A tale of cat, loved ones

Kim Eun-sang's second novel, “My Beautiful Cat Thelma” / Yonhap.

'Thelma' delves into nature of love

By Jung Hae-myoung

Unlike dogs, cats are meticulous. People do not actually own the animal; it owns them.

In his second fiction novel, “My Beautiful Cat Thelma,” author Kim Eun-sang serenely observes the delicate nature of living with a cat. He likens raising a cat to living with a loved one.

The narrator observes four women with whom he has encountered during his life ― his first love Kyung-hwa, his first girlfriend, his client's girlfriend who later falls in love with the narrator and his mother who resists signing a divorce with his father.

At the same time different cats appear in the middle of each relationship, showing the narrator's complicated feelings about his relationships.

Nabi, the cat that Kyung-hwa rescued from a group of boys, was compared to “a heart that is filled with stars in the night sky,” while the cat adopted by his first lover gave him an odd sense of “jealousy.”

The girlfriend adopts a cat because she feels so “lonely” although she's in love with the narrator. He realizes he never loved her.

The narrator's mother adopts a street cat called “Ma-eum,” that comforted her when she was pointed at by neighbors who were aware of her affair with a married man.

Although the stories for each cat or person differ from each other, the author delivers what love is and its ever-changing nature. It starts with the glistening, heart-beating moments of meeting a new friend but ends with the disheartening moments of longing, solitude and separation.

The fiction is described as a poem, novel or an essay from the narrator. It reads, “If love is noble, it is because it longs for something impossible.” The line shares the same understanding with Jacque Lacan's theory that desire can be never fulfilled because it is formed in relationships with others.

Thelma, the narrator's endearing cat, smoothly fits into his life in the presence of his first love and fills the void of solitude where a human needs consolation.

The novel, crossing poetry and prose, is dedicated to Kim's first cat, Thelma. After Thelma died, Kim started to take care of street cats and realized love itself is more important than desire to possess someone.

Along with the author's feline love, the animal is a perfect creature that can be compared to love in modern society where individuals want to be loved and to give love, as well as keeping their personal space.

As cat owners often become “butlers” of their cat, the author says through Kyung-hwa's quote that living with a cat is more than building a relationship as “a cat sitting on one's lap means it is entirely depending its life to the other.”

Like the narrator, Kim is a “cat butler” allergic to cats. Bearing constant use of allergy pills and bronchodilator, he brings out food for street cats every morning.