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Meow the 27th – Literary Cats

Though the word “cat content” is fairly new, cats have featured in literature for a long time. Some famous cat heroes of German literature include Grimm’s “Gestiefelter Kater” (Puss in Boots), Scheffel’s “Kater Hiddigeigei”, Keller’s “Spiegel, das Kätzchen”, and E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “Kater Murr”.

Almost 200 years ago, Kater Murr (Tomcat Murr) shared his opinions with the world. Talking about his life, his views, and ideas, Murr gives an insight into the life of a cat of the 19th century. In his Lebensansichten (Opinions), Murr alludes to his other literary endeavours, namely to the novel Gedanke und Ahnung oder Kater und Hund (Thought and Inkling, or Cat and Dog), to the political treatise Über Mausefallen und deren Einfluß auf Gesinnung und Tatkraft der Katzheit (On Mousetraps and Their Influence on the Mind and Activity of Catdom), and to the tragedy Rattenkönig Kawdallor (Kawdallor, Rat King).

Murr and Miesmies

Murr and Miesmies


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Edith Podhovnik (September 15, 2014). Meow the 27th – Literary Cats. Meow Factor. Retrieved February 15, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/rdpz


Edith Podhovnik

a linguist researching language #purrieties and #meowlogism-s •alumna of SwanseaUni • loves cats • writes about cats • author of the book "Purrieties of Language. How We Talk about Cats Online

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  1. 19/02/2015

    […] Literary cats have long been part of human culture. In other words, cat content already existed long before the advent of the internet. In her scholarly article “Devils, Demons, Familiar, Friends” (see also the section Cats on the Net of this blog), Maria Nikolajeva traces the history of cats in literature and looks back at different periods in time. […]

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