Giorgio Falco's Ticks: A Metaphor for Artistic Creation

In an essay published on doppiozero.com on August 14, 2026, Chiara De Nardi and Anita Romanello explore the work of Italian writer Giorgio Falco through the lens of the tick's life cycle. The authors draw on Jakob von Uexkull's concept of the tick, which spends its life in stillness, waiting for a warm-blooded animal to drop onto, then feeds, lays eggs, and dies. They use this as a metaphor for the relationship between time and artistic creation, suggesting that the history of an artwork, like the existence of a tick, is not a matter of effective time. The essay discusses how a writer, when concentrated, selects moments of the day to dedicate to the work, but the text is cut off mid-sentence, leaving the full argument incomplete. The piece is a critical reflection on Falco's literary output, positioning it within broader philosophical debates about time, patience, and the creative process.