Full Description
ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD CATEGORY FINALIST
Ravens in Berlin . . . Parakeets in Brooklyn . . . Chickens
in Tel Aviv . . . Spiders in Cognac. City creatures spark the imagination and
intellect in words and art by this father-daughter team.
Odd Birds & Fat Cats (An Urban Bestiary) is an
illustrated collection of brief observations on city creatures. Inspired
by the tradition of the medieval bestiary, bestiarum vocabulum, a
12th-century bestselling genre that chronicled animals and beings both
real and fantastical, the book features pithy impressions of birds and animals
that delight, confound, and edify, written by Peter Wortsman, coupled
with detailed naturalist artwork by his daughter, Aurélie
Bernard Wortsman.
Featured creatures include:
Pigeons: "When, finally, it takes flight . . . this
asphalt-colored bird is like a piece of the pavement which by some fluke of
gravity broke loose and is foolishly falling upward by mistake."
Seagulls: "Fallen splinters of eternity, they hang
overhead with the equanimity and mild disdain of angels in a medieval
altarpiece, and unlike pigeons, refuse any direct contact with man."
Ants: "Micro-managers in three-piece bodies,
ants parody human antics to a tee. Or is it the other way around?"
Dust mites: "Every time you scratch yourself or comb
your hair, you are feeding the tiny intruders with the detritus of self."
With four-color images throughout, printed in a beautiful hardbound
edition, this one-of-a-kind volume will please the discerning animal lover,
traveler, art lover, iconoclast, and literati on your gift list—and, of course,
also you!
Contents
Contents
Whose Zoo Is It? (A Foreword) 13
I * Odd Birds
Pigeons 20
Seagulls 22
The Raven and the Swift (Berlin, Germany) 24
Le Corbeau (Paris, France) 26
The Crow (Kyoto, Japan) 29
Red-Tailed Hawk 30
Rooster on the Loose 31
Chicken (Tel Aviv, Israel) 32
Praise for the Lone Peacock in the Valence Zoo (Valence, France) 33
The Monk Parrakeets of Green-Wood Cemetery (Brooklyn, New York) 34
II * Bugs & Microbes
Ants 38
Spider 40
A Spider in Paradise (Cognac, France) 41
Enculeur de Mouches (Paris, France) 42
Conjoined Firebugs (Berlin, Germany) 44
Dust Mites 46
A Milliliter of Love 48
The Vespa, a Wasp on Wheels (Rome, Italy) 50
Gutsy Bacteria 51
Water Bug 52
Retroviruses 54
III * Canines, Felines & Foragers
Cave Canem! 58
Beware of Cat! 60
The Riddle of the Sphinx 62
Waltzing with a Tiger 64
Like Pigs to the Slaughter (Ziguinchor, Senegal) 66
IV * Rodents
Squirrels 70
Subway Rats 72
Mouse Mummy 74
Experimental Guinea Pigs 77
V * Big Game
Buffaloes (Taos, New Mexico) 80
Texas Longhorn Cattle (Houston, Texas) 83
Whales Washed Up at Rockaway Beach (Queens, New York) 84
Going Ape Shit 86
Elephants of Forgetting (Paris, France) 89
VI * Anthropoids
Little Alien from the Planet Uterus 92
Family Members 94
Musclemen 95
Preserved Body Parts 96
Pedestrian Types 98
The Baby Carriage Contingent 100
The Disease of Self 101
The Smile 102
Size Places 104
Where Names Come From 105
How the Face Ages 106
Faithful Fear 108
Smells 109
The Uninterrupted Kiss 110
Looking Is a Faulty Glue 111
The Garbage Waltzes with the Wind 112
About the Creators 115
Acknowledgments 117
