Another Insane Devotion: On the Love of Cats and Persons

Summary

From “a genuine American Dostoevsky” (Washington Post), a dazzling, funny, and bittersweet exploration ofthe mysteries of relationship—both human and animal

When his favorite cat Biscuit goes missing, PeterTrachtenberg sets out to find her. The journey takes him seven hundred milesand many years into his past—into the history of his relationships with catsand the history of his relationship with his wife F., who may herself be on theverge of disappearing. What ensues is a work that recalls travel narrativesfrom The Incredible Journey to W. G.Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn.Trachtenberg ponders the mysteries of feline intelligence (why do cats scoreworse on some tests than pigeons?), the origins of their domestication, andtheir terrible treatment during the Middle Ages. He also looks at the riddle ofwhy any of us loves whom we love and all the unforeseen places to which thatdevotion leads us.