"Ever since I could chase a bone, I've longed to talk ..." The first talking-dog story in Western literature--from the writer generally acknowledged, alongside William Shakespeare, as the founding father of modern literature, no less? Indeed, The Dialogue of the Dogs features, in a condensed, powerful version, all the traits the author of Don Quixote is famous for: It's a picaresque rich in bawdy humor, social satire, and fantasy, and it uses story tactics that were innovative at the time, such as the philandering husband who, given syphilis by his wife, is hospitalized. Late on feverish night he overhears the hospital's guard dogs telling each other their life's story--a wickedly ironic tale within the tale within the tale, wherein the two virtuous canines find themselves victim, time and again, to deceitful, corrupt humanity.
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