Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes:
This book is probably the first time that a scholar of Kuzniar’s ability has shown the courage to tackle the deeper aspects of our relationship with dogs. I once wrote an introduction to J.R. Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip, and purposely left out the author’s spiritual difficulties because to discuss them seemed trendy, and I wanted to honour Ackerley’s choice of subject-matter, which was Tulip. But if Melancholia’s Dog had been available to me, I would have included Ackerley’s sufferings because I would have seen that they were relevant. Even though Ackerley didn’t mention them, they would have helped to explain why Tulip was so much a part of him. Our dogs are metaphors for ourselves, something that many of us may have long suspected, but because the idea had never been articulated, or not fully, perhaps we did not appreciate the fact. Or perhaps we didn’t want to face it. Thanks to Alice Kuzniar, we know it now.

(LRB 22 February 2007)

Chicago | hardback 215 pp. |ISBN: 9780226465784