pussy Cats, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1993, back cover.
lxv
Burton Silver, The Kama Sutra for Pussy cats, pp.10-11.
lxvi
Felicity Bast, The Poetical cat, New York: Farrar Sraus Giroux, 1995.
lxvii
F. Nietzsche, „The Birth of Tragedy From the Spirit of music“, in: From Apollo to Faustus, pp.178-201.
lxviii
F. Nietzsche, „The birth of Tragedy from the spirit of music“, in:From Apollo to Faustus,pp.178-201.
lxix
Cf. Virginia Woolf, A room of one’s Own, Bucharest: Univers, 1998, p.34.
lxx
T.S. Eliot, „The Naming of cats“, in: The Old Possum’s book of Practical Cats, p. 2.
lxxi
Peter Hunt, An introduction to Children’s Literature, p.71.
lxxii
Wall Barbara, „The Narrator’s Voice. The Dilemma of Children’s Fiction“, London: macmillan, 1991, p.32, apud
Peter Hunt, An Introduction to children’s Literature, p.12
lxxiii
T.S. Eliot, „The Naming of cats“,in The Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, p.2.
lxxiv
Peter Hunt, An introduction to Children’s Literature, p.2.
lxxv
A title inspired from Felicity Bast’s anthology of cat poems The Poetical Cat
lxxvi
Stevie Smith, „ The Singing Cat „, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat p. 3.
lxxvii
Nguyen Trai, „ The Cat“, apud F. bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 6.
lxxviii
Sir Alexander Gray, „On a Cat, Ageing“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.74.
lxxix
A.C. Swinburne, „ To A Cat“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.9
lxxx
Kawai Chigetsu-ni, „Propriety“, apud F. bast, The Poetical Cat, p 10.
lxxxi
Plutarch, „Chrysoberyl: The Eye of the Cat“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 12-13.
lxxxii
W. B. Yeats, „The Cat and The moon“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.11.
lxxxiii
Ogcen Nash, „The Kitten“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 15
lxxxiv
Vita sackville-West, „The Greater Cats“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.18.
lxxxv
Charles Baudelaire, “Cats (They are Alike)“, apud F. bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 32.
lxxxvi
Mother Goose, „Six Little Mice“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 38.
lxxxvii
Thomas Flatman, „ An appeal to Cats in the Bussiness of Love“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.55.
lxxxviii
Pablo Neruda, „Cat’s Dream „, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat , p. 61.
lxxxix
J.R. Tolkien, „Cat on the Mat“ , apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 63.
xc
G. Chaucer, „ Mice Before Milk“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p. 82.
xci
Robert Graves, „Cat Goddesses“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.86.
xcii
John Keats, „ To Mrs. Reynold’s Cat“, In : Stanley Applebaum, English Romantic Poetry, New York: Dover
publications, 1996, p. 233.
xciii
T.S. Eliot, „The Naming of Cats“, in : The Old Possum’s…, p. 2.
xciv
T.S. Eliot, „ The Naming of Cats“, in: The Old…, pp.1-2.
xcv
T. S. Eliot, „ Macavity, the Mystery Cat“, in : The Old…, p.37.
xcvi
T.S.Eliot, The Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, p. 53.
xcvii
Edward Lear, „ The Owl and the Pussy-cat“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, pp. 56-57.
xcviii
Arthur von Gennep, Rituri de trecere, Iasi: Polirom, 1997 . pp. 54-68.
xcix
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Iasi: Polirom, 2002.
c
Thomas Hardy, „ Last Words to a Dumb Friend“, apud F. Bast, The Poetical Cat, p.105.
ci
Obeyd-i-Zakani, „ Gorby and the Rats“ , apud F. Bast , The Poetical Cat, pp.122-138.
cii
Martin Leman, Painted Cats, „ A schoolboy’s essay, 1903“, p.16.
7. CITED WORKS:

1. ALBECK, PAT, A Cat’s Guide to England, London: Boxtree, 1993.

2. APPLEBAUM, STANLEY, English Romantic Poetry, New York: Dover publications, 1996.
3. BAKER, STEVE, “ Of Maus and More”, In: Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity and
Representation, Manchester: Manchester UP, 1993.
4. BAST, FELICITY, The Poetical Cat, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1995.
5. BAUDRILLARD, JEAN, De la seduction, Bucharest: Humanitas, 1996.
6. BERGER, JOHN , ‘’Why Look at Animals ?’’, In: About Looking, New York: Pantheon,
1980.
7. BLAGA, LUCIAN, Trilogia cunoasterii, Bucharest: Humanitas, 1997.
8. BURTON, SILVER, The Kama Sutra For Pussy-cats, London: Weidenfeld&Nicholson,
1993.
9. CHEVALIER, JEAN & GHEERBRANDT, ALAIN, Dictionar de simboluri, Bucharest:
Artemis, 1995.
10. COMAN, MIHAI, Bestiarul mitologic romanesc, Bucharest : Editura fundatiei culturale
romane, 1996.
11. DURAND, GILBERT, Structurile antropologice ale imaginarului, Bucharest: Univers
enciclopedic, 2000.
12. ELIADE, MIRCEA, The Way to the Centre, Bucharest: Univers, 1986.
13. ELIOT, T.S., The Old Possun’s Book of Practical Cats, London: Faber&Faber, 2001.
14. EVOLA, JULIUS, The Metaphysics of Sex, Bucharest:Humanitas, 1997.
15. GOREY, EDWARD, Gorey Cats, London: Pomegranate Ltd., 2001.
16. HEDESAN, OTILIA, Pentru o mitologie difuza, Temesburg:Marineasa, 2000.
17. HUNT, PETER, An Introduction to Children’s Literature, Oxford: OUP, 1994.
18. KERNBACH, VICTOR, Dictionar de mitologie generala, Bucharest:Albatros, 1983.

19. LEMAN, MARTIN, Painted Cats, London: Pelham Books, 1988.

20. NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH, “The Birth of Tragedy From the Spirit of Music”, In: From
Apollo to Faustus, Bucharest: Meridiane, 1978.
21. PAPAHAGI, MARIAN, Petit dicionnaire folklorique, Bucharest: Minerva, 1979.
22. PINHAS, SADEH, Jewish Folktales, New York : Anchor Books, 1989.
23. POYATOS, FERNANDO, Cross-cultural Perspectives on Non-Verbal Communication,
Toronto : Hogrefe, 1988.
24. SACHER-MASOCH, LEOPOLD VON, Venus In Fur, Iasi: Polirom,1999.
25. SOUZENELLE, ANNICK DE , Le symbolisme du corps humain, Temesburg : Amarcord,
1999.