The Writer’s Cats
Review of the short book by Muriel Barbery
Tongue-in-cheek ramblings about the challenges of writing fiction, narrated by one of the author’s four cats. The format is that of a child’s picture book, but this is not addressed at children. It’s a quick enjoyable read.
A few memorable passages. (There are no page numbers). (NB — this was written in French and translated by Alison Anderson).
“In reality, writing and doubt are two facets of the same art.”
“The writer is a perverse creature who has chosen an impossible trade, a calling that will doom her (or him) to dissatisfaction for all eternity, when all she dreams of is nothing more than finishing her crossword while she sips her drink.”
“… writers are practied schizophrenics who know very well just what they don’t want to know.”
“… beauty and harmony are our only roots in a world that is adrift.”
:Well, as far as visual harmony or beauty goes, we provide her in her everyday life with ample amounts of it, and then some. What’s more, we add movement. We are flawless lines travelling through space, we are moving calligraphy, always changing, always sublime. Our very aspect, our elastic beauty, our please curves make of us a living art, an organic stuff of inspiration: a vector of beauty making its way through this imperfect world, leavng in its wake a perfume of perfection (and a whiff of Japan).”
