a century later. Originally from Buffalo, NY, he received a BS in Cinema & Photography from Ithaca College and an MFA from Emerson College where he served as fiction editor for the literary journal Redivider. His work has appeared in The Literary Review, The Harvard Review, and West Branch. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
At Electric Lit Kerns tagged seven "books that engage with animals in different ways, probing their behaviors and our relationship to them, our sympathies for and atrocities against them." One title on the list:
Raccoon by Daniel Heath JusticeRead about another entry on the list.
A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I needed a study devoted to the raccoon, but after reading Justice’s book, I came to understand the impactful role the animal has played in our planet’s global and cultural history. It’s part of Reaktion Books’ Animal series, which has published over a hundred such books aboutthe natural and cultural history of different animal species. Raccoon is an incredible examination of the animal that delves into its natural history, symbolism and cultural origins, appropriation to perpetuate racial stereotypes and hatred, and myriad other ways it has impacted the human world.
One of the many illuminating takeaways about the raccoon is its resilience and adaptability. The raccoon of today lives in a world that, if we were in its paws, would be in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Its natural habitat has been largely destroyed by the bottomless expansionism of human civilization. And despite this, the raccoon has adapted and learned to survive. With powerful physical dexterity, an omnivorous appetite, and an evolving intelligence, raccoons have an innate ability to create new and thriving homes in the wake of loss and exile. We could learn a lot from them because, as Justice considers in his epilogue, the future may be raccoon.
--Marshal Zeringue
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