THE ADMIRAL'S SNOW

In THE ADMIRAL'S SNOW, he follows the adventures of Maqroll el Gaviero—that is, the one who climbs to the crow's nest on sailing ships to sight land—along the winding Xurandó River. The character, narrator of a series of seven novellas by the author, was introduced to the Brazilian public in *The Last Stopover of the Old Cargo Ship*, in which the ship is a symbol and metaphor for fleeting and impossible loves; for the deterioration and decomposition of man, in soul and body. In THE ADMIRAL'S SNOW, Mutis makes the sea, or rather, a river, the setting for a story that blends the search for the unknown, the fear of death, and the detailed description of characters with grotesque features and a surprising sense of ethics.