Topsy is a psychoanalytic tale of the effects of a dog on its owner; the analyst is the great Marie Bonaparte. Only after being told that her dog had cancer did she realize the attachment she developed to Topsy. She describes the emotions she experienced during the time of Topsy's illness and subsequent healing. Written in France and Greece at the onset of World War II, the story of Topsy's cancer clearly is intended to convey the ills of Europe at that time.

Bonaparte's relationship with her dog reveals her own fears about aging, dying, being alone, as well as the uncertainty of...