Experiments in Computational Criticism #3: Charles Dickens and International Cat Day 2018

In honor of International Cat Day 2018 and Charles Dickens’s cat “Bob,” I spent some time today looking into references to cats in Charles Dickens’s novels. Despite Dickens’s presence on today’s definitive Mental Floss list of “11 Writers Who Really Loved Cats” (Sean Hutchinson, August 8, 2018, http://mentalfloss.com/article/49302/11-writers-who-really-loved-cats), a quick search of Dickens’s novels suggests that in his writing, Dickens was much more interested in dogs than in cats (for more on the making of these visualizations, see https://github.com/AnoffCobblah/DickensCats.)

This is particularly true of Oliver Twist, in which references to dogs outnumber references to cats eighty-seven to  two. References to cats come closest to the number of references to dogs in Edwin Drood, although the number of references is so paltry that this hardly seems impressive. Therefore, if there is a Dickens novel for cat lovers, data visualization would suggest that readers can do no better than Bleak House, in which cats are referenced almost as frequently as dogs and are referenced enough to suggest their importance to the story.

This was also reflected in a word cloud I generated of words which frequently appeared next to references to cats and dogs in Dickens’s novelistic corpus. Guppy, Tulkinghorn, and Jarndyce typically appeared, when generating this word cloud, on the “Cat-References” side, while Oliver [Twist] and Sikes frequently appeared on the “Dog-References” side.

However, one would be hard pressed to say that Lady Jane of Bleak House, apparently the most visible cat in Dickens’s novels, serves as a celebration of cats. As Natalie McKnight has pointed out, Lady Jane, like other cat-like characters in Dickens’s writing, is somewhat sinister (Natalie McKnight, “Dickens and Darwin: A Rhetoric of Pets,” The Dickensian 102.469 (Summer 2006): 131-141).  Krook implies that Lady Jane is perfectly capable of tearing a person to shreds (Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Penguin, 2003, p.70). And as Robert E. Lougy points out, Lady Jane’s name is also a slang reference to female genitals (Robert E. Lougy, “Filth, Liminality, and Abjection in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, ELH 69.2 (Summer 2002): 473-500).

“A large grey cat leaped from some neighbouring shelf.” Frontispiece to th first olume of Dickens's Bleak House, in th heldon & Co. (New York) Househol Edition (1861-71). Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham from his own collection. Available from Victorian Web: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/gilbert/15.html.

Perhaps in his personal life Dickens was fonder of cats than his novels might outwardly suggest. In My Father, as I Recall Him (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27234/27234-h/27234-h.htm), Mary “Mamie” Dickens recalls her father’s fondness for their kittens, especially the deaf kitten whose paw would later be preserved as the taxidermized handle of a letter opener, engraved “C.D. In Memory of Bob 1862” (Alexis Coe, “How Charles Dickens Kept a Beloved Cat Alive,” Slate 18 Dec. 2012. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2012/12/18/charles_dickens_cat_the_author_kept_the_pet_alive_through_taxidermy.htm).

However, despite Lady Jane’s violent nature, there is also, just possibly, something almost nice about her relationship with Krook. Krook bought Lady Jane to skin her, but apparently became fond of her (a fact which seems to surprise even him) (Dickens, Bleak House, p.70). While both are grotesque, the relationship between Krook and Lady Jane is arguably the thing which most humanizes Krook. That Krook hid his dead lodger’s papers behind Lady Jane’s bed suggest practicality, but also a form of trust (Dickens, Bleak House, p. 824). Lady Jane even allows Krook to linger in the story after he dies, since, as Mr. Guppy notes, it “almost looks if she was Krook” (Dickens, Bleak House, p. 635). It is hard to imagine loving a cat like Lady Jane. But I would argue that the fact that Krook, in his own way, seems to have done so can be read as evidence that there is apparently a cat for everybody, even people like Krook. So on International Cat Day, we should all pull out our copies of Bleak House and spend some time with these two best friends.

Furniss, Harry. “Mr. Krook and His Cat.” 1910. Dickens's Bleak House, Vol. 11 of Charles Dickens Library Edition, for Chapter 5, "A Morning Adventure," facing p. 64. Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. Available from Victorian Web: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/furniss/170.html