La laguna dei bei sogni e un solo (lungo) silenzio=The lagoon of sweet dreams and only one (long) silence

Abstract

The lagoon of sweet dreams and only one (long) silence. Hugo Pratt has been the first cartoonist able to highlight both dialogues and silences into adventure. In a short tale belonging to the first series of Corto Maltese’s adventures – the charachter is present only in a few frames, at the very beginning and at the end – Pratt shows to the reader the last moments of an English sargent escaped from the First World War. His delirium is coincident with the accomplishment of all his desires. The penultimate page proposes three close-up of three different characters (Corto Maltese is the last one) looking towards us, silently. For the comics’ history these three frames are memorable, marking the passage from dream to reality, from death to life.