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A review by mafiabadgers
Beware the Cat: The First English Novel by William A. Ringler Jr., Michael Flachmann, William Baldwin
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First read 01/2025, available to borrow from the Internet Archive here.
The subtitle proudly proclaims it to be "The First English Novel": Ringler and Flachmann neglect to mention that (for those who care about such things) by length it might be better categorised as a novelette, and by content perhaps as a romance, but since I'm not a literary historian I'm relieved to say I don't have to care very much about these things.
The introduction is excellent, providing: a brief history of English prose fiction; what information about Baldwin there is; an overview of the religious tensions that characterised England in the mid-sixteenth century (very useful, as Baldwin was one of those Protestants, I'm afraid), and a pre-emptive analysis of the text, which did a great deal to help me appreciate it.
'Beware the Cat' itself takes a while to really get going, so its value in the first half comes mostly from admiring its construction. It's framed as Baldwin's recounting of a long talk by a Master Streamer, who in turn recounts various tales told to him about whether or not animals are sapient, then some of his own misadventures involving alchemy, and then an account of Mouse-slayer's life, as told by the cat herself. It's a lot of layers of narrative to juggle, but it's handled well. Baldwin's marginalia offer a rough summary, very useful to someone trying to find a particular passage, but they often take on a snide tone as he comment's on Streamer's story, or drive home the critique of Catholicism. Given that Master Streamer is established as a fellow Protestant, one might expect Baldwin to fill him with noble virtues, but instead he's a bit of an idiot; for a story that's willing to slag off Catholics in the margins, it's surprising how preachy it isn't.
Towards the end, though, with Mouse-slayer's narrative, it really hits its stride, so although some points had been a bit of a slog I was actually quite sorry to see it end. Some of the episodes she narrates even had me laughing out loud. Much like the gothic feline murder mystery novel Felidae, the cat is ultimately positioned as a bringer of justice, even as they have their own set of morals and customs. Including sexual ones. Urban fantasy authors have ever been a horny bunch, it seems.
Afterwards, there are reasonably extensive notes on the text. I didn't realise they were there until I finished, which was annoying; I would really have liked to have had them alongside. The book rounds off with two appendices: the first, 'A History of Longer Fictional Prose Narratives in England to 1558', was interesting enough, but the second, 'Plot Summaries of Longer Fictional Prose Narratives in English to 1558', strikes me as the 1980s equivalent of Wikipedia synopses. Useful to undergrads trying to pick a dissertation topic, perhaps, but tiresome to read through. Still, I particularly like the sound of A merye Jest of a man that was called Howleglas.
The subtitle proudly proclaims it to be "The First English Novel": Ringler and Flachmann neglect to mention that (for those who care about such things) by length it might be better categorised as a novelette, and by content perhaps as a romance, but since I'm not a literary historian I'm relieved to say I don't have to care very much about these things.
The introduction is excellent, providing: a brief history of English prose fiction; what information about Baldwin there is; an overview of the religious tensions that characterised England in the mid-sixteenth century (very useful, as Baldwin was one of those Protestants, I'm afraid), and a pre-emptive analysis of the text, which did a great deal to help me appreciate it.
'Beware the Cat' itself takes a while to really get going, so its value in the first half comes mostly from admiring its construction. It's framed as Baldwin's recounting of a long talk by a Master Streamer, who in turn recounts various tales told to him about whether or not animals are sapient, then some of his own misadventures involving alchemy, and then an account of Mouse-slayer's life, as told by the cat herself. It's a lot of layers of narrative to juggle, but it's handled well. Baldwin's marginalia offer a rough summary, very useful to someone trying to find a particular passage, but they often take on a snide tone as he comment's on Streamer's story, or drive home the critique of Catholicism. Given that Master Streamer is established as a fellow Protestant, one might expect Baldwin to fill him with noble virtues, but instead he's a bit of an idiot; for a story that's willing to slag off Catholics in the margins, it's surprising how preachy it isn't.
Towards the end, though, with Mouse-slayer's narrative, it really hits its stride, so although some points had been a bit of a slog I was actually quite sorry to see it end. Some of the episodes she narrates even had me laughing out loud. Much like the gothic feline murder mystery novel Felidae, the cat is ultimately positioned as a bringer of justice, even as they have their own set of morals and customs. Including sexual ones. Urban fantasy authors have ever been a horny bunch, it seems.
Afterwards, there are reasonably extensive notes on the text. I didn't realise they were there until I finished, which was annoying; I would really have liked to have had them alongside. The book rounds off with two appendices: the first, 'A History of Longer Fictional Prose Narratives in England to 1558', was interesting enough, but the second, 'Plot Summaries of Longer Fictional Prose Narratives in English to 1558', strikes me as the 1980s equivalent of Wikipedia synopses. Useful to undergrads trying to pick a dissertation topic, perhaps, but tiresome to read through. Still, I particularly like the sound of A merye Jest of a man that was called Howleglas.