Famous Cat Loving Authors and Pet Names
T.S. Eliot, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway - Biggest Cat Lovers
Sep 3, 2009
Many authors discover that cats, quiet and independent, make good writing companions, Some authors such as Raymond Chandler had one special pet, while other famous writers liked cats so well that they had a whole menagerie.
The Biggest Cat Lovers – Eliot, Twain and Hemingway
The biggest literary cat lover was poet T.S. Eliot, whose volume of light verse “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” inspired Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Broadway musical Cats. Among Eliot’s many feline friends were Tantomile, Noily Prat, Wiscus, Pettipaws, and George Pushdragon.
Mark Twain was also big a cat fancier who adored kittens. “If man could be crossed with the cat,” he once wrote, “it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." Among his pets were Appolinaris, Beelzebub, Blather Skite, Buffalo Bill, Satan, Sin, Sour Mash, Tammary, and Zoraster.
Ernest Hemingway kept more than 30 cats. Many of his cats had six toes, and their descendants around the area where he lived are called “Hemingway cats.” Among his brood were such names as Alley Cat, Boise, Crazy Christian, Dillinger, Ecstasy, F. Puss, Friendless Brother, Furhouse, Pilar, Skunk, Thrister, and Whitehead Willy.
Taki, Master's Cat, and Calvin-Feline Helpers
Every author who owns a cat knows they can be a big help and a lot of company when it comes to the solitary business of writing. Of course, a cat’s idea of helping is often to sit on the manuscript their owner is trying to revise, or chewing up finished copy. Here are some writers who had furry, four-legged companions in their study to inspire their prose.
Raymond Chandler, the author of the Philip Marlowe private eye novels, had a cat who he called his “secretary.” He talked to his black Persian named Taki as if she were human. Apparently, Taki’s main job was to sit on his manuscripts as he attempted to revise them. Doubt she was much help, but she kept him company while he wrote.
Charles Dicken’s cat Wilamena contributed to his literary efforts by having a litter of kittens in his study. He tried not to get too fond of them, but wound up keeping one female kitten, who became known as “Master’s Cat.” She kept him company while he wrote, and to get his attention would snuff out his reading candle.
Harriet Beecher-Stowe had a Maltese cat named Calvin who showed up at the doorstep one day and soon took over the house. Her husband’s name was also Calvin. Calvin the cat often perched on her shoulders when she wrote.
More Authors with Special Cat Pets
Alexander Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Cristo had a cat named Mysouff . Mysouff had an uncanny perception of time, and would meet his master at a certain spot every day to accompany him home from work. He also owned cats named Mysouff 11 and Le Doctuer.
Though Edgar Allen Poe’s fictional cats were the very essence of evil, he was quite fond of his own tortoiseshell, Catarina, who served as an inspiration for his short story ‘The Black Cat.’
Author William S. Burroughs lived with several cats. And Samuel Johnston, publisher of the dictionary, had a cat named Hodge who he spoiled with fancy treats, including oysters.
Sources:
Moore, Arden, Sandra Choron and Harry Choron. Planet Cat: a Cat-alog. Wilmington, MA: Mariner Books, 2007.
ISBN 0618812598
Schnakenberg, Robert. Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told you about Famous Novelists, Poets and Playwrights. Philidelphia, PA: Quirk Books, 2008.
ISBN 9781594742881
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