Uncanny Snails: Patricia Highsmith and the Allure of the Gastropods

Abstract

This chapter traces the history of representations of snails as both ‘other’ and Gothic. By analysing the ways in which crime fiction author Patricia Highsmith presents these creatures in her work, both novel and short stories, it reveals how these creatures can be utilised to reveal both benign and malign tendencies when appropriated by human beings. It argues that, as abject objects, snails can be both an anchoring presence in a dangerous universe, and, by way of their almost infinite multiplicity, they can overwhelm and destroy the humans who enter their territory.