The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

August 28, 2015

August 28, 1924

Janet Frame, (August 28, 1924 to January 29, 2004)  according to the blurb at google books:

.... is New Zealand's most internationally acclaimed and distinguished author. ...... In 1983 she was awarded a CBE for services to literature, and in 1990 was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the country's highestcivil honour. In her lifetime Janet Frame published eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, achildren's book and three volumes of autobiography. Another novel, a book of poetry, a compilation of selected stories and a non-fiction collection have since been published posthumously .....

Janet Frame's autobiographical volumes were made into a film by Jane Campion, "An Angel At My Table." Frame's life throws a vivid glare on the idea of fiction.

Frame wrote " The Cat of Habit":

The cat of habit
knows the place by heart
or at least by space, scent, direction, bulk,
by shadow and light
moonlight starlight sunlight
and where to nest in each
with a three-focussed shut eye
on who or what's coming and going
on the earth and in the sky
and distantly, not present, the rays of inkling
shining within the furred skull.


...... This is the first stanza, and the whole poem was featured in the Cat Museum of San Francisco.

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