The Shell Collector | Introduction
Anthony Doerr’s “The Shell Collector” is the first story in his collection by this title, which appeared in 2002. The eight stories included depict unusual characters, often in exotic places. In “The Shell Collector,” which is set near Lamu, Kenya, the blind protagonist, a man of sixty-three, gains international notoriety after two people dangerously sick with malaria are suddenly healed by being exposed to the poisonous venom of a certain snail in a cone shell. Doerr explores man’s relationship to nature and the complications that arise when a reclusive person living a simple life in a remote place is suddenly bombarded by the news media and urban dwellers. Doerr is knowledgeable about nature and the environment, and his scientific interest informs his creative writing. Foreign and scientific terms occur frequently in this story; when they appear in this chapter, they are explained parenthetically.
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