Argos and His Master

by Italo Svevo, Juan LePuen (Translator)

"Life is this way: first you have to beg for things and then you have to growl to keep them." Argos's master has been sent to the mountains for his health. Bored, he resolves to teach his hunting dog to talk. The experiment fails, but he himself--the more advanced animal--manages to learn Argos's language.

Length: 9,200 words
Genre: short story

25 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2012

About the author

Aron Hector Schmitz, better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo, was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer.

A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo was considered a pioneer of the psychological novel in Italy and is best known for his classic modernist novel La coscienza di Zeno (1923), a work that had a profound effect on the movement.

Reviews

[Anneke Zegers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. Honestly, Argo’s story tugs at the heartstrings, as any good dog story always does, while offering something much more. His thoughts on the world and his ways of understanding (or misunderstanding) the interior lives of humans and other animals raise provocative questions.

I would rate this story higher, but I have no idea what to make of the ending. It is very anticlimactic and does not fit the narrative arc.

[Um mar de fogueirinhas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gostoso de ler, traz contos ótimos como A mãe, A tribo e Argo.

[Jakob Brønnum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive short fiction narrated by a dog and with the dogs capacity and way of sensing itself and its surroundings