Confronting the Specter of Animality

Abstract

Federigo Tozzi’s novel Adele contains an affecting description of the brutal death of a dog, killed by agricultural workers in order to protect the grape harvest from this canine scavenger.¹ Tozzi describes the dog’s mounting unease as he is secured with a rope and led away by the head worker and his son. While walking to his death, the dog recalls a bitch he had met that morning and pauses in order to find her scent again. Jerked forward by the peasants, he becomes sad because he does not understand what is happening. On arriving at a fig tree, the peasants tie the dog, who, apparently overcome by emotion, performs gestures of submission. At this point, the son takes his rifle and shoots the dog in the muzzle. The dog falls backward and, wheezing rapidly, spills blood from his mouth down his chest. When he stands again with a gentle expression in his eyes, the son shoots him in the head. As he tries once again to stand up, staring all the while at his killer, the father finishes him off by striking him four times on the head with a shovel (Tozzi 555–57).