April 13, 1918

Finding the humorous element in dreadful situations was a technique Muriel Spark (February 1, 1918 to April 13, 2006) ) often used, in books like Memento Mori (1959), The Driver's Seat (1970). There was a certain limit though, according to her biographer:

'It was not that she did not feel the pain of being human, it was just that in order to cope with it in her work she transformed it into comedy. Some things, however, were simply not funny – and the death of her cat was one of them. Bluebell was put down in mid August [1958] after six weeks of distress. Although Muriel thought it 'plain silly', she had 'a sort of mystique' about her. Bluebell had been her closest companion .... insinuating herself among Muriel's papers, sitting on her shoulders as she worked, watching birds from the window.'

So many great authors cared for cats. And Muriel Spark was great.