(Drivebycuriosity) - Patricia Highsmith belonged to the most important writers of the 20th century, blending art with entertainment. Her murderous tales are deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud and her own secret obsessions. The short story collection "Eleven" gives a perfect introduction into her work ( amazon).
The Highsmith was obsessed by snails. She kept about 300 in her home and took her favorite, Hortense, on travels. It is not surprising that the collection has 2 snail stories. The famous "The Snail Watcher" (10 pages) is about scientific interest that turns into obsession and then into horror. The 2nd snail story, "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" (19 pages), is a fairy tale that reminds of Brother Grimms`and also a bit of Robert Louis Stevenson´s South Sea Tales, set on a remote tropical island. The Highsmith showed that she is also a master in the genre of old fashioned (in a good sense) adventure stories.
"When the Fleet was at Mobile" is a sad story about an unfortunate girl. Highsmith`s tales are usually not friendly to women, but here she was. The story "Mr. Afton, Among the Gree Braes", focuses on a psychological analyst, inspired by her deep interest in psychology and the lectures of Sigmund Freud. In "The Heroine" a family hired a very strange girl as a nurse for their children and trusted her blindly? Really a good idea? In "The Barbarians" rowdy people play noisy ball games and destroy plants in the back yard, making the residents suffer. Reminds me of Manhattan´s Lower East Side and the late nightly open air parties.
Alone the snail stories are already worth reading the book.
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