W. H. Hudson and "The Great Dog-superstition"

In 1889, a starving, struggling writer published an article in London's MacMillan's Magazine that criticized the British about their dogs. Although the author was unnamed when the publication appeared, such a furor was created that it gave the writer fame and notoriety that he would successfully exploit the rest of his life and help him to become successful. Within a couple of years, the name W. H. Hudson became familiar to London's literary and scientific circles with his original essays on the natural history of La Plata in the Argentine and Patagonia to the south, especially his descriptions of bird and other animal life. Hudson loved all life, including the human species, and certainly was not the dog-hater that he was portrayed to be. This purpose of this study of Hudson's writings is to provide an honest appraisal of his true feelings towards dogs.A native of Argentina, the son of American emigrants, home schooled and self-educated as a naturalist, Hudson, at age 31 immigrated to England in 1874 to make his way as a naturalist and writer and almost perished before realizing success. His literary career spanned a period of almost 40 years ending with his death at age 81 in 1922. The two decades preceding and following 1900 were exciting and emotional times in both literary and scientific London. In England, the Anti-Vivisectionist movement was reaching a feverish pitch, culminating in the Brown Dog Riots after the turn of the century. At the same time in America, the famous naturalist John Burroughs initiated the great nature-faker caper in which President Roosevelt felt he had to intervene in order to quell, and came to regret.As he gained fame, Hudson became friends with many of the well-known writers of the period that included Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, Ezra Pound, Ford Maddox Ford, Leigh Hunt, to name a few. Today, however, Hudson is largely forgotten, remembered mostly for his novel "Green Mansions" which is not exemplary of his best work. His most lasting work is his study of the shepherds of the downs of southern England, "A Shepherd's Life," which contains some of his best writings about dogs, the sheepdogs of the downs.This books includes a special bonus in the Appendix, transcripts of original, unpublished letters of Hudson and John Burroughs from the estate of the Australian ornithologist Charles Barrett.