THE DEEP ONES: "The King of the Cats" by Stephen Vincent Benét

"The King of the Cats" by Stephen Vincent Benét.

Discussion begins January 22, 2025.

First published in the February 1929 Harper's Bazar.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69746

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

Thirteen O'Clock: Stories of Several Worlds
Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum
Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps

ONLINE VERSIONS

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/benetsv-thirteen03-kingofthecats/benetsv-thirteen03-...

ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9RbdbR8kFQ

MISCELLANY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_the_Cats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Vincent_Ben%C3%A9t
https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-357
https://www.popmatters.com/beware-cat-william-baldwin-feature
https://tinyurl.com/y9ayemjd

I just put a public library hold on American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps. I expect I can pick it up this weekend.

I'll also be reading from AFT. I had no idea that Benét was born in my home town. My cats approve!

Tommy was rather lucky that Tibaut was next in the line of succession, wasn’t he? Did Billy somehow deduce he was?

I might have liked a little more clarity as to Tibaut’s (and the princess’) nature. An anthropomorphous cat with an (impossibly perfect) mask?

I found this story to be on the fantastic end of the Thurburesque. It didn't support a lot of inquiry into its "speculative" nature, but it was a wry and amusing narrative.

Cat People! I liked this tail (ha!) very much. Monsieur Tibault reminded me a bit of Miyazaki's Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom, in the animated feature THE CAT RETURNS (2002).

I'm going to re-read Straub's Shadowland once I receive the new Centipede Press edition. I'll be looking for specific references to the King of the Cats this time around. My daughter has a vintage 1954 copy of Carbonel: The King of the Cats. Might take a look at it when I get the chance!

>6 gwendetenebre: Miyazaki's Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom - Right on!

The King of the Cats is explicit right at the outset of Shadowland, and it provides something of a template for the whole novel. If I were to do a re-read for King of the Cats references, it would be Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nightmare. The other notable novel for this list is John Crowley's Aegypt.

>7 paradoxosalpha:

Thanks! I'll add those to my TBR list.