Catland by Kathryn Hughes (Hardback)

£22.00
Available
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9780008365103
Published:
25 Apr 2024
Format:
Hardback
Number of pages:
336 pages
Dimensions:
240x159x40mm
Weight:
0.680kgs
Author:
'Part-biography, part-social history, Catland is its own breed of historical investigation' Amanda Foreman Some called it a craze. To others it was a cult. Join prize-winning historian Kathryn Hughes to discover how Britain fell in love with cats and ushered in a new era.

'Part-biography, part-social history, Catland is its own breed of historical investigation' Amanda Foreman

Some called it a craze. To others it was a cult. Join prize-winning historian Kathryn Hughes to discover how Britain fell in love with cats and ushered in a new era.

'He invented a whole cat world' declared H. G. Wells of Louis Wain, the Edwardian artist whose anthropomorphic kittens made him a household name. His drawings were irresistible but Catland was more than the creation of one eccentric imagination. It was an attitude - a way of being in society while discreetly refusing to follow its rules.

As cat capitalism boomed in the spectacular Edwardian age, prized animals changed hands for hundreds of pounds and a new industry sprung up to cater for their every need. Cats were no longer basement-dwelling pest-controllers, but stylish cultural subversives, more likely to flaunt a magnificent ruff and a pedigree from Persia. Wherever you found old conventions breaking down, there was a cat at the centre of the storm.

Whether they were flying aeroplanes, sipping champagne or arguing about politics, Wain's feline cast offered a sly take on the restless and risky culture of the post-Victorian world. No-one experienced these uncertainties more acutely than Wain himself, confined to a mental asylum while creating his most iconic work. Catland is a fascinating and fabulous unravelling of our obsession with cats, and the man dedicated to chronicling them.

'Brilliantly researched and unforgettable' Miranda Seymour

'A perfect gift for cat lovers, art lovers, and readers of all persuasions' Elaine Showalter

'Consistently fascinating … A tremendous literary feat' Kirkus

About the Author: Kathryn Hughes is the prize-winning author of four previous books on Victorian social history, including a biography of Mrs Beeton which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and adapted for the BBC. She regularly writers for the Guardian, the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. Kathryn is currently Professor Emerita at the University of East Anglia, and a Fellow of both the Royal Literary Society and the Royal Historical Society.

More Information
Number of pages 336

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