Furry Classics

[JM1]

Hi Everyone

Over on [adjective][species], I recently published an article looking at why so many furry cultural reference points are childish. I don’t mean that in a negative way—it’s intended to be a positive exploration in our community. The article is here http://adjectivespecies.com/2014/01/06/king-crow-and-other-stories/.

It was inspired, in part by Huskyteer’s recent article for Claw & Quill, as well as the nine literary classics listed here at FWG. H makes the point that there is a wealth of anthropomorphics over in the children’s section, and the FWG list is also dominated by children’s books.

I’m curious as to your own thoughts, and also have a question: what books would you add, if any, to a list of Furry Literary Classics?

[Huskyteer]

Hi, JM!

I think that books with anthropomorphic characters, aimed at adults, have a real struggle on their hands, because anything with talking animals in is perceived as ‘for kids’. It’s the same with animated movies, to an extent. So there’s just more furry kidlit out there.

I also suspect most of us read more as children - we have more opportunities (when was the last time I, as an adult, spent an entire afternoon with a book?) and books are shorter. More books get read, so children’s books are more likely to have been read, so more people can join a discussion about them (lowest common denominators, as you said).

Furry literary classics? Well, the books that probably influenced my own choice of fursona were, of course, The Call of the Wild and White Fang. These weren’t originally meant for children, but tend to migrate towards those shelves in modern libraries - as does Paul Gallico’s Jennie, about a boy who turns into a cat and is helped by the eponymous kitty to behave like one.

And I know I go on and on about Kirsten Bakis’s Lives of the Monster Dogs (for grown-ups) but I really do love it to bits.