Literature, Animals and Oppression: help me write my dissertation reading list?

Hey there all you lovely people,

I'm a student in London preparing to make my dissertation proposals and I'm fairly intent on writing something that would allow me to compare animal oppression to human oppression. The problem is, while I'm knee-deep in criticism and philosophy that I can utilise, I haven't read enough fiction that explores or alludes to the subject. And so, I have found myself here in this forum asking for your help.

An example I thought of was Germinal, in which the horses are kept purely as labourers (hello, Marx, Hegel, etc), the rabbit is... well, let's not talk about the rabbit. I get upset. Anywho, these characters are presented sympathetically by the author. And that's the kind of thing I'm looking for. Not the usual animal-human relationships, but something that reveals an ideology under the skin, as it were.

So yes, if any of you can think of novels you've read that might be helpful in my exploration of my ideas, that'd be awesome and lovely and I would be eternally grateful.

(My second proposal, in case any one is interested, is on the human obsession with their own mortality -- I also need novels to add to my list for this haha. Any one?)

In Gulliver's Travels, in one of his adventures, when he travels to the Country of Houyhnhnms he discovers a land which is ruled by intelligent horses, and there are these human like creatures called Yahoos, that the Houyhnhnms (the horse-folk) view as being savage, primitive creatures and it makes Guilliver reflect upon how horses are treated back in England.

Thank you! That is so helpful :)

I’m quite uncertain about my propositions here (not sure of understanding you well), so I’ll let them to your judgement - posting it won't do any demage.
First what came to my mind is “White Fang” by Jack London, which presents (among others) cruel dog-fights. And very similar novel by James Oliver Curwood “Kazan the Wolf-Dog” with the same point as far as I remember. In “The Valley of the Moon” London mentions something about fate of “used” horses also, but he hardly touches the topic.
I thought about “Animal Farm” by Orwell that is perfect example of anthropomorphization, so I have no idea what is better – to take it as an example of human oppression or animal oppression. If it’s all right with fantasy novel, you can take a look at “Watership Down” by Richard Adams as well (adventures of wild rabbits whose warren is destroyed by people).
Maybe the story “The Black Cat” by E. A. Poe would fit in? I remember it very vaguely, but there’s for sure something about cruel actions against that poor cat.

What about Moby Dick for the latter?

Flush by Virginia Woolf may be an interesting addition to your dissertation.

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Originally Posted by Dark Muse

In Gulliver's Travels, in one of his adventures, when he travels to the Country of Houyhnhnms he discovers a land which is ruled by intelligent horses, and there are these human like creatures called Yahoos, that the Houyhnhnms (the horse-folk) view as being savage, primitive creatures and it makes Guilliver reflect upon how horses are treated back in England.

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Bonus points if you did not have to look up the spelling of Houyhnhnms :)

Hey Humming Bee, thank you :) I already have Animal Farm on my list as a positive example of inter-species characterisation, so I'm glad you were able to pick up on what I was looking for despite my very vague first post... And although I'm very familiar with Watership Down, I have no idea why I didn't think of it before now in relation to this project! So silly of me. So thank you for that! And The Black Cat, I've read too, and I think it would be worth adding that to my list also :)

Yes! Flush is on my list also :) I haven't read it yet, but it came up in my perusal of the university library. Very excited about it because I'm a huge Woolf fan.

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Originally Posted by qimissung

What about Moby Dick for the latter?

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Perfect!

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Originally Posted by Humming Bee

I’m quite uncertain about my propositions here (not sure of understanding you well), so I’ll let them to your judgement - posting it won't do any demage.
First what came to my mind is “White Fang” by Jack London, which presents (among others) cruel dog-fights. And very similar novel by James Oliver Curwood “Kazan the Wolf-Dog” with the same point as far as I remember. In “The Valley of the Moon” London mentions something about fate of “used” horses also, but he hardly touches the topic.
I thought about “Animal Farm” by Orwell that is perfect example of anthropomorphization, so I have no idea what is better – to take it as an example of human oppression or animal oppression. If it’s all right with fantasy novel, you can take a look at “Watership Down” by Richard Adams as well (adventures of wild rabbits whose warren is destroyed by people).
Maybe the story “The Black Cat” by E. A. Poe would fit in? I remember it very vaguely, but there’s for sure something about cruel actions against that poor cat.

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One of the most meaningful propositions about horses that I have seen was The Horse Whisperer, with Robert Redford.

I kind of hate to mention this because it seems so obvious, and I'm not sure if it's what you're really looking for, but there's always Black Beauty.

What about The Island of Dr. Moreau? -- he tries to turn animals into humans. . . . . one of my favorite Wells' novels.

Lady Into Fox might be of interest though it's not really political.

As for the other list...well, are you set on doing novels? Because Hamlet is screaming out.

There is an old text in the Chinese narrative describing how the Tang emperor Xuanzong bought an expensive dozen of dancing horses from Central Asia. upon the rise of the Anshi rebellion, the prized dancing horses were seized and their captors, not knowing what they were, tried to convert them into war horses. As the story goes, the more the horses were beaten, the more they would dance, their dancing infuriated their new owners, so they beat them more, causing them to dance even more, until they were eventually beaten to death.

The story can be found in Chinese Culture: a Sourcebook.

There is an old text in the Chinese narrative describing how the Tang emperor Xuanzong bought an expensive dozen of dancing horses from Central Asia. upon the rise of the Anshi rebellion, the prized dancing horses were seized and their captors, not knowing what they were, tried to convert them into war horses. As the story goes, the more the horses were beaten, the more they would dance, their dancing infuriated their new owners, so they beat them more, causing them to dance even more, until they were eventually beaten to death.

The story can be found in Chinese history: a Sourcebook.

Thanks guys, this is all really helpful (even if it doesn't end up on a reading list, it's conjuring a lot of ideas).

Do you mean books in which animals are animals, or books in which animals are like people? Obviously there is a lot of oppression in Animal Farm, and some in Watership Down, but the characters in those books are not really animals. I seem to remember another of Richard Adams' books was about a pair of dogs that escaped from a research laboratory, but I did not read very much of it.

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Originally Posted by kev67

I seem to remember another of Richard Adams' books was about a pair of dogs that escaped from a research laboratory, but I did not read very much of it.

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Yep. It's The Plague Dogs.

The films of both Adams' books are traumatic!

Regarding the abuse of horses there is Doestoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, or maybe it's The Idiot, wherein the peasant driver of an overloaded cart decides to whip its horse to death if he can't pull it. This is often said to have inspired the newly insane Nietzsche to run out into an Italian steet and embrace a draft-horse being whipped.

Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five also has a scene wherein the protagonist is driving a cart through devestated Dresden and when two civilians shame him, regarding the deplorable state of its horse, Billy Pilgrim notices the animal's agony for the first time and weeps.

One of the best pieces of writing on man's sins against horses is found in Chuang Tzu. Wherein the sage admonishes a certain Po Lo, from whom the sport's name is derived, for subverting horses' nature by forcing them to wear bridles etc:
"HORSES' HOOFS ARE MADE for treading frost and snow, their coats for keeping out wind and cold. To munch grass, drink from the stream, lift up their feet and gallop this is the true nature of horses. Though they might possess great terraces and fine halls, they would have no use for them.
Then along comes Po Lo "I'm good at handling horses!" he announces, and proceeds to singe them, shave them, pare them, brand them, bind them with martingale and crupper, tie them up in stable and stall. By this time two or three out of ten horses have died. He goes on to starve them, make them go thirsty, race them, prance them, pull them into line, force them to run side by side, in front of them the worry of bit and rein, behind them the terror of whip and crop. By this time over half the horses have died."
http://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu1.html#9

The play Equus also deals with this subject and makes a compelling argument for horses being truly Christlike in their submission to man.