From sixteenth-century cabinets of wonders to contemporary animal art; The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing examines the cultural and poetic history of preserving animals in lively postures. But why would anyone want to preserve an animal; and what is this animal-thing now? Rachel Poliquin suggests that taxidermy is entwined with the enduring human longing to find meaning with and within the natural world. Her study draws out the longings at the heart of taxidermymdash;the longing for wonder; beauty; spectacle; order; narrative; allegory; and remembrance. In so doing; The Breathless Zoo explores the animal spectacles desired by particular communities; human assumptions of superiority; the yearnings for hidden truths within animal form; and the loneliness and longing that haunt our strange human existence; being both within and apart from nature.
#3492134 in eBooks 2003-09-11 2003-09-11File Name: B00ARF2QB4
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Touching stories with amazing photographs!By Victoria J. Mejia-GeweMy wonderful two dogs gave me this book for my birthday; and each night before bed; my husband and I read a couple chapters to give us something special to put in our minds before we fell asleep. We were disappointed when the book was over!I cannot praise this book enough! The stories are sweet without being sappy; fun without being contrived. But what really makes this book special are the amazing photographs of the animal friends together. They are sharp; beautiful; and so appealing that I can stare at them for a very long time.I also appreciate that the stories are generally about animals who became friends by their own choice rather than being made to become friends by humans who forced them to mix. Even when introduced by humans; usually because they were rescued as babies and needed another young friend to learn to socialize; they continued to choose to remain friends when offered the chance to move on in life.All the stories are amazing; so its hard to select ones to highlight here; but Ill describe four of my favorites. I love the story of the African tortoise who decided that the perfect place for himself was at the bottom of the pile of ten great Dane puppies and who even ran with them (amazingly even outpacing some!); played with them; and ate the puppy mush with them!There are also two particularly wonderful stories of animals who saved the life of others of another breed. A litter of kittens were at risk of dying because they wouldnt take a bottle after being bereft of their mother. So the female dog of the house noticed them and picked them up one by one by the nape of the neck in the same way she had done with her own puppies a year and a half earlier; carrying them to her own dog bed. And even though she hadnt had puppies in so long; her maternal instincts and the kittens need inspired her to lactate; producing milk to feed the babies! How special!The other story that I found so inspiring was the love between a donkey and a sheep. After they had been close for a while; a pit bull attacked the sheep; whom the owner saw dragging the dog as it hung onto the sheeps neck. She tried with no success to beat the dog with a pipe when she heard a scream of rage; and the donkey ran into the fray with no hesitation about its own safety and attacked the pit bull. The three animals struggled for quite some time; but the donkey ultimately saved the life of its sheep friend and remained by the side of the sheep as it spent a year recuperating; the most loyal of friends. This story was so special that it brought tears to my eyes!And to conclude with a whole lot of fun; if for nothing else; you ought to read this book just to learn about the swan who fell deeply in love with a plastic swan boat! They even put the two together in the zoo to weather the winter together; but when they tried to introduce the swan (with its boat of course!) to other swans; yet another swan was smitten by the boat!This book was so great that I have now ordered the authors first book; and I also bought a copy of this book to send to my favorite animal-loving family for them to enjoy together; which I understand they are doing.My dogs showed very good taste in selecting an appropriate birthday present for me! Thank you; Liberty and Teddy Bear; for many evenings of joy with this book!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very Entertaining and Charming BookBy KarenI enjoyed this book and read it quickly. I do recommend it for people who love animals. It proves that people can learn a lot from animals if we dont think of them as a lesser creation.The only really bad thing was that there were 2 or 3 chapters in which several paragraphs of each chapter were repeated word-for-word within the chapter. It was annoying. Only one chapter had a repeat set of paragraphs near the end; the chapter ended; and it seemed like it was incomplete.21 of 22 people found the following review helpful. great read !By ToniThis is a touching book. It gives you a perspective on life and love. If only humans could interact with such blindness to shape; color and size and live a life of such compassion. Great book