City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Gentle and fierce, Vanessa Berry

eng

Includes bibliographical references

no index present

non fiction

Gentle and fierce

Vanessa Berry

Gentle and Fierce focuses on the world of animals, and the way their presence has shaped the author's life story and her sense of self. Having spent her life in city environments, Vanessa Berry's experiences with animals have largely been through encounters with urban creatures, representations of animals in art and the media, and as decorative ornaments or kitsch. The essays suggest that these mediated encounters, rather than being mundane or removed from nature, provide meaningful connections with the animal world, at a time in which it is threatened by climate change and environmental destruction.The subjects of Berry's singular bestiary include butterflies, a glass fish, a stuffed Kodiak bear, the rabbits on a Japanese island, the sinking horse from The NeverEnding Story, snails and flies, a porcelain otter, Lassie, dream spiders and cats, and wallabies on the Isle of Man. Berry responds to each with the attentiveness and empathy that is the hallmark of her writing. The essays are accompanied by her illustrations, which testify to her background as an artist and zine maker

Compound eye -- The butterfly effect -- Animal chronicle I -- Mink coat -- Glass fish -- Rabbit Island -- Frank the Bear -- The fly -- The sinking horse -- The word of a snail -- The ceramic zoo -- Wildpark -- A spider in my cup -- Perec's cat -- Lassie come home -- Animal chronicle II -- The Curragh -- Fly away bird -- Junk bug -- Gentle and fierce