A Man and His Dog

Bauschan é um perdigueiro alemão mestiço, marrom-ferrugem, tigrado de preto, branco no peito, patas e barriga. Muito além da detalhada descrição física, o escritor alemão Thomas Mann descreve com enorme sensibilidade o temperamento e o comportamento do animal em relação a seu tutor, à casa onde vive e ao ambiente silvestre pelo qual desfruta de longos e bucólicos passeios.

Mann relata desde a adoção de Bauschan (quando ainda era chamado de Lux), para substituir Percy, o cachorro anterior da família, sacrificado a tiros por uma doença incurável. Afinal, estamos em 1918, a medicina veterinária ainda vai evoluir, os costumes também, e uma arma de fogo era o métido mais humanitário para encerrar o sofrimento de um animal show more de estimação. A alternativa mais comum seria o “carniceiro”.

Thomas Mann gostava de cachorros. E “Um homem e seu cão: um idílio” deixa esse afeto muito claro, com a sensibilidade com que sua relação com Bauschan é descrita. A conexão entre o escritor Prêmio Nobel de Literatura com seu perdigueiro está representada também por uma estátua em Gmund, às margens do lago Tegernsee, feita em bronze pelo escultor alemão Quirin Roth. show less

Thomas Mann's memoir of his dog, Bashan, written just after WWI is not anything like the modern animal memoir - no sentiment here, which is not to say that Mann did not have feelings for his dog. I felt by he end that he had great feeling for him - he just did not get all sloppy with what he felt for him. Mann writes exclusively about their life together - no part of his life outside of his time spent walking with Bashan gets into this book. It is a study of Bashan's personality, his faults, and his 'hobbies' (persuading Mann to come outside, walking, running and chasing small creatures around the countryside). At the end I felt that I knew this dog.
There was some talk of Bashan's being beaten and how certain things, like being show more encouraged to perform tricks made him behave as if he feared that he was going to be beaten, but I did not get the impression that Mann had ever treated him in this way. Mann owned him from his early days so maybe the farmers he lived with when a young puppy put this fear into him. Then again, due to the fact that I have never owned a dog, this could be completely wrong. Do dogs act this way without provocation? I don't know, but I am reassured by a follower of the 'Dog Whisperer' telling me that Bashan's behavior did not necessarily mean that he had ever been abused. That is a relief. show less

De hond, de beste vriend van de mens. Nobelprijswinnaar Thomas Mann schreef een erg amusant boekje over één van zijn honden, Bauschan, een kortharige Duitse patrijshond. Met even te googlen kan je hen beiden in brons vereeuwigd zien in Gmund am Tegernsee. Je ziet dan ook meteen dat de hond die op de voorpagina staat afgebeeld eerder een boxer is dan dat het Manns hond zou kunnen zijn. Maar zulke onnauwkeurigheid kan het plezier niet wegnemen dat het lezen van dit boekje geeft. Zoals Bauschan zich uitleeft in lange wandelingen waarin hij allerlei klein wild naar hartelust kan opjagen, zo lijkt Mann zich uit te leven in lange beschrijvingen van zijn hond en hun gezamenlijke wandelingen doorheen hun zogenaamde jachtgebied. Wie zijn show more volgende wandeling met de hond dat ietsje extra wil geven, leze vooraf even dit literaire kleinood. show less