A misc congeries
Pet cemeteries reprised: [O]wners of all kinds of domestic animals have become more likely to believe in a pet afterlife: A new analysis published in the journal Antiquity, examining the history of pet cemeteries in Newcastle and London over 100 years from 1881, found an increase in the proportion of graves that reference the animals’ immortal souls.
And in Dept, Wot Abaht Bestiality, we observe that there is a book just out on the subject Loving Animals On Bestiality, Zoophilia and Post-Human Love by Joanna Bourke, a srs historian.
An unusual experiment in inanimate point of view - lately encountered via Project Gutenberg: THE ADVENTURES OF A PINCUSHION. DESIGNED CHIEFLY For the use of Young Ladies. narrated by the eponymous pincushion: The pointed satire of ridicule, which would perhaps have given a zest to those scenes in which the subject of these pages was engaged, was not, in the opinion of the writer, at all proper for those readers for whom it was solely designed: to exhibit their superiors in a ridiculous view, is not the proper method to engage the youthful mind to respect: to represent their equals as the objects of contemptuous mirth, is by no means favourable to the interest of good-nature: and to treat the characters of their inferiors with levity, the Author thought was inconsistent with the sacred rights of humanity. Circumscribed therefore to the narrow boundaries of simple narrative, it has been the design of the following pages, carefully to avoid exciting any wrong impression, and, by sometimes blending instruction and amusement, to make it the more easily retained.
To multiply incidents in these circumstances, was a very difficult task, especially, as it was wished to make them arise naturally from the subject; and not obtrude unnecessarily without any seeming cause to produce them. The avidity with which children peruse books of entertainment, is a proof how much publications proper for their attention are required. Though the sentiments should be suited to their simplicity, they ought to be expressed with propriety; since a taste for elegance may be insensibly acquired; and we should always endeavour to present them with proper models of imitation. Conscious of the difficulty of the undertaking, the Author of these adventures will gladly have declined the task, in the expectation of such a work’s engaging the attention of those, whose genius were more equal to its accomplishment. With the hope, therefore, of inspiring others to excel the example, it is now submitted to the world “with all its imperfections on its head,” trusting for a candid reception to the motive which first suggested the idea: That of presenting the juvenile reader with a a few pages which should be innocent of corrupting, if they did not amuse.
Published c. 1783 by the prolific writer of works for the improvement of children, Mary Ann Kilner.
Somebody of whom we feel Mrs Kilner would not have approved: but this book sounds fascinating: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers was a mutually demanding collaboration. Vivian Gornick reviews a book on letters to Simone from her readership: Through the letters of those who wrote to her one can deduce the remarkable amount of time Beauvoir must have spent trying to persuade a multitude of ordinary people that it was not only their right but their obligation to gain inner freedom by following the dictates of everyday self-discovery. For this and this alone she, deservedly, became the incarnation of a cultural icon.
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