Felidae (novel)
Encyclopedia
Felidae is a 1989 novel by German-Turkish writer Akif Pirinçci
. The main character is a cat
named Francis who investigates the murder
s of several cats in a big city
in Germany
. There are currently 7 books in the Felidae series: Felidae, Felidae II (also known as Felidae on the Road or, in the original German version, Francis), Cave Canem, Das Duell, Salve Roma Schandtat, and Felipolis of which only the first 2 have been translated into English. The author has published the first two Felidae novels in English as Kindle ebooks.
Although being primarily a work of crime fiction
, the Felidae series discuss many contemporary ethical problems and philosophical questions, one of them being the relationship between mankind and animals. Thus, the Felidae series are more complex and multi-layered than many contemporary crime novels.
A German animated film, also called Felidae
, produced in 1994
and directed by Michael Schaack was based on the first Felidae novel of the same name. The movie script was co-written by Pirinçci. It was the most expensive animated film produced in Germany, reportedly costing 10 million marks.
That night, Francis hears yowling from the uninhabited upper floors of his house. He finds a strange religious meeting taking place, in which a cat named Joker preaches about a cat known as Claudandus, who allegedly sacrificed himself and ascended to Heaven. Meanwhile, cats jump into frayed wires and electrocute themselves. Francis accidentally alerts Joker to his presence and is chased by the cult members. He escapes and falls through a skylight
. He then meets Felicity, a blind Russian Blue
who has heard the murderer and his victims shortly before their death. Additionally, Felicity says that she sees images in her mind alongside feelings of fear and pain. Francis believes that the images are actually memories retained from childhood. After leaving Felicity's home, Bluebeard takes Francis to Pascal, an intelligent Havana Brown
who has learned to use his owner's computer. With it, he has compiled a list of the local cats. Francis learns from Pascal that Felicity has been reportedly murdered.
Francis experiences another nightmare that night, inspired by Pascal's words that Felidae
deserve admiration and the large portrait of Gregor Mendel
in Pascal's house. Unnerved, Francis hunts for rats and finds the journal of Julius Preterius, a scientist who used the house as a laboratory years prior. Francis learns that Preterius was attempting to create a flesh-binding glue with assistants Ziebold and Gray. The glue is unsuccessful, and, desperate, Preterius uses the glue on a stray cat. Due to a genetic abnormality, the glue seals the wounds on the cat. Preterius names the cat Claudandus (one who must or should be sealed) and plans to breed him and replicate the mutation. Preterius descends into madness, but continues with his project long after funding ceases. The journal's last entry reveals that Preterius had heard Claudandus speak to him and was planning to free the cat.
Francis later encounters the strange Persian Jesaja, who alludes to escaping from Preterius' lab and proclaims to be the Guardian of the Dead. He lives in ancient catacombs, keeping a tomb housing hundreds of cat skeletons. Jesaja says that he serves "the Prophet" (Claudandus), who delivers corpses for him to guard. That night, Francis experiences another dream, this time involving a white cat who states he is Felidae. He is surrounded by hundreds of others, many of whom Francis recognizes. The white cat invites Francis to join them on a journey to Africa. Francis wakes and answers the call of a female in heat. He inquires about her breed, but she states that her breed has no name and is both old and new. He mates with her and learns from Bluebeard that her race is more wild than standard cats.
Francis, Pascal, and Bluebeard continue to research the murders. Their new data suggests that the murderer has been active since the demise of Preterius and has killed approximately 450 cats. Joker has gone missing and cannot be located. The three present this information to the local cats and Pascal presents a logical explanation that places the blame on Joker. The crowd is placated, but Francis is not; he visits Joker's home. He finds the cat dead among porcelain statues. Unlike previous murders, there appears to have been no struggle. Francis returns home and reads an encyclopedia entry on genetics, which mentions Mendel as the founder of modern genetics through his experiments on plant hybridization
. He realizes that the new-old cats are being specifically bred to bear attributes of their ancient Egyptian ancestors. Francis immediately begins to connect his dreams to the murders, and makes sense of Felicity's past comments: a cat had been attempting to keep standard males from breeding with the special females, and killed them after they failed to comply. Francis also recalls that Pascal's owner idolizes Mendel, that Pascal offhandedly mentioned his owner's name being Ziebold, and that Pascal spoke of Felidae with yearning. Francis concludes that Pascal is Claudandus, and goes to confront him. He finds a program on the computer that catalogs the new breed's genetics and breeding, as well as the cats killed to keep from contaminating the lines. Pascal reveals himself, explaining that he harbors a deep hatred of humanity due to the suffering inflicted upon him by Preterius. He had killed Preterius and set free the other cats before being rescued by Ziebold. Pascal had wanted Francis to take over the program, hoping that the cats would eventually overthrow the human race. Francis and Pascal begin to battle, with Pascal destroying the computer and setting the house afire in the process. Pascal dies after Francis slits his throat.
In the epilogue, Francis states that he never told any others the true identity of the murderer and that Joker's name was eventually cleared. Jesaja was coaxed out of the catacombs and found a home with a bartender. Francis muses that Pascal had succumbed to hatred and lost his innocence and, in the process, became human. He states that all animals have the ability to lose their innocence and humans, who descended from animals, still carry a hint of innocence. The novel ends with Francis urging the reader to never cease believing in a world where animals and humans coexist, including those "more sublime and intelligent than the latter--for example, Felidae."
Akif Pirinçci
Akif Pirinçci is a German writer of Turkish origin who is best known internationally for his novel Felidae.- Biography :Pirinçci was born on the 20th October 1959 in Istanbul, Turkey, but emigrated to Germany together with his parents in 1969...
. The main character is a cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
named Francis who investigates the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s of several cats in a big city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. There are currently 7 books in the Felidae series: Felidae, Felidae II (also known as Felidae on the Road or, in the original German version, Francis), Cave Canem, Das Duell, Salve Roma Schandtat, and Felipolis of which only the first 2 have been translated into English. The author has published the first two Felidae novels in English as Kindle ebooks.
Although being primarily a work of crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
, the Felidae series discuss many contemporary ethical problems and philosophical questions, one of them being the relationship between mankind and animals. Thus, the Felidae series are more complex and multi-layered than many contemporary crime novels.
A German animated film, also called Felidae
Felidae (film)
Felidae is a 1994 German animated mystery directed by Michael Schaack, written by Martin Kluger, Stefaan Schieder and Akif Pirinçci based on the novel Felidae, produced by Trickompany, and starring Ulrich Tukur, Mario Adorf and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The famed nightmare sequence was directed,...
, produced in 1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
and directed by Michael Schaack was based on the first Felidae novel of the same name. The movie script was co-written by Pirinçci. It was the most expensive animated film produced in Germany, reportedly costing 10 million marks.
Plot
The novel begins with Francis, a tomcat, moving to a new neighborhood with his owner. Francis soon finds the corpse of Sascha. Bluebeard, a deformed local cat, is convinced that humans are responsible for the death and other recent murders. Francis disagrees with this assessment, convinced that the slash on Sascha's neck was caused by teeth. The discovery of the body marks the start of terrible nightmares that inflict Francis and intertwine him with the murders. Tomcat Deeply Purple is the next victim; while visiting the body, Francis notices that he, like Sascha, was sexually aroused before death.That night, Francis hears yowling from the uninhabited upper floors of his house. He finds a strange religious meeting taking place, in which a cat named Joker preaches about a cat known as Claudandus, who allegedly sacrificed himself and ascended to Heaven. Meanwhile, cats jump into frayed wires and electrocute themselves. Francis accidentally alerts Joker to his presence and is chased by the cult members. He escapes and falls through a skylight
Skylight
Skylight may refer to:* Skylight * Skylight , by David Hare* Skylight of a lava tube, a hole in the ceiling of the tube* Skylight, Arkansas* Skylight, a short film by David Clayton Rogers* Skylight Pictures, a film company...
. He then meets Felicity, a blind Russian Blue
Russian Blue
The Russian Blue is a cat breed that has a silver-blue coat. These cats are known to be highly intelligent and playful but tend to be timid around strangers...
who has heard the murderer and his victims shortly before their death. Additionally, Felicity says that she sees images in her mind alongside feelings of fear and pain. Francis believes that the images are actually memories retained from childhood. After leaving Felicity's home, Bluebeard takes Francis to Pascal, an intelligent Havana Brown
Havana Brown
The Havana Brown, one of the breeds tentatively identified as the 19th Century Swiss Mountain cat, is a breed of cat well known and shown in England in the 1890s....
who has learned to use his owner's computer. With it, he has compiled a list of the local cats. Francis learns from Pascal that Felicity has been reportedly murdered.
Francis experiences another nightmare that night, inspired by Pascal's words that Felidae
Felidae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
deserve admiration and the large portrait of Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
in Pascal's house. Unnerved, Francis hunts for rats and finds the journal of Julius Preterius, a scientist who used the house as a laboratory years prior. Francis learns that Preterius was attempting to create a flesh-binding glue with assistants Ziebold and Gray. The glue is unsuccessful, and, desperate, Preterius uses the glue on a stray cat. Due to a genetic abnormality, the glue seals the wounds on the cat. Preterius names the cat Claudandus (one who must or should be sealed) and plans to breed him and replicate the mutation. Preterius descends into madness, but continues with his project long after funding ceases. The journal's last entry reveals that Preterius had heard Claudandus speak to him and was planning to free the cat.
Francis later encounters the strange Persian Jesaja, who alludes to escaping from Preterius' lab and proclaims to be the Guardian of the Dead. He lives in ancient catacombs, keeping a tomb housing hundreds of cat skeletons. Jesaja says that he serves "the Prophet" (Claudandus), who delivers corpses for him to guard. That night, Francis experiences another dream, this time involving a white cat who states he is Felidae. He is surrounded by hundreds of others, many of whom Francis recognizes. The white cat invites Francis to join them on a journey to Africa. Francis wakes and answers the call of a female in heat. He inquires about her breed, but she states that her breed has no name and is both old and new. He mates with her and learns from Bluebeard that her race is more wild than standard cats.
Francis, Pascal, and Bluebeard continue to research the murders. Their new data suggests that the murderer has been active since the demise of Preterius and has killed approximately 450 cats. Joker has gone missing and cannot be located. The three present this information to the local cats and Pascal presents a logical explanation that places the blame on Joker. The crowd is placated, but Francis is not; he visits Joker's home. He finds the cat dead among porcelain statues. Unlike previous murders, there appears to have been no struggle. Francis returns home and reads an encyclopedia entry on genetics, which mentions Mendel as the founder of modern genetics through his experiments on plant hybridization
Experiments on Plant Hybridization
Written in 1865 by Gregor Mendel, Experiments on Plant Hybridization was the result after years spent studying genetic traits in pea plants. Mendel read his paper to the Natural History Society of Brünn on February 8 and March 8, 1865...
. He realizes that the new-old cats are being specifically bred to bear attributes of their ancient Egyptian ancestors. Francis immediately begins to connect his dreams to the murders, and makes sense of Felicity's past comments: a cat had been attempting to keep standard males from breeding with the special females, and killed them after they failed to comply. Francis also recalls that Pascal's owner idolizes Mendel, that Pascal offhandedly mentioned his owner's name being Ziebold, and that Pascal spoke of Felidae with yearning. Francis concludes that Pascal is Claudandus, and goes to confront him. He finds a program on the computer that catalogs the new breed's genetics and breeding, as well as the cats killed to keep from contaminating the lines. Pascal reveals himself, explaining that he harbors a deep hatred of humanity due to the suffering inflicted upon him by Preterius. He had killed Preterius and set free the other cats before being rescued by Ziebold. Pascal had wanted Francis to take over the program, hoping that the cats would eventually overthrow the human race. Francis and Pascal begin to battle, with Pascal destroying the computer and setting the house afire in the process. Pascal dies after Francis slits his throat.
In the epilogue, Francis states that he never told any others the true identity of the murderer and that Joker's name was eventually cleared. Jesaja was coaxed out of the catacombs and found a home with a bartender. Francis muses that Pascal had succumbed to hatred and lost his innocence and, in the process, became human. He states that all animals have the ability to lose their innocence and humans, who descended from animals, still carry a hint of innocence. The novel ends with Francis urging the reader to never cease believing in a world where animals and humans coexist, including those "more sublime and intelligent than the latter--for example, Felidae."