Ping-Shi Kao
ABSTRACT
This article explores the interplay between linear and cyclical narratives that construct a distinctive portrayal of childhood in Judith Kerr’s Mog picturebook series. It examines how the domestic cat, Mog, functions as an emotional catalyst shaping the social and emotional development of Nicky, the child protagonist, while preserving memories of childhood innocence and domestic harmony. Based on the Kerr family cat, Mog debuted in 1970, and her enduring bond with the Thomas family has resonated with generations of young readers. Drawing on Romantic conceptions of childhood, narratology, and historical contexts, the discussion addresses temporal duality in the series. It applies Maria Nikolajeva’s framework of mythic and linear time (2000) to analyze how Mog influences both Nicky’s progressive development and his recurring childhood experiences in the verbal and visual texts. The construction of timeless childhood is further explored through Gérard Genette’s iterative frequency (1980), Mog’s symbolic death, and Pierre Nora’s reflections on memory and history (1989). The article then considers cultural dimensions of Mog’s heroism through her relationship to Simon, an honored World War II naval cat, to trace how Mog’s narrative engages with British wartime memory. This analysis illuminates how picturebooks employ child-pet relationships to negotiate time and timelessness within childhood, shedding light on the interaction between literary imagination and cultural attitudes toward animals.
KEYWORDS: Judith Kerr, Mog the Forgetful Cat, picturebook, childhood representation, mythic and linear time, history and memory, child-pet relationship, Simon the War Cat
Ping-Shi Kao, Lecturer, General Education Center, Tatung University, Taiwan (pskao@gm.ttu.edu.tw).
DOI: 10.30395/WSR.202512_19(1).0004
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