Afterglow (a dog memoir): A Selected Bibliography

Afterglow (a dog memoir), Myles’ first foray into memoir, paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of a beloved confidant: the pit bull called Rosie. In 1990, Myles chose Rosie from a litter on the street, and their connection instantly became central to the writer's life and work. During the course of their sixteen years together, Myles was madly devoted to the dog’s wellbeing, especially in her final days. Starting from the emptiness following Rosie’s death, Afterglow launches a heartfelt and fabulist investigation into the true nature of the bond between pet and pet-owner. Through this lens, we witness Myles’s experiences with intimacy and spirituality, celebrity and politics, alcoholism and recovery, fathers and family history, gender, romance, memory, as well as the fantastical myths we invent to get to the heart of grief. 

Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis - Astonishingly well written and tear provoking novel engaging deities and dogs.

Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home by Nicole J. Georges - Beyond the fact of the author's great drawing and skillful post punk story line there is the animal personhood angle which caused me to give up meat.

"Hawk" by Joy Williams - This story which can be found in JW's collected stories engages Glenn Gould and a bad dog. I became a Joy Williams fan with this story.

Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov - This depiction of a human becoming a dog is dripping with oily contempt by one of the most genius writers of our time(s).

My Dog Tulip by JR Ackerley - Joe Brainard gave me this book. It was the story of a man's love for his dog. The human was seemingly a closeted gay man who could readily dispense with shame when describing his frank admiration and obsession with his beloved Tulip's sexuality. He has other dog books - We Think the World of You is another which engages class as well. And his memoir of his father is pretty amazing as well.

Eileen Myles is the author of more than twenty books, including Chelsea Girls, Cool For You, and most recently, I Must Be Living Twice: New & Selected Poems 1975-2014. Their many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction, four Lambda Literary Awards, the Clark Prize for Excellence in Art Writing, the Shelley Memorial Award from The Poetry Society of America, Creative Capital’s Literature Award, as well as an Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers’ Grant and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant. They live in Marfa, TX and New York City. Their poems were featured in seasons 2 and 3 of the Emmy-winning show Transparent.