The Difficulty of Being a Dog

In some 50 vignettes, the author visits the great dogs of history and legend, beginning with Ulysses and his dog, Argos. He covers topics from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel, to Andre Gide, whose diary records his bemusement at his dog's propensity to mount his ancient cat.

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It's not always easy to be a dog--to be a companion to those strange human animals, as Roger Grenier shows us on this literary dog walk. In some fifty self-contained and lovingly crafted vignettes, esteemed French author Grenier visits the great dogs of history and legend, beginning at the beginning, with Ulysses and his dog, Argos, the only creature to recognize him after years of absence. From Virginia Woolf, who became the self-appointed biographer of Flush, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel, to Andre Gide, whose diary records his bemusement at his dog's propensity to mount his ancient cat, Grenier reveals how dogs have inspired writers. He introduces us to Freud's chow Lun, who was able to make him understand he was about to die; to Fala, FDR's scottish terrier, who now has his own statue in Washington; and to Michael and Jerry, the heroes of Jack London's novels. Along the way, Grenier tells us about a few of the dogs who have occupied his own life and heart. Though the rapport between dogs and people remains a mystery, it is also, for him, the source of the purest form of love.