vrijdag 15 juli 2011

Mijn hond Rolf


Een boek waar we met buitengewone interesse naar uitzien is Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities van de hand van ene Jan Bondeson. Uit een bespreking in de New York Times (hier) onthouden we ondermeer het volgende:
-He discovered a 1943 Nazi magazine piece about the headmistress of the canine school, a Frau Schmitt, claiming that some of the dogs spoke a few words. “At a Nazi study course, a talking dog was once asked ‘Who is Adolf Hitler?’ and replied ‘Mein Führer!”

-Bondeson writes that in Germany in the early 20th century, some people had a strong belief in the potential of super-intelligent animals. He said that along with Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse, an Airedale terrier named Rolf was considered one of the leading German intellectuals of the time. Rolf’s owner said she taught him his own alphabet with a system of taps of his paw on a board and, Bondeson notes drolly, “he successfully dabbled in mathematics, ethics, religion and philosophy.”
Zoals gezegd: we kijken geweldig uit naar Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities.

Het prentje: uit 1919, Mein hund Rolf, ein rechnender und buchstabierender Airedale-terrier. De daverende daden van Rolf, Airedale-terrier en Duits intellectueel. Gratis te downloaden (hier).

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