The Italian Almanac

Corto Maltese - "the sailor without a ship" - is the most famous character created by the Italian artist Hugo Pratt (1927-1995). His first appearance was as a subsidiary character in the graphic novel "Ballad of the Salt Sea" (first published in the Italian magazine Sgt. Kirk in 1967-1969), but he soon became the protagonist in a series of fascinating adventures taking place in all corners of the earth. - Protagonist? Maybe "spectator" would be a more appropriate term, since this sometimes cynical, sometimes romantic sailor usually prefers to be a witness to events, rather than a participant (a principle he wittingly violates from time to time, though).

The age to which Corto belonged - roughly, the first three decades of the 20th Century - was a time of great change and upheaval. Revolutionary movements became a force to be reckoned with on a global scale; the industrial revolution was also becoming a world-wide phenomenon (as was war); empires were crumbling, and the European colonial powers had reached their zenith (but stubbornly refused to admit this); map makers hadn't been so busy since the time of the great discoveries four hundred years earlier; in science as well, maps were redrawn, and revolution was the order of the day; and, more subtle but still with enormous consequences, "rationality" was becoming the principle upon which the emerging century claimed to be founded - what the German sociologist Max Weber aptly termed "the de-enchantment of the world".

In the midst of all this turmoil, but still at the same time seemingly always at the fringes of the great events, the adventurer (and self-proclaimed "gentleman of fortune") Corto Maltese is constantly seeking new horizons, and exploring the borders of western civilization - both in the geographical as well as an ontological sense. The magical is always present - manifested in dreams and myths, or in the shape of shamans and soothsayers. But the feeling that this age soon will be "Temps perdu" is very strong, as modernity in all its guises becomes ever more ubiquitous. The atmosphere which permeates Pratt's tales certainly is nostalgic; but while accusations of escapism with some justification could be levelled at the author, the modern world's threat to the powers of imagination and fantasy provides a far stronger justification for his "heresy" against modernity and rationalism.