The Cat Inside [Paperback]

William S. Burroughs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2002

Best known for the wild, phantasmagoric satire of works like Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs reveals another, gentler side in The Cat Inside. Originally published as a limited-edition volume, this moving and witty discourse on cats combines deadpan routines and dream passages with a heartwarming account of Burroughs's unexpected friendships with the many cats he has known. It is also a meditation on the long, mysterious relationship between cats and their human hosts, which Burroughs traces back to the Egyptian cult of the "animal other." With its street sense and whiplash prose, The Cat Inside is a genuine revelation for Burroughs fans and cat lovers alike.

"The Cat Inside is about how Burroughs's contact with cats put him in touch with himself. Cats have changed his dreams; they are psychic guides who have allowed his wounded inner child to come out." (Harper's Bazaar)

"Burroughs's book is about cats the way The Grapes of Wrath is about fruit. . . . These are haunting images, from dreams, memory and present day, ranging from unabashed affection to outrage and indignation." (Los Angeles Times)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

The septuagenarian beatnik would seem to be the least likely author of a cat book, but Burroughs has clearly mellowed some and here celebrates his favorite ``psychic companions.'' Full of sentimental anecdotes and bizarre pseudo-scholarly lore, his slim essay is, in his view, ``an allegory, in which the writer's past life is presented to him in a cat charade.'' Fans will indeed appreciate the references to beat legend, and the cats who witnessed those days in Tangier, Morocco, and Mexico City. The usual gang of suspects makes the briefest of cameos, from Allen Ginsberg to Jane Bowles. And then there are Burroughs's cats-- Ruski, Fletch, Horatio, Wimpy, et al.--none of whom does anything beyond acting like a cat. Of course, Burroughs adds some incoherent stuff about dogs (with their ``vilest coprographic perversions'') and about cats as natural enemies of the State. Lurid dreams of hybrids and mutants fill out a book also concerned with ``cuteness ratings.'' The hipster's (and hepcat's) answer to Cleveland Amory. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)-guru of the Beat Generation, controversial éminence grise of the international avant-garde, dark prophet, and blackest of black humor satirists-has a continuing influence rivaled by few post-World War II writers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142000256
• ISBN-13: 978-0142000250
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone and their "Cat Within", June 9, 2000

By 

Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cat Inside (Hardcover)

The Elder Statesman of the Beat Generation is best known for the fantastic creatures of his drug-induced fantasies and nightmares: the Reptiles and Mugwumps of "Naked Lunch", the ramora-like pseudo-human parasites of "Junkie", and others too loathesome to mention. In contrast, in this slim volume, William S. Burroughs introduces us to the real-life creatures who accompanied him throughout his tumultuous career and particularly during his old age. These are his numerous and beloved cats, with names like Calico Jane, Fletch, Rooski, Wimpy, and Ed. Any cat-person will identify with Burroughs' pleasure in the affection and antics of his feline friends and his heart-breaking grief in their loss. But it would be a mistake to label this book of recollections a "Warm & Fuzzy". Burroughs' affiliation with the Cat is on a quite archetypal level. He reveals a recurring sensation from his earliest childhood of cuddling a small, trusting, but long-unidentifiable creature, and to realize much later he was "cast in the role of the Guardian, to create and nurture a creature that is part cat, part human, and part something as yet unimaginable, which might result from a union that has not taken place for millions of years". This resembles the vaguely disturbing imagery of classic Burroughs, to be sure. But there comes to him a startling revelation "...and now the creature is clearly recognized as a cat spirit, a Familiar. I postulate that cats started as psychic companions, as Familiars, and have never deviated from this function." This is a shamanic departure from typical Burroughs or his contemporaries. But Bill's most "off-Beat" book will surely strike a chord with anyone who has -- or is! -- a cat Inside.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Senior writer/explorer develops awareness of cats., July 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cat Inside (Hardcover)

In his many years of travel and artistic and psychic exploration, Mr. Burroughs encountered a wide variety of mentalities. Whether or not they were comprehensible to the rest of us, he described them and commented on their apparent roles in the universe. When he finally settled outside an east Kansas college town, he gradually became strongly involved with those small, furry, almost-alien creatures we call cats. Why humans interact so deeply with some nonhuman species, and even how those species arose, are questions this small, poetic book considers. It is much more though, a record of a man's emotional interactions with some quite different types of mind and what they revealed to him. At the least, it may bring the reader to pause at the next encounter with a cat of the house or street, and carefully consider the reserved appraisal one receives from those clear eyes

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As my cat sits on my lap, March 29, 2002

By 

Lance K. Mertz "Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reader" (Kent, Washington) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cat Inside (Paperback)

From his exasperating need to be at the highest point in the room, to his function as a wrist rest while I type, my cat is a psychic companion. Loki is a classic "one-man-cat", though he will stray when I am not available. This book is so true on many levels, even the wild fantasies... Definitely one for the library.