Emilio Salgari

2.1. Early Life and Education

Emilio Salgari (born August 21, 1862 - died April 25, 1911) was an Italian writer of action-adventure and science fiction. His name is pronounced Emilio Salgari_{eh-MEE-lyoh sahl-GAH-ree}^Italian, though it was sometimes incorrectly pronounced Salgari_SAHL-gah-ree^Italian.

He was born in Verona, Italy, to a family of modest merchants. From a young age, he harbored a deep desire to explore the seas. To pursue this ambition, he studied seamanship at a nautical technical institution located in Venice. However, his academic performance proved to be insufficient, and he ultimately never completed his studies or graduated from the institution. Despite this, his passion for exploration remained a central theme throughout his life and work.

2.2. Early Career and Literary Beginnings

Salgari began his professional career as a reporter for the daily newspaper La Nuova Arena, where some of his early literary works were published as serials. As his storytelling abilities developed, so did his fabricated reputation as an adventurous traveler. He claimed to have explored the Sudan desert, met the legendary Buffalo Bill in Nebraska (though he had actually met him during Buffalo Bill's "Wild West Show" tour of Italy), and sailed the Seven Seas. His early biographies were often embellished with thrilling tales set in the Far East, which he asserted were the direct inspiration for much of his writing. In reality, Salgari never traveled beyond the Adriatic Sea.

He channeled his unfulfilled passion for exploration and discovery into his writing. Early in his career, he adopted the pen name "Captain Salgari," a title he once fiercely defended in a duel when its legitimacy was questioned. Despite being knighted by the Queen of Italy and achieving immense popularity with the masses, Salgari struggled financially for most of his life, earning little from his books and often living hand to mouth. His financial difficulties were such that his publisher later hired other writers to produce additional adventure stories under Salgari's name, adding around 50 novels to his body of work.

2.3. Personal Life and Tragedies

Salgari married Ida Peruzzi, affectionately nicknamed "Aida," with whom he shared a period of happiness. Together, they raised four children. However, Salgari's private life was significantly clouded by a series of tragic events. In 1889, his father committed suicide. Following 1903, Ida fell ill, and the increasing medical bills exacerbated Salgari's already struggling financial situation.

2.4. Death

The accumulation of these personal tragedies led Salgari into a severe state of depression. In 1910, he attempted suicide. After his wife, Ida, was committed to a mental ward in 1911 due to her prolonged illness, Salgari was overwhelmed by despair. He took his own life shortly thereafter on April 25, 1911, imitating the Japanese ritual of seppuku. He left behind three farewell letters, addressed to his and Ida's children, his publisher, and the editors of his newspaper in Turin. In his letter to his publisher, Salgari wrote:

To you that have grown rich from the sweat of my brow while keeping myself and my family in misery, I ask only that from those profits you find the funds to pay for my funeral. I salute you while I break my pen. Emilio Salgari.

Tragically, one of the sons of Emilio and Aida also died by suicide in 1933.

3.1. Works and Style

Salgari penned more than 200 adventure stories and novels, each transporting readers to exotic and diverse locations around the globe. His narratives featured heroes from a wide variety of cultures, including pirates, outlaws, and barbarians. A central theme throughout his works was the fight against greed, abuse of power, and corruption. Salgari drew his inspiration not from personal travel, but from extensive reading of foreign literature, newspapers, travel magazines, and encyclopedias, which he meticulously used to construct the vivid worlds of his characters.

His distinctive narrative style was fast-paced, filled with grand battles, violence, and punctuated with humor. This approach made his works highly popular with the masses. Salgari's style was widely imitated by many other Italian adventure writers, though none managed to replicate his immense popular success.

3.2. Major Series

Salgari is best known for four major series of serial novels that captured the imaginations of millions:

• The Pirates of Malaysia: This series features his most famous heroes, Sandokan, known as the Tiger of Malaysia-a Bornean prince who becomes a pirate-and his loyal lieutenant, Yanez of Gomera. Together, they lead their men in attacks against the Dutch Navy and Royal Navy, notably declaring war on James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak, in an attempt to depose him.
• The Black Corsair Saga: This series follows the adventures of The Black Corsair and Captain Morgan, who uphold a chivalric code as they navigate the treacherous waters of the Caribbean.
• The Pirates of Bermuda: This series delves into the exploits of pirates who fight for American independence.
• Adventures in the Old West: A collection of tales set in the rugged American Old West.

3.3. Other Works

Beyond his celebrated series, Salgari's other writings spanned a broad range of thematic adventure novels and collections. These included diverse settings and plots, showcasing his versatility within the adventure genre. Some notable examples include his science fiction work Le meraviglie del duemila (The Wonders of the Year 2000), published in 1907, and posthumously published minor works such as Il Brick Maledetto (The Cursed Brig) in 1936. Many of these individual adventures shared common elements and settings found in his more famous series, consistently exploring themes of exotic lands, daring escapades, and battles against injustice.

4.1. Literary and Cultural Legacy

Salgari's work profoundly influenced Italian adventure literature, with a significant portion of it seen as a direct continuation of his pioneering efforts. Numerous late 19th-century writers, including Luigi Motta and Emilio Fancelli, continued to write Sandokan adventures, consciously imitating Salgari's signature style: fast-paced narratives, grand battles, and a blend of blood, violence, and humor.

His influence extended beyond literature into film and television. The iconic Spaghetti Western director Sergio Leone, for instance, drew inspiration from Salgari's piratical adventurers for his outlaw heroes. Over 50 film adaptations have been directly based on Salgari's novels, and many more, such as corsair stories, jungle adventures, and swashbuckler B-movies like Morgan, the Pirate starring Steve Reeves, were inspired by his work.

4.2. Influence on Prominent Figures

Salgari's novels were widely read and cherished by many notable individuals across various fields. The acclaimed film director Federico Fellini was an avid reader of Salgari's books, as was the celebrated composer Pietro Mascagni, who had over 50 Salgari titles in his personal library. The renowned intellectual Umberto Eco also read Salgari's works as a child.

Salgari's popularity was particularly strong in Portugal, Spain, and Spanish-speaking countries. Many prominent Latin American writers, including Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda, have attested to reading his works during their youth. Notably, the revolutionary figure Che Guevara reportedly read 62 of Salgari's books. His biographer, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, suggested that Guevara's strong anti-imperialism could be considered "Salgarian in origin," highlighting the potential impact of Salgari's tales of heroes battling oppressive powers on Guevara's worldview.

4.3. Criticism and Reevaluation

Despite his massive popularity with the general public, Emilio Salgari's works were largely overlooked or shunned by mainstream literary critics throughout his lifetime and for most of the 20th century. This lack of critical appreciation meant his contributions were often marginalized within the academic literary discourse. However, a significant critical reevaluation of his writings began in the late 1990s. During this period, new translations of his works started to appear, and his novels gained renewed appreciation for their unique characterization and engaging plots. In 2001, the first National Salgari Association was founded in Italy, specifically to celebrate and promote his literary legacy, further solidifying his re-established place in Italian literary history.

5.1. Early Film Adaptations

The exact first film adaptation of a Salgari novel is debated among historians. Cabiria, a 1914 film directed by Giovanni Pastrone, shares many similarities with Salgari's 1908 adventure novel Cartagine in Fiamme (Carthage is Burning). Despite these parallels, Salgari was never officially credited for the film. Instead, Gabriele D'Annunzio was billed as the official screenwriter, having been brought in to revise the film after it was shot, earning credit by changing the title to Cabiria, altering some character names, and rewriting captions. This three-hour epic, featuring thousands of extras, caused a sensation across Italy and pioneered large-scale cinematic production, foreshadowing the work of directors like D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein.

In the early 1920s, Vitale De Stefano brought Salgari's pirates to the big screen with a series of five films produced over two years, including Il corsaro nero (The Black Corsair) and La Regina dei caraibi (The Queen of the Caribbean). Later, Lex Barker appeared as the tiger hunter Tremal-Naik in the 1955 B-movie The Mystery of The Black Jungle.

5.2. Major Films and TV Series

The character of Sandokan was notably portrayed by the Hercules star Steve Reeves in films like Sandokan the Great and The Pirates of Malaysia, also known as The Pirates of The Seven Seas. Ray Danton took on the role of Sandokan in Luigi Capuano's Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak (also titled Throne of Vengeance) and reprised the role in Sandokan Fights Back (also known as The Conqueror and the Empress).

The 1944 Mexican film El corsario negro was based on Salgari's novel The Black Corsair. In 1965, the adventure film La montagna di luce (The Mountain of Light) was loosely based on Salgari's 1902 novel of the same title, which referred to the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The film was released in English under several titles, most commonly Jungle Adventurer. One alternate title, "Sandok," attempted to capitalize on the popularity of Salgari's fictional pirate Sandokan, even though the novel and film had no connection to Sandokan's character or his adventures, with the plot revolving around a fictitious attempt to steal the Koh-i-Noor in 19th-century India.

A landmark adaptation arrived in 1976 with the Sandokan TV miniseries, which aired across Europe. It starred Kabir Bedi in the title role and garnered immense popularity, attracting over 80 million viewers a week. Bedi has since been regarded as the quintessential Sandokan, reprising the role in a series of sequels in the late 1990s.

6.1. Major Series

6.1.1. The Sandokan Series

• The Mystery of the Black Jungle (I Misteri della Jungla Nera, 1895)
• The Pirates of Malaysia (I pirati della Malesia, 1896)
• The Tigers of Mompracem (Le tigri di Mompracem, 1900)
• The Two Tigers (Le due Tigri, 1904)
• The King of the Sea (Il re del mare, 1906)
• Quest for a Throne (Alla conquista di un impero, 1907)
• Sandokan alla riscossa (Sandokan to the Rescue, 1907)
• La riconquista di Mompracem (Return to Mompracem, 1908)
• Il Bramino dell'Assam (The Brahman or The False Brahman, 1911)
• La caduta di un impero (An Empire Crumbles, 1911)
• La rivincita di Yanez (Yanez' Revenge, 1913)

The last three titles in this series were published posthumously.

6.2. Standalone and Thematic Adventures