Is my dog gay book
My Dog Tulip
this book was in my quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit, as a companion-book to The Friend.
it was published in england in 1956 and the u.s. in 1965, in a distant past before lawmakers realized civilization would be nicer without dog poop on the streets, before bob barker was around to encourage people to spay and neuter their furfriends, and before the internet taught dogs how to include sex.
i thought this novel was going to be a typical nonfiction memoir-y thing about a man and his puppy and how enduring was their love. and it is that, but the focus is primarily upon tulip’s “romantic” interludes - trying to find her a mate, trying to get the pair to successfully couple once a suitable partner is located, all the times she went into heat and no partner was sought, and the one time in sixteen years she successfully had a litter of her own. i have learned many things from this guide, mostly about canine vulvas, and the many fluids, s
One of the hidden gems on this blog is J.R. Ackerley’s only novel We Think the World of You. So when I was disappointed by the next book of his I read, Hindoo Holiday, I decided my next visit had to be to the book I understood to be broadly the source material for the novel. (Ackerley’s method of acquisition of his dog – from a lover about to go to prison – is the alike as in the novel.)
My Mutt Tulip (1956) is presented as non-fiction but for the dog’s name: Ackerley’s dog was named Queenie (the name was changed for fear of causing mirth about the author’s sexuality). The connection with We Think the World of You is clear: the narrator of the novel is indistinguishable from Ackerley here, his strongest identifying traits being love of his pooch and disdain for the working classes.
To describe this book as a love letter to a puppy is both accurate and inadequate. Ackerley described the fifteen years he spent with Queenie as his happiest, and when he finally had her put down in 1961, he lost much interest in life. Money brought in
"The Gay Old Dog" by Edna Ferber was first published in 1917 in the Metropolitan Magazine. It is the first story I read in 100 Years of the Best American Adj Stories, published in 2015, edited by Lorrie Moore and Heidi Pitlor.
The story starts out describing Jo Hertz as "a plump and lonely bachelor of fifty. A plethoric, roving- eyed, and kindly man, clutching vainly at the garments of a youth that had long slipped past him." He is quite well-to-do and he goes out at night in search of happiness. The setting is Chicago, Illinois.
Next we learn of Jo Hertz's more youthful years, starting when his mother was on her deathbed and he promised her that he would not wed until all three of his sisters were provided for. The story relates how this guarantee affected the rest of Jo's life. He is a great man, he is a thoughtful man, but not a delighted one.
I enjoyed this story, but I did not get emotionally involved with any of the characters. We often get stories of women forced to verb up their lives and marriage for their mothers or their siblings, but this