From Kirkus Reviews
The septuagenarian beatnik would seem to be the least likely author of a cat book, but Burroughs has clearly mellowed some and here celebrates his favorite ``psychic companions.'' Full of sentimental anecdotes and bizarre pseudo-scholarly lore, his slim essay is, in his view, ``an allegory, in which the writer's past life is presented to him in a cat charade.'' Fans will indeed appreciate the references to beat legend, and the cats who witnessed those days in Tangier, Morocco, and Mexico City. The usual gang of suspects makes the briefest of cameos, from Allen Ginsberg to Jane Bowles. And then there are Burroughs's cats-- Ruski, Fletch, Horatio, Wimpy, et al.--none of whom does anything beyond acting like a cat. Of course, Burroughs adds some incoherent stuff about dogs (with their ``vilest coprographic perversions'') and about cats as natural enemies of the State. Lurid dreams of hybrids and mutants fill out a book also concerned with ``cuteness ratings.'' The hipster's (and hepcat's) answer to Cleveland Amory. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Best known for the wild, phantasmagoric satire of works like
Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs reveals another, gentler side in
The Cat Inside. Originally published as a limited-edition volume, this moving and witty discourse on cats combines deadpan routines and dream passages with a heartwarming account of Burroughs's unexpected friendships with the many cats he has known. It is also a meditation on the long, mysterious relationship between cats and their human hosts, which Burroughs traces back to the Egyptian cult of the "animal other." With its street sense and whiplash prose,
The Cat Inside is a genuine revelation for Burroughs fans and cat lovers alike.
"The Cat Inside is about how Burroughs's contact with cats put him in touch with himself. Cats have changed his dreams; they are psychic guides who have allowed his wounded inner child to come out." (
Harper's Bazaar)
"Burroughs's book is about cats the way The Grapes of Wrath is about fruit. . . . These are haunting images, from dreams, memory and present day, ranging from unabashed affection to outrage and indignation." (
Los Angeles Times)
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
