DOG LOVE

by Marjorie Garber

Overview

Explains how dogs bring out the humanity in people by dog owners' willingness to let themselves experience and express extreme sorrow and deep love in the presence of beloved canines.

Combining literary and historical tidbits with witty social insight, Dog Love explains everything from why we often admire presidential pets more than their owners to why our attachment to dogs is the ultimate expression of our humanity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780684835525
Publisher:	Touchstone
Publication date:	12/02/1997
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Marjorie Garber is a professor at Harvard University and the author of a wide variety of books, most notably ones about William Shakespeare and aspects of popular culture including sexuality.

Editorial Reviews

Wise and witty, Garber (Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life), trains her formidable interpretative gifts on a vastly popular subject: dogs. Unlike such dog litterateurs as Elizabeth Marshall Thomas or Vicki Hearne, however, she observes not dogs themselves but their prominence in American culture. Examining everything from portrayals of dogs in books and films to people who report having had sex with dogs, she posits that our society relies on dogs to bring out its humanity. The argument is not especially original, but no matter: she unfolds it with such agility and imagination as to compel attention. Whether she is discussing the barking dog at the O.J. Simpson trial or offering a Lacanian analysis of Virginia Woolf's book Flush (described as "a tongue-in-jowl reimagining of the life of Elizabeth Barret Browning's beloved spaniel"), she demonstrates a keen and playful ear. There is an occasional odor of the graduate seminar ("Is caninophilia an erotics of dominance?"), but on the whole the prose is frisky and Garber's earnestness doesn't stand in the way of a light tone. Casual readers will also be encouraged by the book's organization into chapters built of brief, discrete segments ideal for browsing. Of recent dog books, this is easily the pick of the litter. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC, QPB, Good Cook and Country Home & Garden alternates. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

From Lassie to Kato, Nicole Simpson's howling Akita, dogs have become deeply imbedded in our popular culture. Canine images sell everything from beer to T-shirts, and our "best friends" have found their way into cyberspace on numerous discussion groups. Garber, director of Harvard's Center for Literary and Cultural Studies and author of Vested Interests (LJ 11/1/91), analyzes the human-dog love bond with wit and incisiveness. Above and beyond all the commercialization radiates the true reason that we love our dogs so muchthey act as mirrors for our own beliefs about what would constitute a truly humane society. When on a daily basis we are bombarded by news of homeless people and abused children, the story of a mistreated dog or puppy prompts spontaneous generosity because as humans we feel that somehow we can offer some hope. Dog love often brings out the best in us. This thoughtful book is recommended wherever interest in dogs runs high.Eva Lautemann, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Clarkston, Ga.

Library Journal