While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Tova Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her encounter with a Neohelix albolabris-a common woodland snail. “Brilliant.” - The New York Review of Books
The ecosystem in the terrarium was green and growing, and the snail, as I was to discover, had goals and responsibilities.Winner of The Saroyan International Prize for Writing, the John Burroughs Medal, and the National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature It provided a view into another world where I could watch all that happened during a time when illness excluded me from participation in my own, human world. The terrarium was the only window I could physically look through, due to the limits imposed by a neurologic disease. This gave me the thinnest of hopes that perhaps I too would still fulfill dreams, even if they were changed dreams. I looked into the terrarium and saw that the snail appeared content: It ate, had adventures, fulfilled a life cycle within its confines. I had the key to the snail's release but no key to release me from my own illness. We were fellow captives, though for different reasons. Brought in from the wild and given a new home in a fresh woodland terrarium, the snail was always at my side, living within inches of my bed. The Missouri Review University of Missouri Įlisabeth Schuman Preface A woodland snail, tiny, drab-colored and slow moving, kept my interest in life alive during some of the worst months of a chronic illness. The ecosystem in the terrarium was green and growing, and the snail, as I was to discover, had goals and responsibilities.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating The Sound of a Wild Snail EatingĮlisabeth Schuman Preface A woodland snail, tiny, drab-colored and slow moving, kept my interest in life alive during some of the worst months of a chronic illness.
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