Ernst Jandl, the famous Austrian writer and poet dedicated an entire poem to the Pug entitled "Ottos Mops" (literally: "Otto's Pug"). This dadaist and experimental poem is written using only one vowel, the 'o' and, as a consequence, is very difficult to translate into other languages. An example in English of a similar lipogram (a piece of writing in which a letter is purposely missing) is Ernest Vincent Wright's Gadsby (1939), a novel written without the letter 'e'. Ernst Jandl referred to his poetry as Sprechgedichte ("Poems to be spoken" or read aloud).
The 18th century literary historical figure called Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741-1821), also known as "Mrs Thrale" referred to the Pug as "a transplanted Hollander" in her travel observations of 1789 while on a trip through Italy:
"A transplanted Hollander, carried thither originally from China, seems to thrive particularly well in this part of the world; the little pug dog, or Dutch mastiff, which our English ladies were once so fond of (...) every carriage I meet here has a pug in it. That breed of dogs is now so near extirpated among us, that I recoiled: only Lord Penryn who possesses such an animal;
In his famous dramatic satire Lethe (1740) David Garrick (1717-1779) mocked the English ladies for being so fond of their Pugs.
Ernest Aris (1882-1963), artist and author of children's stories, wrote a story of a talking, mischievous pug dog entitled Wee Peter Pug.
Numerous books devoted in part or entirely to the Pug have been published since the early 1900's. However, this page focuses on mentions of the Pug in non-canine literature. For Pug breed books, see Pug books and other books for Pug owners (Pug lifestyle books and Pug photo books).
