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January 29, 2008

 

Parrots, Pirates, and Prostheses

A friend who has long since gotten out of the literary scholarship racket was once, briefly, quite intent on writing a dissertation entitled "Parrots, Pirates, and Prostheses." I have a vague recollection that the argument was to involve something about how pirates seem often to lose hands, legs, and eyes, and that along with their inanimate prosthetics (wooden legs, hooks, eye patches - if, indeed, eye patches count), they also have animate ones like parrots and monkeys. I am not quite sure where this argument was going. There was, however, an excellent plan to, at the defense of this unwritten dissertation, have a parrot, on the shoulder of the writer, declaim the defense.

Though this dissertation (sadly) remains unwritten, it did generate a list of parrot books. Everyone's favorite genre! Behold:

- Emily Colette Wilkinson @ 5:50 PM ~ comments: 6 ~ Links to this post

Comments:

That sounds like an odds-on favorite for best dissertation ever.
# posted by Blogger Levi Stahl @ January 29, 2008 7:46 PM
 
Don't forget Love in the Time of Cholera.
# posted by Blogger J. Cameron Boyle @ January 30, 2008 2:59 AM
 
(tapping her pipe and adjusting her patched blazer)

I'm with Levi... "a very promising project indeed..." says the prof.

Oh, this is great! A needed morning laugh for me. Brava.
# posted by Blogger Anne @ January 30, 2008 6:40 AM
 
What about that Robert Olen Butler story, "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot"?
# posted by Anonymous Edan @ January 30, 2008 3:26 PM
 
I'm a reporter on assignment for NPR looking into the power of AMazon reviewers. I saw your article in Slate. Might we chat, please, please, please??? E-mail me at woodromh@jmu.edu. Cheers, Martha Woodroof
# posted by Blogger Bouncing off the Bottom @ January 30, 2008 4:50 PM
 
Joe Coomer's novel The Loop is in part about trying to find the owner of a lost parrot. It may not be in print now, but a movie is in pre-production awaiting the end of the writer's strike for the next draft of the script.
# posted by Blogger Herb Levy @ January 30, 2008 8:35 PM
 

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