num_pages: 304
description: I am not a cat person . . .yet Peter Trachtenberg is such a wonderful writer and this book is so damn good that I found myself carried along by its lucidity its generosity its deep wisdom. In the end of course Another Insane Devotion is about much more than cats. -- Nick Flynn author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck CityFrom a genuine American Dostoevsky (The Washington Post) comes a dazzling funny bittersweet exploration of the mysteries of relationship both human and animal.When his favorite cat Biscuit goes missing Peter Trachtenberg sets out to find her. The journey takes him 700 miles and many years into his past-- into the history of his relationships with cats and the history of his relationship with his wife F. who may herself be on the verge of disappearing. What ensues is a work that recalls travel narratives from The Incredible Journey to W. G. Sebalds The Rings of Saturn. Trachtenberg ponders the mysteries of feline intelligence (why do cats score worse on some tests than pigeons?) the origins of their domestication and why they are harder to write about than dogs. He also looks at what loving a cat can teach us about loving a human being another insane devotion that takes us farther than we ever dreamed of going.This is Peters best book and if you dont know what that means just imagine your sweetest most perverse storytelling friend asks to meet because he has a confession to make. When you arrive he informs you that he loves his cat more than life itself or exactly that much and then he opens his shirt and shows you the cat tattoo and then he begins to tell you of his love and in a puff hours vanish and its absolutely riveting. -- Eileen Myles author of Inferno and Cool for YouThrough short sections of intelligent often humorous prose former and potential girlfriends and past pets are conjured in hopes of understanding how people can fall in and out of love. Trachtenberg explores his relationship with his wife from early dates to the day before completion of this manuscript in an effort to deduce how they ended up in their present predicament. Trachtenberg also weaves in accounts of the ancient domesticated cat famous literary felines and artistic allegories...Trachtenbergs journey proves entertaining and enlightening. -- Publishers Weekly
language: English
title: Another Insane Devotion: On The Love of Cats and Persons
publisher: Da Capo Press