Curious Cats and Fantastical Felines: Cats in Folklore, Myth and Legend by Willow Winsham

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

There are a lot of books out there about the folklore surrounding cats. I may even own one or ten myself. So I will confess I wasn’t too excited about seeing another one, but I thought I would give it a shot. At worst, it would be a rehash of things I’ve already read, but maybe there would be something new.

The book exceeded expectations.  Part of this is the tone, which is informative, friendly, entertaining, and seems authoritative. As expected, there were some things I knew already, but often with a fresh take. Puss in Boots is presented as Constantino and his Cat, with some slight changes in the story.  Most of the information took things I knew but gave more information or presented in a different light.  For example, the Yule Cat:  Winsham takes a deeper dive into the history, explaining that it may be of more recent vintage as the first printed reference was 1862 and may have arisen from a misunderstanding of a figure of speech.  Another example that hit home was the “patron saint of cats.” St. Gertrude is generally cited in that role, but again that may be a modern interpretation as the earliest found record linking her with cats only dates to the 1980s.

The book also mentions superstitions, sayings, and historical cats, such as Jenny the Titanic cat or Unsinkable Sam, the cat who is credited with surviving three different sinkings during World War II. Again, Winsham gently questions the veracity of the accounts but doesn’t spoil the story for those who want to believe.

There’s a whole section on cat gods and goddesses, again covering the familiar (Bast and Freya’s chariot cats) and the less familiar like the Aztec jaguar god Tezcatlipoca or the Hindu Narasimha.

One reason I like this book so much is that the author isn’t just regurgitating tales, but has put in research behind the reports.  I much prefer that to the simplistic retellings that sound as if they have just been gleaned from social media.  I like more substance to my tales.  Knowing that something isn’t an ancient tale but a modern take doesn’t ruin it for me in the slightest; in fact, it makes me feel much more informed. In several cases, I had already had some misgivings about the cat story, and it was nice to know my skepticism was valid. It’s handled in a low key way, so if you want to hang on to St. Gertrude you can—or you can substitute St. Jerome and his lion as the patron saint. 

I did learn new things, such as that cats are a symbol of spring in Russia and that March is often referred to as Cat Month.  There’s a Day of the Hermitage Cat, celebrated since 1998, that honors the cats who live and guard the Hermitage Museum. 

I was also enticed by the illustrations. The book has some stunning colored woodcuts that absolutely delighted me.  The artist, Joanna Lisoweic, has produced some amazing work.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book to the point that I will buy my own copy.