Dog Love [Hardcover]

Marjorie Garber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 1996

Explains how dogs bring out the humanity in people by dog owners' willingness to let themselves experience and express extreme sorrow and deep love in the presence of beloved canines. 25,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Marjorie Garber, the director of the Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Harvard University, has produced a book that is very much in the tradition of another recent paean to canines, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' The Hidden Life of Dogs. Thomas' book, however, somehow failed to inform us that a 1958 TV series pilot promisingly named "Superpup" narrowly missed making it to the small screen. Or that the world "puppy" comes from the French poupee, meaning "doll." Or a host of other fascinating, and not-so-fascinating, dog lore served up by Garber. When Garber writes about the intimate, supra-verbal bond that can develop between dogs and their masters, she tells us engagingly what we already sense. When she relates anecdotes of notable courage and loyalty in dogs, she describes what most dog owners already know. And when she argues that the love and loyalty of dogs towards their human masters can serve as a model for a more just and compassionate human society, well, you just can't help but want to go along with her.

From Publishers Weekly

Wise and witty, Garber (Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life), trains her formidable interpretative gifts on a vastly popular subject: dogs. Unlike such dog litterateurs as Elizabeth Marshall Thomas or Vicki Hearne, however, she observes not dogs themselves but their prominence in American culture. Examining everything from portrayals of dogs in books and films to people who report having had sex with dogs, she posits that our society relies on dogs to bring out its humanity. The argument is not especially original, but no matter: she unfolds it with such agility and imagination as to compel attention. Whether she is discussing the barking dog at the O.J. Simpson trial or offering a Lacanian analysis of Virginia Woolf's book Flush (described as "a tongue-in-jowl reimagining of the life of Elizabeth Barret Browning's beloved spaniel"), she demonstrates a keen and playful ear. There is an occasional odor of the graduate seminar ("Is caninophilia an erotics of dominance?"), but on the whole the prose is frisky and Garber's earnestness doesn't stand in the way of a light tone. Casual readers will also be encouraged by the book's organization into chapters built of brief, discrete segments ideal for browsing. Of recent dog books, this is easily the pick of the litter. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC, QPB, Good Cook and Country Home & Garden alternates.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Printing edition (October 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068481871X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684818719
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,697,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very different, April 16, 1999

By 

Jasmine Guha "Jassa" (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Love (Paperback)

I rather enjoyed this book. No, it definitely is not another cutesy dog book. Rather it is more of an academic study of the relationship between man and dog. There is a chapter on Bestiality which may offend some people, but I personally was pleased to see someone have the courage to deal with this 'forbidden' subject.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, June 3, 2011

By 

Furry wolf (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dog Love (Paperback)

This was an interesting book that has a lot going for it, of particular interest to me was the section on "bestiality," I wanted to see how the author treated this subject.
The portion on bestiality begins around page 145 in the chapter "sex and the single dog" by including some words from Midas Dekker's, author of "Dearest Pet," and the Kinsey studies have also been included in brief in this chapter.
References to the Greek mythology includes women with bears, apes, bulls, goats, horses, ponies, wolves, snakes and more.
It goes on to include more of the findings.
Other than to touch somewhat briefly on this topic, it goes into dog loss, dog law, breeding and much more.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Looks good but. . ., December 24, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Dog Love (Hardcover)

This book looks like it has potential, but be aware that there's a short chapter on bestiality. It's very academic and well done, but I wouldn't give it as a gift to anybody even remotely prudish.