Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania

— —

Kathryn Hughes (Professor of Life Writing, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia)

Catland

Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania

Kathryn Hughes (Professor of Life Writing, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia)

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English

Johns Hopkins University Press
30 July 2024

Art & Architecture; The Arts: General & Reference; Biography: general; History of the Americas

How cat mania exploded in the early twentieth century, transforming cats from pests into beloved pets.

In 1900, Britain and America were in the grip of a cat craze. An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had now become an object of pride and deep affection. From presidential and royal families who imported exotic breeds to working-class men competing for cash prizes for the fattest tabby, people became enthralled to the once-humble cat. Multiple industries sprang up to feed this new obsession, selling everything from veterinary services to leather bootees via dedicated cat magazines. Cats themselves were now traded for increasingly large sums of money, bolstered by elaborate pedigrees that claimed noble ancestry and promised aesthetic distinction.

In Catland, Kathryn Hughes chronicles the cat craze of the early twentieth century through the life and career of Louis Wain. Wain's anthropomorphic drawings of cats in top hats falling in love, sipping champagne, golfing, driving cars, and piloting planes are some of the most instantly recognizable images from the era. His round-faced fluffy characters established the prototype for the modern cat, which cat ""fanciers"" were busily trying to achieve using their newfound knowledge of the latest scientific breeding techniques. Despite being a household name, Wain endured multiple bankruptcies and mental breakdowns, spending his last fifteen years in an asylum, drawing abstract and multicolored felines. But it was his ubiquitous anthropomorphic cats that helped usher the formerly reviled creatures into homes across Europe.

Beautifully illustrated and based on new archival findings about Wain's life, the wider cat fancy, and the media frenzy it created, Catland chronicles the fascinating history of how the modern cat emerged.

By: Kathryn Hughes (Professor of Life Writing School of Literature Drama and Creative Writing University of East Anglia)
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 35mm
Weight: 748g
ISBN: 9781421448145
ISBN 10: 1421448149
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 30 July 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

"1. Welcome to Catland 2. Early Terrors 3. The Beforetimes 4. Maternal Material 5. Thinking with Cats 6. It Wasn't Milk 7. Show Time 8. About Town 9. Ca-Doe-Mee 10. Court in the Act 11. Owls and Pussycats: Queer Lives in Catland 12. Odd Fish 13. Cats for Pleasure and Profit 14. Hitched 15. Caterwauling 16. Enter Peter 17. ""She Smells of Fish"" 18. Cat Man 19. Roundheads and Cavaliers 20. Cat Kin 21. The End of Everything 22. Catland-on-Sea 23. Pussies Galore 24. A Chat with Mr. Louis Wain 25. ""Yellow Peril"" 26. A Man Perpetually Laughing 27. A Cat May Look at a Princess 28. Metaphysics and Madness 29. Two Tales 30. Crossed Wires 31. Cat Burglar 32. Cat Man in the New World 33. Sisters Under the Cat Skin 34. Speed Demon 35. Cat Catcher 36. Home Front in Catland 37. Cats Under Canvas 38. Catland at the Kinema 39. Felix Turns the Tide 40. The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere 41. Scaredy-Cats 42. A Little Man Drawing Cats 43. Hardy's Heart 44. Bedlam 45. The Cat's Miaow 46. Months in the Country 47. Stuffed Cats 48. Wallpaper 49. The Myth of the Disintegrating Cat 50. On Margate Sands Sources and Resources Illustration Credits Acknowledgments Index"

Kathryn Hughes is emerita professor of life writing at the University of East Anglia and a literary critic for The Guardian. She is the author of Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum and George Eliot: The Last Victorian.

Reviews for Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania

Hughes narrates her invigorating wealth of information in a clever prose style. It makes for a unique and amusing window onto turn-of-the-20th-century art and culture. —Publishers Weekly A tremendous literary feat in which we learn about Victorian sociology through the work of a remarkably unique artist. —Kirkus Reviews (starred) Through humour, elegance and sheer knowledge, Hughes builds something remarkable. —Literary Review