Page 78 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

78 from Italy to the Canary Islands

nothing is unknown to us anymore, even the wilderness of Patagonia is a
place of ours, a part of us. All of Man’s fears today are no longer in connec-
tion with places to be reached in the world, but with the end of the dream.
Travelling on business often coincides with the idea of a holiday, or
rather of putting the ritual of day-to-day life on hold. We no longer fear sea
monsters, judgemental divinities or surpassing a known limit and ending
up beyond the “Pillars of Hercules”.
Today it is the task of Literature and Poetry to create new limits and
illustrate new adventures. Often, as in a certain American “minimalism”,
terror can take shape in a simple dwelling and anguish can burn up in the
desolation of a kitchen, in the uninterrupted silence of an existence under a
neon light. In this case the “Pillars of Hercules” are represented by the door
of the house itself: beyond it lies the unknowable, or rather the Other, full
of violence and desperation. But this is life still. Literature will take over
after and will take care precisely of this. also of this.
In line with our inner images, we catch sight of Lanzarotto Malocello
seated firmly on the deck of one of his galleys. He is a young man of av-
erage height and his face could result from the blending of the expressions
of Descartes and Bernini. His body, on the other hand, is agile and quick
and also blessed with well-proportioned musculature. His eyes are fixed on
the “Pillars of Hercules” he has spotted. His soul had remained calm until
that moment, but close to the Strait, perhaps recalling some readings – the
Odyssey? Cicero? Seneca? – and certain tales heard at the port of Genoa
and at the Palace, he is seized by the deafening pounding of his heart. His
heart hammers not only in his ribcage, but in his neck, too.
In the proximity of the limit, he cannot pull back; he knows well that his
existence involves trials of courage like this, too.
Just because there has been no news of Ugolino and Vadino Vivaldi for
around twenty years is no good reason to turn the ship around now.
Prayers on the bridge also help, especially at sunset. And then, beyond
those Pillars, one will learn of places where perhaps there is no such thing
as death.