Świadectwo pewnego malakologa : figura ślimaka w powieści Vincenza Konsola "Uśmiech nieznanego marynarza"

Abstract

The article aims to discuss the representation of a snail – a recurrent symbol in Consolo’s novel. In particular, it focuses on the human-animal relationship as a zoomorphic figure endowed with symbolic meanings. The plot of The Smile of the Unknown Mariner is set in Sicily, a day before Garibaldi’s troops reach the island (1860). The protagonist of the story is baron Enrico Pirajno di Mandralisca – an aristocrat, an art collector and a keen malacologist – who refuses to face the fundamental socio-political changes his society undergoes. In the course of the novel, however, he has to give up his passion, confront the reality, and take a position befitting an aristocrat and an intellectual.