Cat (Object Lessons)

Laer, Rebecca van/ Schaberg, Christopher (EDT)/ Bogost, Ian (EDT)

Bloomsbury Academic USA（2025/10発売）

Bloomsbury Academic USA（2025/10発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 152 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9798765114629
• DDC分類 636.80019

Full Description

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Rebecca van Laer and her partner purchase a home and move in with their senior cats, Toby and Gus. Their loved ones see this as a step toward an inevitable future—first comes the house, then a dog, then a child. But what if they are just cat people?

Moving between memoir, philosophy, and pop culture, Cat is a playful and tender meditation on cats and their people. Van Laer considers cats' role in her personal narrative, where they are mascots of laziness and lawlessness, and in cultural narratives, where they appear as feminine, anarchic, and maladapted, especially in comparison to dogs.

From the stereotype of the 'crazy cat lady' to the joy of cat memes to the grief of pet loss, van Laer demonstrates that the cat-person relationship is free of the discipline and dependence required by parenting (and dog-parenting), creating a less hierarchical intimacy that offers a different model for love.

Contents

1. Cats vs. Dogs
2. The Cat's Pajamas
3. Cats in Families
4. Cats with Jobs
5. The Ninth Life
6. Kitten Season
7. Cat Friends
8. The Tail End
9. Cats Forever

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index