[ Woolf / Flush ]
Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941) was an English novelist and essayist, widely regarded as one of the most important 20th Century English writers.
This novel is partly fictionalized biography of Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, told from the perspective of her dog, Flush, an English cocker spaniel. The work's single mention of Newfoundlands occurs late, when Flush (who began life in the English countryside) has accompanied his owner to Italy:
But soon Flush became aware of the more profound differences that distinguish Pisa — it was in Pisa that they were now settled — from London. The dogs were different. In London he could scarcely trot round to the pillar-box without meeting some pug dog, retriever, bulldog, mastiff, collie, Newfoundland, St. Bernard, fox terrier or one of the seven famous families of the Spaniel tribe. To each he gave a different name, and to each a different rank. But here in Pisa, though dogs abounded, there were no ranks; all — could it be possible? — were mongrels. As far as he could see, they were dogs merely — grey dogs, yellow dogs, brindled dogs, spotted dogs; but it was impossible to detect a single spaniel, collie, retriever or mastiff among them.