5HC: Puss in Boots

William H. Ansley · 12 Jun 1998, 11:06 · from urth-v0013.mbox · original

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From: "William H. Ansley" <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) 5HC: Puss in Boots
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 11:06:55
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>Here's my stab at the "Puss in Boots" passage.  I can't explain it
>completely, but I have a few comments (which may strike everyone else as
>obvious).
>
>I'll quote the passage first, because it's short:
>
>   _Later._ For a moment I thought I saw my cat flying like a shadow in
>the dark, and I wondered if she were really dead, though I broke her neck.
>The day before I found the burial cave for him, she brought me a little
>animal and laid it at my feet.  I told her that she was a good cat and
>could eat it herself, but she only said, "My master, the Marquis of
>Carabas, sends you greetings."  And disappeared again.  The little animal
>had a pointed snout and round ears, but its teeth were the even, biting
>teeth of a human being, and it smiled in its agony.

To me, at least, the little animal is obviously Mickey Mouse (or possible
one of the other, similar cartoon mice with pointed snouts, round ears and
square human teeth). Wolfe definitely has Mickey on his mind from time to
time; witness the story "Three Fingers" in _The Island of Doctor Death and
Other Stories and Other Stories_.

So, I think this passage is, more or less completely, a joke. Wolfe has
been known to joke. In fact, in some essay I can't find right now he says
something to the effect that his sense of humor makes women faint and
strong men cry. And I think it's true--at least the last part.

William Ansley

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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