| 词条 | Beware the Cat |
| 释义 |
Publication historyThe work languished unpublished after 1553, due to the change in the political climate under Mary Tudor, but it was published, perhaps with some revision, in 1561 in an edition suppressed by the state, now lost. Another edition appeared in 1570 now only known via a Victorian era transcript, apart from four pages which still exist and another in 1584. The work was dedicated to the actor John Young. The 1570 quarto edition is entitled: A MARVELOVS hystory intitulede, Beware the Cat. Conteynyng diuerse wounderfull and incredible matters. Uery pleasant and mery to read. On publication in its 1570 edition it was subject to an anonymous poetic riposte of 56 lines, "A shorte Answere to the boke called: Beware the Cat", which rebukes the author for making fun of the narrator Master Gregory Streamer (who is not otherwise known to have really existed). The novel survived the centuries, and was published in Typographical Antiquities (1786) as a fine example of black-letter printing. It was also known in mid-Victorian times, since it was published by the Chetham Society in their volume Remains, Historical & Literary (1860). It received almost no attention from literary scholars, although William P. Holden produced an obscure edition in the original archaic English, issued from Connecticut College in 1963. A full scholarly edition only appeared in 1988 (Ringler and Flachmann), after which some further scholarly papers appeared. The text of some versions is accompanied by paratextual notes by the alleged author/narrator, which run down the page, and which at key plot points attempts to explicate the author's opinions on women's roles in society, the practice of magic, and cats. PlotThere is an anti-Catholic undercurrent in the plot (with one later scholar claiming that the "cats" symbolised "Catholics")[2]{{Better source|reason=Citation is blog post at a general blog about cats.|date=February 2018}}, but many of the allusions are now lost and many such aspects of the book may not even be noticed by modern readers. The initial setting is in London in the reign of Edward VI. The story is framed by the oration of an embedded first-person narrator on a cold Christmas night, one Master Streamer, who recounts a complex cycle of interlinked stories to two of his friends as they share his bed. These stories feature a version of "The King of the Cats", an Irish werewolf, the Grimalkin, and an underworld society of talking cats, among several other horror and magical/supernatural elements such as an ancient book of forbidden lore and magic potions. The use of dialogue is highly advanced for the time, the characters are clearly drawn, and the description of the London streets is vivid (such as a unique account of a Tudor printing house and its yard at Aldersgate). The subtlety of the anti-Catholic sentiment also sets it apart as a knowing piece of effective propaganda. The first two sections are essentially horror stories, and the book is then lightened with a third and more comedic section. In its structure the book resembles the ring composition method found in fairy tales and preliterate storytelling. A later (1584) edition of the text included a poem entitled 'T.K To the Reader' which makes more overt the anti-Catholic sentiments. This possibly gave that particular version of the text a more political reading than Baldwin had originally intended.[3] AdaptationsAn abridged and rewritten version in modern English by David Haden, was published in his Tales of Lovecraftian Cats (2010) along with Haden's adaptations of public domain horror stories by other authors. Further reading
References1. ^Ringler, William A. and Michael Flachmann eds. "Preface." Beware the Cat. San Marino: Huntington Library, 1988. 2. ^{{Cite news|url=http://www.thegreatcat.org/cats-early-modern-period-literature-beware-cat-1570/|title=Cats in Early Modern Period Literature - Beware the Cat 1570|date=2013-09-13|work=The Great Cat|access-date=2017-11-28|language=en-US}} 3. ^{{Cite web | url=http://www.presscom.co.uk/halliwell/baldwin/baldwin_1584.html | title=William Baldwin (or G.B.): 'Beware the Cat' (1584), complete text}} External links
9 : 1561 books|1560s novels|English novels|British horror novels|Satirical novels|Novels about animals|Novels set in the 16th century|Novels set in London|Novels set in Tudor England |
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