XIIACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe anonymous readers to whom they submitted my manuscript gave
much valuable guidance as I revised the text.
I especially want to acknowledge and thank the many students at
Hamilton who have taken classes with me in which I have discussed
animals and their representation in various works of literature. I have
tested out many ideas with them, and the ensuing discussions have
helped me move forward in my work. The excitement they have had
about the general topic and the specific works has sustained my confi-
dence in my own project, and many of the insights I have gleaned from
those discussions have made their way into this book.
I also want to thank my wife, Sally Cockburn, on whom I have tested
my deepest convictions, including some of my most outlandish ideas. If
they survived her rational examination, those ideas are still here. Living
with her, and our many companion dogs, these past several decades has
essentially formed who I am, complete with my interest in and respect
for nonhuman life on the planet.