On “Piloto et Lassie, une autre histoire de Roméo et Juliette”
“Piloto et Lassie” is one of the three plays of the children’s book Le Théâtre des Animaux
Why did the author write “Piloto et Lassie”? Was it to speak about the abandonment of animal pets and, while condemning it, criticise as well the abandonment of children? In this play, dogs and children look so much alike and understand each other so well in the universe they share away from that of adults, that the author of “The Little Prince” would certainly have loved this tale.
This tale addresses children with a familiar language level; its speech is realistic and refreshingly naive and deals with children’s everyday life. It takes inspiration both from the classic tale by its realistic features and from the contemporary tale by its fantasy. Let’s mention for example that animals can speak and, when in the absence of their masters, they create and evolve into a complicity, even into an identification with their readers – children. When in the presence of their masters, however, they become what the latter see or want to see in them… and what they really are – dogs living and acting simply as dogs.
We would have wished this tale to be as long as that of “Timbuctu” by Paul Auster so as to wholy seize the author’s hidden intentions when showing us her both visions of the world for children’s and adults’ happiness.
Serge LAPISSE
Writer, philosopher, poet
Doctor of Law
President of CIELA
