Now that we have time to concentrate on the things that normally go by the wayside, it is a pleasure to catch up on reading and even better to chance upon a literary bull terrier when you least expect it.
I was reading Angela Carter's (feminist author and writer of Magic Realism) "The Magic Toyshop" when my favourite dog unexpectedly marched into the plot as the family guard dog, loyal friend and a dog of independent spirit.
She evidently knew the breed well......
“It was a portrait of the white bull terrier, executed with incredible precision, Every white hair seemed visible on the pink painted skin, as if brushed in separately, and you would see the grainy texture of the nose. The bull terrier sat squatly full-face on a spiky tuft of grass. It had a wicker, flower-girl basket of pinks and daisies in its mouth. Drops of dew trembled on the flowers. The dog’s eyes glittered unnaturally because they were made of pieces of coloured glass stuck onto the canvas.
Behind him was a rocky shore and a sea with many white-capped rollers in parallel lines, under an ominous, bruise-coloured, storm-laden sky with a streaky, orange sunset.
The dog commanded the entire room. There was something official about it, as if it were a guard-dog or sentinel on the constant qui vive behind its glass eyes taking turn and turn about with the real house -dog, and the basket of flowers was stuck in its mouth with an intent to disarm, an accessory borrowed to lend it a harmless look. There was no sign of the real dog but for a baking dish full of fresh water on the floor by the sink. He was evidently off-duty.”
Angela Carter “The Magic Toyshop”.
