The Animal Side - by Jean-Christophe Bailly (Paperback)

About the Book

"This work was originally published in French as ... Le versant animal. Bayard Editions, 2007"--T.p. verso

Book Synopsis

The Animal Side is a manifesto on the importance of animals for human thought. It attempts to characterize the importance, for human beings, of the fact that animals exist. Adopting a philosophical and poetic approach, the book seeks to show that animals' ways of inhabiting the earth are, for human consciousness, an expansion and an exploration of what philosophers and poets have tried to name by speaking of the Open.

Beginning with the story of an encounter with a deer on a road at night, the book proceeds by showing that, beyond the diversity of animal life and the ways animals differ from human beings, there is a "layer of the perceptible" on which we all draw, humans and animals alike, in our own ways. At present, however, this layer itself is at risk. Thus the book can also be read as a defense and illustration of animals' modes of
being, and as a plea for their survival.

Review Quotes

. . . Takes us on a poetic and philosophical journal that follows several paths, all leading to an encounter with the animal world. . . The reader will marvel at the author's penetrating vision of our shared world, one that in this case can be achieved only from animal side, or, should we say, through the gaze of the animal itself.-- "--L'Esprit Createur"

"A reflection--part philosophical, part poetic--on mankind's shared existence with animal life. A truly breathtaking piece of writing."-----John T. Hamilton, Harvard University

"Seductive in tone and style. It offers a seemingly simple yet powerful meditation on the larger role played by the animal kingdom."-----Miladus Doueihi, University of Glasgow

About the Author

Jean-Christophe Bailly is Associate Professor at the cole Nationale Suprieure de la Nature et du Paysage, in Blois, France. His most recent book is The Instant and Its Shadow. Catherine Porter is Professor Emerita, SUNY College at Cortland; a former president of the Modern Language Association; and a renowned translator of French philosophy and theory.