Denis Michelis & Ernest
ph. Jonathan Llense
A few months ago, author Denis Michelis published "Encore une journée divine" (Another divine day) published by Notabilia, a hallucinated monologue of a guru locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Denis is a great admirer of children's stories. His cat Ernest could have come out of one of the Grimm's fairy tales, and that doesn't displease him...
Since childhood I have always had cats. My first one, an unneutered (!) alley cat, was called Baudelaire. My father hated him. My current cat is called Ernest. Is it serious, Doctor?
He is a blue point Siamese, I was given him 8 years ago, almost in a gift box. As a baby, he was a hideous cat, with a huge Gremlins head.
Literature and Geopolitics
Siamese are clingy, they follow you everywhere. Once I took him to the country and he found me at the bottom of the garden while I was digging. He meowed at me... well yelled at me and then spent the rest of the afternoon with me sunbathing. I am fascinated by his independence, his bad faith and his self-confidence. Cats are very ambiguous animals. They can be both unfailingly loyal to their master and chase you out of their chair - well, my chair - if they feel like it. Apart from that, we discuss literature and geopolitics. But most of the time he sleeps on the sofa and waits for me to serve him his kibble.
Children and children's stories
I love children's stories - strangely enough Ernest doesn't like children that much - and I particularly like Grimm's Fairy Tales and one I know by heart is "The Bremen musicians". The story of four animals, including a cat, all chased out of their homes by their respective masters and who decide to form a musical group... I would never chase Ernest away, of course, as I've almost always had cats, I find it hard to imagine a life without them. But it's true that living with him is often a power play. He is both the master of the house and totally submissive. It's a constant game between us. We have to see who gets the last word.
Ernest and the unconscious
I have a recurring nightmare where he jumps out of the window. Then I run down the 7 flights of stairs with my heart pounding and when I get to the courtyard of the building... I see that his body is gone! It fascinates me almost every day that these little creatures, these felines, have managed to take up residence in our homes, to bring us comfort and company. And then cats have this ability to be forgotten, to blend into the background, almost to become invisible...
Cultural tips:
"L'habitude des bêtes", a novel by Lise Tremblay about the relationship between a rather unkind guy, living in seclusion in his cottage in the heart of the Canadian wilderness, who learns kindness at a time when the only being that still matters to him - his dog - is dying. It's a beautiful book because it's written with great humility. One of the most moving books I've read in recent years.
Stephen King's "Simmetière"! A great horror classic with Church, the family cat, is crushed to death and whom the main character, in order not to upset his daughter, buries in an Indian cemetery with magical powers.... And voila, Church is resurrected....! One of the most terrifying books ever written.
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