L’opera di Vincenzo Consolo e l’identità culturale del Mediterraneo, fra conflitto e integrazione

Gianni Turchetta*
I
ntroduzione

  1. Siciliano e milanese
    Il libro che avete fra le mani nasce da un Convegno internazionale tenutosi a Milano il 6 e 7 marzo 2019, presso l’Università degli Studi di Milano, nella prestigiosa Sala Napoleonica di Palazzo Greppi.
    Tenevo molto alla realizzazione di questo Convegno e ora sono felice di aprire questo volume. Tornerò subito sull’importanza di Consolo scrittore e intellettuale. Ma voglio anzitutto sottolineare fino a che punto il sicilianissimo Vincenzo Consolo, (nato a Sant’Agata di Militello il 18 febbraio 1933), che per tutta la vita ha parlato e scritto quasi solo della Sicilia, avesse messo radici a Milano, dove ha vissuto dal 1° gennaio 1968 (una data singolarmente simbolica) fino alla morte, avvenuta il 21 gennaio 2012. Questo volume esce anche ormai a ridosso del decennale della scomparsa, di cui intende aprire le celebrazioni. Come molti altri scrittori siciliani, Consolo si è trasferito a Milano: e come non pochi altri, Vittorini in testa, c’è rimasto poi fino alla fine. È vero anche però che, in non pochi momenti della sua vita, egli ha meditato seriamente sulla possibilità di andarsene, di tornare in Sicilia, o quanto meno al sud, per vari motivi: per nostalgia, forse per tutta la vita, ma fors’anche mai
    convintamente; perché il sud avrebbe avuto bisogno di una guida intellettuale (soprattutto all’indomani della morte di Sciascia, tra fine anni Ottanta e inizio anni Novanta, anche per le sollecitazioni di Goffredo Fofi, a sua volta tornato da Milano a Napoli); perché deluso da un nord affarista e rapace, traditore della grande tradizione illuminista (si veda Retablo), politicamente sempre più a destra (soprattutto all’indomani dell’elezione di Formentini a Sindaco di Milano, nel 1993), e poco dopo berlusconiano. Eppure, nonostante tutto, Consolo alla fine è rimasto a Milano, per tante altre ragioni. E dunque non si fa certo una forzatura considerandolo, così come tanti altri meridionali diventati milanesi d’adozione (mi ci metto anch’io), non solo siciliano, ma anche milanese. Certamente Milano ha dato molto a Consolo. E d’altro canto Consolo ha ricambiato con una fedeltà profonda, più di quanto potrebbe apparire a prima vista. Era dunque doveroso che Milano, finalmente, gli dedicasse un grande Convegno, e che questo Convegno non restasse solo un
    evento, ma diventasse una tappa importante nella bibliografia critica consoliana, diventata ormai molto ampia e ricchissima di contributi di studiosi non italiani, o trasferiti da molto tempo in sedi estere. Prima di entrare nel merito dell’argomento cui sono dedicati i saggi qui raccolti, voglio ancora fare due osservazioni preliminari. La prima riguarda la necessità di acquisire in pianta stabile Consolo alla percezione diffusa della letteratura italiana contemporanea, a quello che potremmo chiamare il senso comune o, se preferite, il canone. La pubblicazione delle opere di Vincenzo Consolo nei Meridiani Mondadori ne sancisce del resto definitivamente la statura di “classico”, di scrittore destinato a restare. Sfruttando la prestigiosa auctoritas di Cesare Segre: «Consolo è stato il maggiore scrittore italiano della sua generazione»1, quella cioè degli anni Trenta. Segre ha certo ragione, ma noi possiamo allargare anche di più la sua affermazione, ribadendo, senza mezzi termini, che Consolo è tout court uno dei massimi scrittori italiani del Secondo Novecento. La seconda osservazione ha a che vedere con la scelta di inquadrare Consolo in relazione all’identità mediterranea, o piuttosto all’intreccio inestricabile di identità che caratterizza il Mediterraneo. Guardare a Consolo da questa prospettiva significa certo, in prima approssimazione, ribadire la costanza e la profondità dei suoi discorsi sulla Sicilia: ma tenendo sempre presente che per Consolo
    la Sicilia, come vedremo fra poco, è fisicamente centro e simbolicamente luogo esemplare di una realtà più ampia e complessa: quella appunto del Mediterraneo. Lo testimonia, fra, le altre cose, anche l’importante antologia in lingua inglese degli scritti di Consolo, Reading and writing the Mediterranean, curata da Norma Bouchard e Massimo Lollini2. Allo stesso tempo, leggere Consolo
    sub specie Mediterranei ha significato collocarsi in una specola privilegiata, dalla quale egli appare fin dal primo momento in tutta la sua complessità, di scrittore ma anche di intellettuale a tutto tondo, impegnato senza tregua anche sul piano politico-culturale. Sarei quasi tentato di parlare di una sorta di paradosso che governa il lavoro di Vincenzo Consolo: ma credo sia più opportuno parlare di una tensione costitutiva, che fa del resto tutt’uno con la sua straordinarietà. Sperimentalismo e eticità: fra scrittura e militanza La scrittura consoliana nasce certo da una vocazione implacabile, tutta tesa verso un’idea di letteratura come linguaggio speciale, tanto
    denso da sfidare la concretezza stessa del reale. In questa prospettiva, Consolo assegna alla letteratura una missione insieme impossibile e necessaria, che ha una profonda valenza etica e politica. Dopo la fine della stagione dell’engagement, Consolo chiede alla letteratura di essere pienamente, ferocemente letteratura, di distinguersi sempre dalle altre forme di comunicazione: comprese quella della quotidiana battaglia politico-culturale, condotta soprattutto sui quotidiani e in genere sui periodici a larga diffusione.
    Questa duplicità gli consente di affiancare due operazioni molto diverse, se non antitetiche: denunciare le ingiustizie del mondo, da un lato, producendo parole che potrebbero, nonostante tutto, contribuire a cambiarlo; ma anche, da un altro lato, valorizzare senza sosta la bellezza e la ricchezza della vita. Non è certo un caso che questa duplicità permei in profondità proprio la rappresentazione della Sicilia, come mostra esemplarmente, fra gli altri, un romanzoromanzo
    come Retablo.
    Se la scrittura propriamente letteraria è protesa verso la mission impossibile di sfidare la densità delle cose e della realtà, d’altro canto Consolo non smette di praticare senza sosta un’idea
    fortemente militante del lavoro intellettuale, mediante il quale lo scrittore, pur consapevole dei propri limiti, si batte per denunciare le ingiustizie del mondo, intervenendo senza soluzione di continuità nel dibattito culturale, in tutte le sedi disponibili. A fianco alla produzione propriamente letteraria, Consolo ha così realizzato un’immensa produzione saggistica e giornalistica, ancora pochissimo studiata, e che è necessario indagare. Egli ha infatti collaborato per decenni (dal 1966 al 2010) con numerosissime testate, fra le quali «L’Ora», «Il Messaggero», «La Stampa», il «Corriere della Sera», «l’Unità», «il Manifesto», «Repubblica», «L’Espresso». Solo una piccola parte di questa produzione è stata raccolta e ripubblicata in volume: il che equivale a dire che fra i lavori da fare ci sono non poche possibili nuove edizioni. Per ora in volume troviamo anzitutto i magnifici saggi, di impianto prevalentemente storico e letterario, raccolti in Di qua dal faro3, un libro che a sua volta riprende altri più piccoli volumi precedenti. Già questo volume affronta la storia, la cultura e la
    letteratura siciliane in una prospettiva che si apre verso il Mediterraneo tutto, anticipando prospettive di studio oggi molto frequentate e ai quali certo il presente volume intende ricollegarsi.
    Ma Di qua dal faro raccoglie solo una piccola parte della vasta produzione saggistica di Consolo. Sul versante giornalistico, possiamo leggere in volume anche un’antologia degli articoli pubblicati sul quotidiano di Palermo «L’Ora» tra la fine degli anni Sessanta e la metà degli anni Settanta4, durante la stagione straordinaria della direzione di Vittorio Nisticò5. È poi disponibile una scelta quasi completa dei suoi scritti sulla mafia6: dove, di nuovo, emergono l’urgenza e la drammaticità di tematiche legate alla Sicilia e al Meridione d’Italia, nella loro peculiarità ma anche nel loro più
    ampio rapporto con i processi di modernizzazione della penisola. La maggior parte degli scritti saggistici e militanti di Consolo resta però sparpagliata nelle diverse sedi in cui è uscita e in una piccola galassia di libretti di pressoché impossibile reperibilità. Consolo ha svolto un’attività giornalistica di ampiezza e intensità davvero straordinarie: mi permetto di rimandare, a questo proposito, alla bibliografia da me curata per il Meridiano7, che nella sua (quasi) esaustività consente di farsi un’idea precisa e fondata. E pensare che alcuni critici hanno detto che Consolo era “pigro”: bibliografia alla mano, pare proprio difficile sostenerlo! È vero solo, semmai, che egli ha scritto un numero relativamente limitato di libri propriamente di letteratura: questo è avvenuto proprio perché, quando scriveva «letteratura», costruiva delle macchine semiotiche ed espressive di natura assai diversa da quelle realizzate negli articoli e nei saggi, macchine che chiedevano una costruzione lentissima, sviluppata nel corso di anni interi. D’altro canto, per tutta la vita, o per lo meno dagli
    anni immediatamente successivi all’esordio con La ferita dell’aprile 8, la scrittura letteraria è stata sempre affiancata da quella lato sensu giornalistica. Già i volumi a nostra disposizione ci consentono di cogliere fino a che punto Consolo fosse presente con grande costanza nella vita pubblica e nella vita politica, sempre ben salvaguardando la sua specificità di intellettuale, secondo un modello che deriva dalla cultura francese, da Émile Zola e dallo stesso Jean-Paul Sartre (entrambi citati più volte nei suoi scritti militanti). Consolo era, insomma, un intellettuale sempre pronto a parlare della realtà, del presente, della quotidianità, spesso toccando temi caldi e problematici, con un coraggio e una spregiudicatezza mai disponibili al compromesso, segnati da un’eticità rigorosissima, senza incrinature. Per dirla in modo un po’ colloquiale: Consolo non le mandava mai a dire, e questo, non lo si dimentichi, gli ha procurato non poche ostilità, delle quali si curava poco o nulla. Anche da questo punto di vista il suo esempio è davvero ammirevole. Vorrei persino dire che, pur rifiutando sempre le non poche sollecitazioni a scendere in politica9, a suo modo Consolo ha sempre fatto politica, per quanto in maniera molto diversa e lontana da quella dei politici professionali.
  2. “Io non so che voglia sia questa”: l’ossessione della Sicilia Cominciamo a dirlo con le sue parole:
    Io non so che voglia sia questa, ogni volta che torno in Sicilia, di volerla girare e girare, di percorrere ogni lato, ogni capo della costa, inoltrarmi all’interno, sostare in città e paesi, in villaggi e luoghi sperduti, rivedere vecchie persone, conoscerne nuove. Una voglia, una smania che non mi lascia star fermo in un posto. Non so. Ma sospetto sia questo una sorta d’addio, un volerla vedere e toccare prima che uno dei due sparisca.10
    Consolo ha sempre in mente la Sicilia, ne parla sempre. Un po’ la vuole, e un po’ però è lui il primo a non volerci tornare: la ama e non la sopporta, la desidera e gli ripugna. Rappresentare la Sicilia da
    lontano ha significato per lui anche vivere l’ossessione della Sicilia nei termini, consapevolmente contraddittori di necessità del ritorno, ma anche di impossibilità del ritorno. Significativamente, egli ha reinventato il mito di Ulisse alla sua maniera, parlandoci di un Ulisse che non ha più un’Itaca dove tornare, della quête ormai impossibile di una patria e di un’origine che ormai non esistono più. Consolo è ossessionato da questa sua patria che non è più quella di prima, che non è più patria: ma parlando della Sicilia parla con ogni evidenza di tutto un mondo dove la perdita delle radici è la regola, dove non è più possibile affidarsi a un’appartenenza originaria, che rischia di essere mistificata e mistificatoria. Ma che Sicilia è la Sicilia di Consolo? Ancora una volta la contraddizione è vitale: da un lato è una Sicilia costruita con un’attenzione documentaria rigorosa. Da questo punto di vista, Consolo si comporta in molti casi quasi come uno specialista, uno storiografo di professione. Frequentando a lungo le sue carte ho potuto vedere bene in che modo egli arrivasse a costruire i suoi testi letterari, quasi sempre raccogliendo documenti e materiali vari per anni. Nel caso del Sorriso dell’ignoto marinaio (la cui costruzione ha richiesto tredici anni di lavoro) Consolo narra della cruenta rivolta contadina di Alcàra Li Fusi, del maggio 1860, poi repressa con violenza. Per ricostruirla non solo studia libri di storia, ma va in archivio, cercando le carte di quella vicenda: si procura, per
    esempio, i certificati di morte dei rivoltosi condannati alla fucilazione. Quando infatti, alla fine del Sorriso, leggiamo proprio un certificato di morte, quello del bracciante Peppe Sirna, non siamo davanti a un’invenzione, ma a un documento autentico, che certo ha anche la funzione simbolica di farci percepire il contrasto terribile fra la nuda povertà di un certificato di morte, delle sue poche, gelide, burocratiche parole, che sono un quasi-nulla, e la vigorosa intensità della vita in corso, in particolare quella che avevamo percepito nel cap. V, dove la rappresentazione passa proprio attraverso il punto di vista di Peppe Sirna, messo in scena nelle sue fatiche, nelle sue percezioni e nei suoi pensieri. Consolo lavora così in molte occasioni: raccoglie i materiali come uno storiografo e si confronta con la documentazione, nella sua oggettività. Ma al tempo stesso non smette di mostrarci la soggettività di ogni punto di vista e la prospetticità di ogni visione del mondo. La Sicilia che egli rappresenta è del resto sì concretissima, ma può essere anche sottoposta a una torsione mitizzante che la rende persino fiabesca, come accade soprattutto in Lunaria, ma anche in Retablo. In ogni caso, la sua Sicilia è, come dire?, una Sicilia-Sicilia, fedele alla propria identità, ma al tempo stesso non
    cessa di essere anche “altro”, di funzionare come una metafora ad alta densità, dotata di una energica tensione generalizzante. Anche la Sicilia di Consolo, com’era accaduto alla Lucania di Carlo Levi, si fa intensa rappresentazione del Sud del mondo e dei processi di modernizzazione che distruggono il mondo contadino: li vediamo all’opera in Italia, ma anche in tante altre nazioni, soprattutto extraeuropee. Anche se ci parla di come i processi di modernizzazione stiano distruggendo molte civiltà, in Consolo non c’è mai un atteggiamento nostalgico, la facile retorica sui bei tempi andati. È necessario ricordare, a questo proposito, come lo stesso plurilinguismo consoliano nasca dall’intenzione di conservare, attraverso la letteratura, parole che rischiano di perdersi, e, attraverso le parole, le culture, i punti di vista sul mondo, i modi di vita che esse portano
    in sé. Nella scrittura di Consolo vi è insomma una grande preoccupazione antropologica, oltre che storica, coerentemente con la sua costante attenzione alla longue durée. Parlando della Sicilia Consolo ci racconta una storia drammatica, anche perché molte volte i cambiamenti sono parsi offrire delle possibilità di rinnovamento, di liberazione, che poi però sono andate perdute e hanno deluso. Al di qua e al di là della Storia, per Consolo la Sicilia è però anche una densa metafora dell’ambivalenza della vita. In fondo in Sicilia c’è tutto quello che si potrebbe desiderare per
    essere felici: una cultura millenaria, con straordinari monumenti, dalla protostoria alla Magna Grecia, dalla romanità al Medioevo, al Barocco, al Liberty; una natura rigogliosa e varia; una cultura stratificata e ricchissima; anche, perché no?, una cucina tra le più raffinate del mondo. Detto in due parole, la Sicilia potrebbe forse essere il migliore dei mondi possibili. Eppure per molti versi è quasi il
    contrario: è un mondo tragicamente violento e corrotto, pieno di orrori, tanto da rendersi persino proverbiale, visto che nel mondo intero è proprio una parola siciliana, mafia, a indicare tutte le forme
    di criminalità organizzata. Rispetto alla rappresentazione dell’ambivalenza della Sicilia, Retablo11 è un testo esemplare: vi troviamo deliziosi incontri tra amici e nuove amicizie che nascono; ma al tempo stesso assistiamo alla rappresentazione di un orrore innominabile, senza fine. Si pensi, fra le altre, alla scena delle prostitute a cui per punizione viene tagliato il naso12. Una violenza atroce, quella delle mutilazioni come pena legale, che si praticava nel mondo passato, certo (e dunque… come idealizzarlo?): ma che continua ad accadere ancora oggi in non poche parti del mondo…
    La Sicilia appare dunque in Consolo come un luogo in cui vi è tutto il male e tutto il bene, ed è di conseguenza anche per questo un’immagine della vita tutta, un luogo «bellissimo e tremendo», per
    riprendere un’espressione di Consolo stesso13. La Sicilia si fa insomma metafora della vita, della sua bellezza straordinaria e della sua terribile violenza, che convivono. D’altro canto, Consolo non
    cade mai in un vizio tipico dei letterati: quello di collocare tutto in «un tempo senza tempo», di parlare di ogni violenza e di ogni tristezza come di qualcosa di eterno, segno di un destino immodificabile e senza scampo. Non a caso del resto Consolo polemizza duramente con chi, come Tomasi di Lampedusa, pensa che la Storia sia inesorabilmente uguale a se stessa, che in essa «cambia tutto» perché «non cambi niente». Tutt’al contrario, Consolo ci ricorda in continuazione che i cambiamenti sono storicamente determinati: e che quindi bisogna continuare a combattere per provare a cambiare. “Non un paesaggio ma innumerevoli paesaggi”: il mosaico Mediterraneo
    Se la Sicilia funziona come chiave per la lettura del mondo tutto, questo avviene anche e proprio perché la Sicilia è per Consolo una sorta di sintesi del Mediterraneo, cioè di un’area talmente ricca sul piano storico e culturale da poter valere come equivalente del mondo tutto: Perché è da qui che vogliamo partire, per un nostro viaggio, per una nostra ricognizione della Sicilia, per inventarci, liberi come siamo da confini di geografia, da limiti d’epoca storica o da barriere tematiche, un modo, tra infiniti altri, per conoscere quest’isola al centro del Mediterraneo, questo luogo d’incrocio d’ogni
    vento e assalto, d’ogni dominio e d’ogni civilizzazione.14 L’ambiguità sintattica, che permette di interpretare sia la Sicilia sia il Mediterraneo come il “luogo d’incrocio d’ogni vento e assalto, d’ogni dominio e d’ogni civilizzazione” finisce per ribadire sul piano semantico la possibilità che la Sicilia sia una sorta di equivalente del Mediterraneo tutto, con le sue caratteristiche di molteplicità e, di più,
    di totalità. Già i saggi contenuti in Di qua dal faro15 vanno del resto, fin dal titolo, in una direzione apertamente mediterranea. Il titolo infatti evoca polemicamente un modo di dire dei Borboni, che con l’espressione «Di là dal faro» designavano appunto la Sicilia, vista dal continente, e più specificamente da Napoli, come la parte del loro regno collocata al di là del faro di Messina: una regione a cui guardavano evidentemente con sufficienza e distacco. La prospettiva opposta, quella «di qua dal faro», implica invece uno sguardo partecipe, ma al tempo stesso, mentre sottolinea la
    centralità della Sicilia, intende sottolineare proprio la necessaria apertura verso il Mediterraneo tutto: la Sicilia, dunque, come mondo “altro”, ma emblematico di un mondo più vasto. Quanto ricco sia il
    Mediterraneo di Consolo verrà mostrato con ampiezza e profondità dai saggi qui raccolti. E voglio ricordare anche la recente uscita di un’importante monografia di Ada Bellanova su La rappresentazione degli spazi nell’opera di Vincenzo Consolo, un volume che indaga ampiamente la mediterraneità di Consolo16. La dimensione mediterranea dell’opera di Consolo chiama in causa, come accennato poco sopra, un’identità che va declinata su una profondità storica straordinaria, plurimillenaria, di longue durée. In questa chiave, la storia si fa antropologia, anche perché chiama in
    causa gesti antichi, azioni che fondano le comunità umane: la raccolta e la produzione dei cibi, la produzione di oggetti, l’acquisizione delle risorse, e, in generale, quelle che potremmo chiamare le azioni del lavoro umano. Non a caso, in Di qua dal faro si trovano tante “storie” (straordinarie) che ci parlano direttamente di queste azioni, di questi gesti: si pensi alle ricostruzioni della storia dell’estrazione dello zolfo, una grande vicenda economica e antropologica della storia italiana, o della pesca del tonno17. Certo il Mediterraneo è uno spazio fortemente identitario. Ma si tratta di
    un’identità caratteristicamente plurale, perché composta da un mosaico complessissimo di tempi lingue culture etnie. Il Mediterraneo è un piccolo mare, certo, ma che tocca in un piccolo spazio tre continenti, in un’area segnata da una storia tanto antica da configurarsi per molti aspetti come la culla non di una, ma di molte civiltà. Ce lo ricordano, fra molte altre, le parole di uno dei più
    grandi esperti di tutti i tempi della storia mediterranea, Fernand Braudel: Che cos’è il Mediterraneo? Mille cose insieme. Non un paesaggio, ma innumerevoli paesaggi. Non un mare, ma un susseguirsi di mari. Non una civiltà, ma una serie di civiltà accatastate le une sulle altre. Viaggiare nel Mediterraneo significa incontrare il mondo romano in Libano, la preistoria in Sardegna, le città
    greche in Sicilia, la presenza araba in Spagna, l’Islam turco in Iugoslavia. Significa profondare nell’abisso di secoli, fino alle costruzioni megalitiche di Malta o alle piramidi d’Egitto. Significa incontrare realtà antichissime, ancora vive, a fianco dell’ultramoderno: accanto a Venezia, nella sua falsa immobilità, l’imponente agglomerato industriale di Mestre; accanto alla barca del pescatore, che è ancora quella di Ulisse, il peschereccio devastatore dei fondi marini o le enormi petroliere.
    Significa immergersi nell’arcaismo dei mondi insulari e nello stesso tempo stupire di fronte all’estrema giovinezza di città molto antiche, aperte a tutti i venti della cultura e del profitto, e che da secoli sorvegliano e consumano il mare.18 Lettore attento di Braudel, con ogni evidenza anche Consolo colloca il Mediterraneo sotto il segno della pluralità, che ritroviamo in tutti gli studi più autorevoli sul mare nostrum. Mi verrebbe persino da dire che la stessa scrittura consoliana, così programmaticamente plurale, intende in qualche modo echeggiare proprio quella pluralità.
    Spazio millenario di intensi scambi e di ricchissima produzione culturale, nel Mediterraneo culture diversissime si sono mescolate, integrandosi prodigiosamente (si pensi alla civiltà arabo-sicula, o a
    un fenomeno linguistico come il sabir, la lingua franca dei porti del Mediterraneo, che mescola lingue romanze e lingue semitiche) o tragicamente scontrandosi e combattendosi. Le scritture di Consolo evocano continuamente lo spessore storico delle vicende che hanno attraversato il Mediterraneo, proiettandole in modo sistematico sull’attualità, e mostrando come la straordinaria ricchezza multilinguistica e multi-culturale del Mediterraneo possa costituire un punto di riferimento per l’interpretazione della realtà contemporanea e per l’individuazione di strategie di integrazione.
    La forza del riferimento all’identità mediterranea sta anche nel fatto che lo spazio del Mediterraneo rende problematiche molte opposizioni che siamo soliti dare per scontate, a cominciare da quelle, insieme geografiche e metaforiche, di nord vs sud e est vs ovest. Ragionare in termini di mediterraneità significa così, di necessità, fare sempre riferimento a un’identità composita, che nega
    ogni semplificazione identitaria: proprio quel tipo di semplificazione da cui derivano le elementari, forzatissime e opportunistiche narrazioni sovraniste e populiste. Per sua stessa costituzione,
    proprio l’identità mediterranea ci chiede continuamente di essere di nuovo decifrata, ci impone di non smettere mai di fare i conti con qualcosa che è sempre stata problematica, e che, per sovrapprezzo, gli ultimi anni hanno, drammaticamente, reso ancora più problematica e conflittuale. A questo proposito, è difficile trovare parole più esatte di quelle di un altro gigante degli studi mediterranei, Predrag Matvejević: l’Europa, il Magreb e il Levante; il giudaismo, il cristianesimo e l’Islam; il Talmud, la Bibbia e il Corano; Gerusalemme, Atene e Roma; Alessandria, Costantinopoli,
    Venezia; la dialettica greca, l’arte, la democrazia; il diritto romano, il foro e la repubblica; la scienza araba; il Rinascimento in Italia, la Spagna delle varie epoche, celebri e atroci; gli Slavi del sud sull’Adriatico e molte altre cose ancora. Qui popoli e razze per secoli hanno continuato a mescolarsi, fondersi e contrapporsi gli uni negli altri, come forse in nessuna ragione di questo pianeta. Si
    esagera evidenziando le loro convergenze e somiglianze, e trascurando invece i loro antagonismi e le differenze.19 Fra conflitto e integrazione, appunto, come nel nostro titolo. Parlare di Mediterraneo, non a caso, significa così anche denunciare la violenza che in questo spazio è stata e continua a essere esercitata. Ce lo ricorda ancora Braudel, in un passo che Consolo ha non a caso citato più di una volta: “In tutto il Mediterraneo l’uomo è cacciato, rinchiuso, venduto, torturato, e vi conosce tutte le miserie, gli orrori e le santità degli universi concentrazionari”20. Consolo è stato, non per caso, uno dei più lucidi e tempestivi nel cogliere le nuove direzioni della violenza nel Mediterraneo, a cominciare da quella esercitata sui migranti, su cui torneremo fra pochissimo. Pochi come lui hanno capito subito, fin dagli anni Ottanta, che Il Mediterraneo oggi, forse per la prima volta nella propria storia millenaria vede intaccato il mito che costantemente lo ha accompagnato, quello della culla delle culture, delle civiltà, delle tre grandi religioni monoteistiche, per vederlo sostituire da un mito sommario, cumulativo, a grappolo, quasi, ed è quello che presenta il Mediterraneo come un mare pericoloso 21 La vibrata, lucida polemica di Andrea Gialloreto, Srećko Jurišić, Eliana Moscarda Mirković ci riporta, dolorosamente, a un contesto odierno dove purtroppo il confitto sembra prevalere sull’integrazione. Non sono pochi gli scenari in cui il peggioramento e il degrado sono
    tragicamente evidenti, è fin troppo facile ricordarli: a cominciare dalla Siria, per proseguire con l’Algeria, la Libia, l’Egitto. Caterina Consolo ricordava con rimpianto gli anni in cui lei e Vincenzo potevano viaggiare da soli in vari paesi del Magreb, semplicemente noleggiando una macchina e girando in tutta tranquillità. Difficile immaginare oggi qualcosa di simile. Certo, il degrado dell’oggi
    rimanda a tanti altri momenti e luoghi in cui sono prevalse la violenza e la conflittualità. A questo proposito, è opportuno ricordare che la tesi di laurea in Giurisprudenza di Consolo, discussa il 18 giugno 1960, si intitolava La crisi attuale dei diritti delle persone 22. Una volta di più, la prospettiva consoliana si mostra acutissima, sempre lucida davanti alla realtà presente. Per vari aspetti risulta impressionante, per la sua tempestività, l’insistenza di Consolo nel segnalare il dramma dei migranti africani e la frequenza delle tragedie in mare legate ai loro flussi attraverso il Mediterraneo, fin dagli anni Ottanta: si pensi a un racconto come il Memoriale di Basilio Archita 23, scritto addirittura nel 1984, una data incredibilmente precoce. Già allora, Consolo intuiva quanto Ian Chambers oggi può affermare senza incertezze: Il migrante moderno è colui che più intensamente delinea questa costellazione [attuale dell’ordine planetario]. Sospeso nell’intersecarsi di un’espropriazione
    economica, politica e culturale, è colui/colei che porta le frontiere dentro di sé. […] Il/la migrante non è puramente un sintomo storico della modernità; piuttosto è l’interrogazione condensata dell’identità vera e propria del soggetto politico moderno.24 Va aggiunto peraltro che Consolo ha dato anche costante attenzione alla pluri-direzionalità e periodicità dei flussi migratori. Si pensi, in particolare, ai suoi ripetuti riferimenti all’emigrazione dei siciliani in Tunisia: ancora oggi un quartiere di Tunisi si chiama “Petite Sicile”. Proprio in Tunisia emigra, fra gli altri, il protagonista Petro Marano al termine di Nottetempo, casa per casa25. Vi proporrò ora, per avviarmi al termine del mio percorso, un esempio molto caratteristico della capacità di Consolo di leggere lucidamente, criticamente la realtà, e insieme però di fondere la lettura del presente con la possibilità di attribuirgli, tramite la tensione espressiva e la forza mitizzante della letteratura, una più ampia dimensione simbolica: così da far convivere metafora e storia, sperimentazione e tensione etica, poesia e politica, in una miscela che non smette di essere rarissima. Certo, oggi abbiamo tutti
    presente ciò che sta succedendo in Europa e nel mondo: dove migliaia, centinaia di migliaia, milioni di persone migrano, si spostano e spesso muoiono nel tentativo di emigrare. Moltissimi, lo sappiamo, soccombono tragicamente nel canale di Sicilia e al largo delle coste dell’Egeo, uccisi “dall’acqua”. In tempi molto lontani Consolo ha cominciato a cogliere questo movimento che oggi è sotto gli occhi di tutti e che ha preso proporzioni così ampie da diventare uno degli argomenti centrali in discussione nell’agenda politica dell’Unione Europea. Se ne parla tutti i giorni, e ci si scontra su questo: i muri, le quote, i soldi alla Turchia e i ricatti di Erdogan, gli imbarazzi politici
    della Merkel e di Macron, le polemiche di Salvini e di Meloni. Come abbiamo visto, Consolo ha capito prestissimo la rilevanza del fenomeno. È chiaro: egli guarda al presente, alla storia, al Meridione nostro e al Meridione del mondo, cogliendo il suo e nostro presente con rara tempestività e profondità, prima di tanti altri. Ma se consideriamo questa sua percezione da un altro lato, ci
    accorgeremo che, ben da molto prima, Consolo dà corpo anche a un’ossessione letteraria, ben più antica, che lo rincorre fin dai primissimi racconti (si veda Un sacco di magnolie, 195726) e poi
    ricorrerà per tutta la sua carriera di scrittore: l’immagine del morto in acqua e “per acqua”. Ben prima che le migrazioni nel Mediterraneo diventassero cronaca quotidiana, Consolo riprende infatti più e più volte l’immagine della Death by water della Waste Land di Thomas Stearns Eliot, sezione IV, con la figura di Phlebas il fenicio, morto nell’affondamento della sua nave. La forza mitizzante di lungo
    periodo della letteratura diventa così a sua volta uno strumento privilegiato per cogliere la realtà presente. Una volta di più, metafora e storia si incontrano: così che l’ossessione letteraria fa tutt’uno con la profondità e la lucidità nello scandaglio del reale. La grandezza di Consolo sta anche qui.
    I saggi raccolti nel presente volume concentrano l’attenzione su un amplissimo ventaglio tematico relativo all’emergere, in molteplici forme, delle questioni mediterranee in tutta l’opera di Consolo, sia
    nelle opere propriamente letterarie, sia nelle prose saggistiche e giornalistiche. Ma è noto che uno dei tratti caratteristici della scrittura di Consolo sta anche nel rimescolare generi e stili. La ricchezza
    della proposta interpretativa qui proposta vuole rispondere anche e proprio sia alla pluralità così caratteristica della dimensione mediterranea, sia alla pluralità che caratterizza costitutivamente la
    scrittura di Consolo, e anche, più largamente, la sua fisionomia intellettuale e umana. In pochi rapidi cenni, ricorderò ora che Dominique Budor (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), con “Gli inverni della storia” e le patrie immaginarie, approfondisce il ruolo dell’immagine di Milano, “patria immaginaria”, da un lato, e della Francia da un altro. Sebastiano Burgaretta, con L’illusione di Consolo tra metafora e realtà, mette a fuoco soprattutto la produzione saggistica di Consolo dedicata alla Sicilia (includendovi anche un testo peculiare per genere e per tono come La Sicilia passeggiata), nell’ottica privilegiata del discorso sul Mediterraneo di cui la Sicilia è centro e crocevia. Miguel Ángel Cuevas (Universidad de Sevilla), in Della natura equorea dello Scill’e Cariddi: testimonianze consoliane inedite su Stefano D’Arrigo, ripercorre il rapporto profondo e per certi aspetti portante fra Consolo e l’autore di Hocynus Orca, indagandone diramazioni letterarie e linguistiche. Rosalba Galvagno (Università degli Sudi di Catania), con Il «mondo delle meraviglie e del contrasto». Il Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, delinea un denso e intenso ritratto del Mediterraneo consoliano, che diventa una chiave privilegiata per delineare “il destino, cioè il senso” della sua scrittura. Salvatore Maira, in Parole allo specchio, ci regala un intenso, vivo ricordo, legato soprattutto alla scrittura condivisa della sceneggiatura cinematografica derivata da Il sorriso dell’ignoto marinaio: vicenda che diventa la specola per guardare a Consolo da un punto di vista originale. Nicolò Messina (Universitat de València) costruisce un’attenta Cartografia delle migrazioni in Consolo: una questione cruciale, come abbiamo visto, che Messina indaga a partire da un censimento pressoché completo delle occorrenze della parola Mediterraneo e dei suoi derivati. Facendo perno sull’antitesi fra conflitto e integrazione, Messina mette a fuoco appunto “l’idea di un’identità del Mediterraneo, esaltata proprio dalle migrazioni e dai suoi attori”27. Daragh O’Connell (University College Cork), in La notte della ragione:
    Nottetempo, casa per casa fra poetica e politica, studia nel dettaglio, nella chiave qui proposta, il ruolo del secondo romanzo storico consoliano, strategico anche perché, come ebbe a dire l’autore, nato da “un sentimento nuovo di responsabilità all’indomani del vuoto lasciato da Sciascia nel panorama della letteratura europea e italiana”28. Marina Paino (Università degli Sudi di Catania), in La scrittura e l’isola, indaga in profondità soprattutto le relazioni fra la scrittura di Consolo, “i miti mediterranei del nostos e dell’isola” e “la scrittura o meglio gli autori siciliani”29. Carla Riccardi (Università degli Studi di Pavia), con Da Lunaria a Pantalica: fuga e ritorno alla storia?, costruisce un denso percorso fra alcune opere consoliane, lette come una “ricerca su come afferrare la realtà, la storia con tutta la strumentazione che si vale di parole”30, in una fascinosa varietà di generi e stili. Irene Romera Pintor (Universitat de València), in All’ombra di Vincenzo Consolo: esperienze a confronto, rende conto felicemente delle molte sfide poste dalla traduzione in spagnolo di
    Consolo, nella consapevolezza dell’importanza delle traduzioni per comunicare al pubblico del presente e del futuro l’“immensa ricchezza culturale, linguistica e umana”31 della Sicilia, e del mondo, che lo scrittore santagatese ha voluto trasmettere. Corrado Stajano, con Un grande amico, ci offre un lucido e insieme toccante ricordo delle tappe cruciali di una grande, profonda, amicizia, durata tutta una vita, nelle sue complesse vicissitudini. Infine Giuseppe Traina (Università degli Sudi di Catania), in Per un Consolo arabomediterraneo, interpreta in modo articolato e persuasivo i diversi
    modi, fra loro intrecciati, in cui Consolo ci parla della presenza araba: quello “memoriale, di marca geografico-artistica”32; quello storico-sociologico; quello più marcatamente letterario; quello politico. Per finire, il quadro che emerge ci mostra, se ce ne fosse stato ancora bisogno, fino a che punto la scrittura di Consolo continui a interrogare il nostro presente. Nei suoi testi balena del resto, con grande forza, una percezione della Storia molto vicina a quella di un altro autore a lui molto caro, Walter Benjamin: “La storia è oggetto di una costruzione il cui luogo non è il tempo omogeneo e vuoto, ma quello pieno di «attualità»”33. Che scriva romanzi storico-metaforici, testi dalla problematica identità di genere (come Lunaria o L’olivo e l’olivastro), saggi o articoli di quotidiano, Consolo continua comunque a mettere in questione il nostro presente, e a ricordarci che la Storia è sempre adesso.

    Ringraziamenti
    Grazie all’Università degli Studi di Milano, che ha ospitato il
    Convegno, e concesso i fondi di ricerca che hanno consentito la
    pubblicazione del presente volume. Grazie al Rettore Elio Franzini,
    ai colleghi Paola Catenaccio e Dino Gavinelli, che sono intervenuti
    all’apertura del Convegno. Un ringraziamento speciale all’amico
    Stefano Raimondi, che ha voluto con forza la collana in cui il volume
    esce, e a Francesca Adamo, che con la consueta perizia ne ha
    curato la redazione. Grazie di cuore a tutti i relatori, e anche ai non
    pochi colleghi che avrebbero voluto partecipare al Convegno: non
    era possibile invitare tutti, ma anche il desiderio di esserci è una
    bella testimonianza dell’ammirazione e della passione che
    circondano Consolo, in Sicilia, a Milano, e in molti altri paesi.
  • Università degli Studi di Milano
    1 C. SEGRE, Un profilo di Vincenzo Consolo, in V. CONSOLO, L’opera completa,
    a cura e con un saggio introduttivo di G. Turchetta e uno scritto di C. Segre,
    Mondadori, Milano 2015, p. XI.
    2 V. Consolo, Reading and writing the Mediterranean. Essays by Vincenzo
    Consolo, a cura di N. Bouchard e M. Lollini, University of Toronto Press,
    Toronto-Buffalo-London 2006.
    3 V. Consolo, Di qua dal faro, Milano, Mondadori, 1999; ora in Id., L’opera
    completa, cit., pp. 977-1260.
    4 V. Consolo, Esercizi di cronaca, a cura di S. Grassia, Prefazione di S.S.
    Nigro, Sellerio, Palermo 2013.
    5 Di cui possiamo leggere il lucido e appassionato racconto in V. Nisticò,
    Accadeva in Sicilia. Gli anni ruggenti dell’«Ora» di Palermo, Sellerio, Palermo
    2001.
    6 V. Consolo, Cosa loro, a cura di N. Messina, Bompiani, Milano 2017.
    7 Bibliografia, Opere di Vincenzo Consolo, in V. Consolo, L’opera completa,
    cit., pp. 1481-1517.
    8 La ferita dell’aprile, Milano, Mondadori, 1963; poi Torino, Einaudi, 19772; poi
    Milano, Mondadori 19893 (con introduzione di G. C. Ferretti); ora in Consolo,
    V., L’opera completa, cit., pp. 3-122.
    9 In particolare nel 1988-1989, quando Consolo venne sollecitato a candidarsi
    come indipendente nelle liste del PCI per le elezioni europee da Aurelio
    Grimaldi prima, e poi dallo stesso Segretario del Partito Achille Occhetto; cfr.
    G. Turchetta, Cronologia, in V. Consolo, L’opera completa, cit., p. CXXXIII.
    10 V. Consolo, Comiso, in Le pietre di Pantalica, Milano, Mondadori, 1988;
    19902 (a cura e con introduzione di G. Turchetta, G.); ora in V. CONSOLO,
    L’opera completa, cit., p. 632.
    11 V. Consolo, Retablo, Palermo, Sellerio, 1987; ora a in V. CONSOLO, L’opera
    completa, cit., pp. 365-475.
    12 Ivi, p. 400.
    13 V. Consolo, Viaggio in Sicilia, in Id., Di qua dal faro, Milano, Mondadori,
    1999; poi in Id., L’opera completa, cit., p. 1224.
    14 V. Consolo, La Sicilia passeggiata, ERI, Torino, 1991; poi con Prefazione di
    G. Turchetta, Mimesis, Sesto San Giovanni (MI) 2021, p. 18.
    15 Id. Di qua dal faro, Milano, Mondadori, 1999; ora in V. CONSOLO, L’opera
    completa, cit., pp. 987-1260.
    16 A. Bellanova, Un eccezionale Baedeker. La rappresentazione degli spazi
    nell’opera di Vincenzo Consolo, Mimesis, Sesto San Giovanni (MI) 2021.
    17 Un uomo di alta dignità, Introduzione a ‘Nfernu veru. Uomini & immagini dei
    paesi dello zolfo, a cura di A. Grimaldi, Edizioni Lavoro, Roma 1985, pp. 9-
    32, poi col titolo Uomini e paesi dello zolfo, in Di qua dal faro, cit., pp. 981-
    1006; La pesca del tonno in Sicilia, in La pesca del tonno in Sicilia, con saggi
    di R. Lentini, F. Terranova ed E. Guggino; schede di S. Scimè; glossario di M.
    Giacomarra, Sellerio, Palermo 1986, pp. 13-30; poi in Di qua dal faro, cit., pp.
    1007-1039.
    18 F. Braudel, Il Mediterraneo. Lo spazio, la storia, gli uomini, le tradizioni
    (1985), trad. it. di E. De Angeli, Bompiani, Milano 1987, 20193, pp. 5-6.
    19 P. Matvejević, Breviario mediterraneo (1987), trad. ital. di S. Ferrari,
    Garzanti, Milano 1991, 20062, pp. 18-19.
    20 F. Braudel, Civiltà e Imperi del Mediterraneo nell’età di Filippo II (1949), trad.
    it. di C. Pischedda, Einaudi, Torino 1976, vol. I, pp. 921-922.
    21 A. Gialloreto, S. Jurišić, E. Moscarda Mirković, Introduzione, in Oceano
    Mediterraneo. Naufragi, esili, derive, approdi, migrazione e isole lungo le rotte
    mediterranee della letteratura italiana, a cura di Id., Franco Cesati, Firenze
    2020, p. 9.
    22 Per ulteriori dettagli si veda G. Turchetta, Cronologia, in V. Consolo, L’opera
    completa, cit., p. CV.
    23 Uscito per la prima volta con il titolo Il capitano ordinò “buttateli agli squali”,
    «L’Espresso», 3 giugno 1984, pp. 55-64, venne poi inserito con il titolo
    Memoriale di Basilio Archita in Le pietre di Pantalica, cit., pp. 639-646. Per
    ulteriori dettagli si veda G. Turchetta, Note e notizie sui testi, in V. Consolo,
    L’opera completa, cit., pp. 1371-1372 e 1383.
    24 I. Chambers, Mediterranean Crossings. The Politics of an Interrupted
    Modernity (2007), trad. ital. di S. Marinelli, Le molte voci del Mediterraneo,
    Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano 2007, p. 7.
    25 V. Consolo, Nottetempo, casa per casa, Milano, Mondadori, 1992; ora in V.
    CONSOLO, L’opera completa, cit., p. 755.
    26 Ora in V. Consolo, La mia isola è Las Vegas, a cura di N. Messina,
    Mondadori, Milano 2012, pp. 7-10.
    27 Cfr. infra, p. 109.
    28 Cfr. infra, p. 134.
    29 Cfr. infra, p. 156.
    30 Cfr. infra, p. 167.
    31 Cfr. infra, p. 197.
    32 Cfr. infra, p. 209.
    33 W. Benjamin, Tesi di filosofia della Storia (1940), Tesi n. 14, in Id., Angelus
    Novus. Saggi e frammenti (1955), trad. e introduzione di R. Solmi, Einaudi,
    Torino, 1962, 19813, p. 83
    .

Ports as locus of the Mediterranean imaginary Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo

by
Maria Roberta Vella
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of
Master of Arts in Literary Tradition and Popular Culture
August 2014
Faculty of Arts
University of Malta

I dedicate this thesis to you, dear father. You showed me with your constant love, that whatever I do with persistence and commitment will open the doors to my destiny. The long nights I spent awake, reading and researching reminded me of the long nights you spent awake working, pennitting me to study and build my future. Your sacrifices are always accompanied by a constant smile that continuously gives me courage in difficult moments.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The number of people to whom I owe my accomplishments is far too long to fit on this page, as many have inspired me and given me their constant support which has helped me realize that knowledge could open doors I did not even know existed. Nevertheless, there are a number of people who I would like to mention as they have been there for me during tough times and have given me the support I needed. I would like to thank my family without whom I would not have been able to further my studies, my boyfriend Terry, who has always believed in me and has always been there to support me with his constant love, and my uncle Carlo, who from an early age fed me with books and literature that fostered my love of knowledge and the curiosity to find my inner self. I would also like to thank my dearest colleague Ray Cassar, who always helped me grow both academically and as a person, as well as my tutor and mentor Adrian Grima, who directed me, allowing me to ground and express my ideas better whilst always respecting and valuing my opinions.
II
Table of Contents
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold ………………………………………………………………. 7
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………….. 10
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the Port12
1.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
2 The Harbour as Threshold …………………………………………………………………… 1 7
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature …………………….. 20
2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour ………………………. 23
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor …………………………………………………………………. 27
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door ……………………………………………… 34
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………………… 38
3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility ………………………………………………………….. 43
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication ………. 49
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo
Inspired by the Port ………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo ………………………….. 60
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture ……………………………. 69
4.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 76
5 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………… 78
5.1 The ‘Imaginary’ of the Mediterranean ……………………………………………. 80
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour ……………………….. 84
6 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….. .. 9?.
III
Abstract

The Mediterranean harbour is a place of meeting, of encounters between
civilizations, of clashes, wars, destructions, peace; a place where culture comes to live, where art is expressed in various ways and where authors and thinkers have found inspiration in every comer. The harbour imposes a number of thresholds to the person approaching it. This threshold could have different fonns which could be emotional, geographical, spiritual or cultural. Authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo lived and experienced the Mediterranean harbour in all its aspects and expressions; their powerful experience resulted in the formation of important images referred to as ‘imaginary’. The Mediterranean imaginary is the vision of various authors who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective, but at the same time singular imagination. The harbour is an important part of the Mediterranean geographical structure and thus it has been the main point of study for many examining the region. Factors such as language have transformed and suited the needs of the harbour, being a cultural melting pot.
1 Introduction
The Mediterranean is represented by chaos, especially in the harbour cities that are witness to the myriad of cultures which meet each and every day to discuss and interact in the harbour. It is imperative to state that chaos, as the very basis of a Mediterranean discourse has been fed through the different voices fonned in the region. These same voices, images and interpretations have found a suitable home in the Mediterranean harbours, places where literature and culture managed to flourish and where the so-called ‘margins’, both geographical and social, found centrality. The harbour has acquired significance in the discourse on the Mediterranean and thus on how literature and cultural expedients and the vaiious authors and artists recall the harbour as an anchorage point for their deep thoughts about the region. 1
Nowadays, the unification of the Mediterranean seems a ‘utopia’, since the Mediterranean is politically perceived as a region full of borders and security plans. One may easily mention the various strategic moves put forward by the European Union to safeguard the northern Mediterranean countries from migration from North African shores. By applying and reinforcing these security plans, the Mediterranean has become ever increasingly a region of borders. It is also important not to idealize the Mediterranean past as a unified past, because the 1 Georges Duby Gli ideali def Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea
(Mesogea, 2000) pp.80-104
2
region was always characterized by conflict and chaos. Despite the chaos that was always part of the Mediterranean, being a region of clashing civilizations, it managed to produce a mosaic of various cultures that is visible to the eye of the philosopher or the artist. The artist and the philosopher manage to project their thoughts and ambitions for the region; therefore they are able to see hannony in a region that seems so incoherent. The aim of my thesis is to understand why the harbour is crucial in the construction of the Mediterranean imaginary. Both open space and border, the port, as in the case of Alexandria or Istanbul, has for a long time been a center for trade, commerce and interaction. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on the study of the harbour and harbour cities to be able to give substance to a study about the Mediterranean as a complex of imaginaries. The boundaries in the study about the Mediterranean have a special place; in fact a boundary that may be either geographical or political has the ability to project and create very courageous individuals that manage to transgress and go over their limits when facing the ‘other’. In the Mediterranean we perceive that the actual reason for transgressing and overcoming a limit is the need of confonning or confronting the ‘other’, sometimes a powerful ‘other’ able to change and shift ideas, able to transpose or impose cultural traits. Yet, the Mediterranean in its multicultural environment has been able to maintain certain traits that have shaped what it is today. Through movement of people in the region, the Mediterranean has been able to produce a number of great innovations, such as the movement of the Dorians who moved from the south all along the 3 Greek peninsula, and also the ‘sea people’ that came from Asia and, being hungry and thirsty, destroyed whatever they found. The same destruction and movement resulted in the creation of three important factors for the Mediterranean: the creation of currency, the alphabet, and marine navigation as we know it today. The various movements also contributed to the fonnation of the person as a free being with the ability to move freely. Therefore, movement and the overcoming of boundaries in the Mediterranean have contributed greatly to the fonnation of civilization itself.2 A board, today found in the museum of Damascus, with an alphabet very similar to the Latin one written on it, was very useful as it was very simple in its structure. This confirms a high level of democracy, as civilization meant that each individual had the possibility of knowing and understanding what his leaders understood. We get to understand that in the Mediterranean each person can practice his freedom by travelling out at sea and engage in trading. All this was made possible by the same interactions and conflicts raised in the region. Conflicts though are not the only factor that promoted the interaction and the fonnation of interesting cultural and literature in the Mediterranean, as we know it today. Art and culture have been means by which the various conflicts and interactions took life and expressed the deep feelings that inhabited the soul 2 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, filosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
4
of the artist. Karl Popper3 states that the cultural mixture alone is not sufficient to put the grounds for a civilization and he gives the example of Pisistratus, a Greek tyrant that ordered to collect and copy all the works of Homer. This made it possible to have a book fair a century later and thus spread the knowledge of Homer. Karl Popper wants to tell us that art and culture have deeply influence the fonnation of a general outset of the region and that the fonnation of the general public is not something that comes naturally, but is rather encouraged. The Greeks in this sense were directly fed the works of Homer by the diffusion of the works themselves. On the other hand, the majority of Greeks already knew how to read and write, further enabling the diffusion of knowledge. Art and architecture are two important factors that have detennined the survival of empires and cultures through time. When artists such as Van Gogh were exposed to the Mediterranean, they expressed art in a different way and when Van Gogh came in contact with the Mediterranean region, the French Riviera and Provence in particular, he discovered a new way of conceiving art. In a letter that Van Gogh wrote to his sister in 1888, he explained that the impact the Mediterranean had on him had changed the way he expressed art itself. He told her that the colours are now brighter, being directly inspired by the nature and passions of the region. The Mediterranean inspired Van Gogh to use a different kind of colour palette. If the art expressed by Van Gogh that is inspired by the Mediterranean is directly 3 Georges Duby Gli ideali del Mediterraneo, storia, jilosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
5 represented and interpreted by the spectator, the region manages to be transposed through the action of art itself.4 The way in which the thesis is structured aims to focus on the vanous images created by poets, popular music and art. Each chapter provides evidence that the harbour has been the centre of attention for the many authors and thinkers who wrote, discussed and painted the Mediterranean. The thesis aims to prove that certain phenomena such as language and religion have contributed to a knit of imaginaries, the layout of certain events such as the ex-voto in the Mediterranean and the use of Sabir or Lingua Franca Mediterranea, which shows how the harbour managed to be the center of events that shaped the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean. The language and religious movement mentioned have left their mark on the Mediterranean countries, especially the harbour cities, which were the first cities encountered. The choice of the harbour cities as the representation and the loci of a Mediterranean imaginary vision is by no means a casual one. In fact, the harbour for many centuries has been the anchorage point not only in the physical sense but also emotionally and philosophically for many authors and thinkers, two of which are Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo, extensively mentioned in the dissertation. These two authors are relevant for the purpose of this study as they manage to create a vision of the Mediterranean, based on their personal experience and influenced by 4 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp.43-55
6 the harbour from which they are looking at the region and observing the
Mediterranean. Popular culture ‘texts’ such as movies and music based on the interaction between the person and the Mediterranean region have an important role in the study, as they represent the first encounter with the harbour. It is a known fact that in the postmodern era where technological means have a broader and deeper reach, popular culture has become the first harbour in which many find anchorage. Therefore it would be difficult to mention literature works that have shaped the Mediterranean without mentioning the popular texts that have constructed images about the region that intertwine and fonn a complete and powerful image. The relevance of each factor is well defined in this study, delving deep in not only popular culture but also in language and various historical events that have transformed the Mediterranean, providing examples of how factors such as geographical elements, spirituality, devotion and passion have transfonned the way in which we perceive a region.
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold The first chapter focuses on the harbour as a threshold between stability and instability, between wealth and poverty, between mobility and ilmnobility. The various elements that constitute the harbour always convey a sense of ‘in between’ to the person approaching. The very fact that the harbour seems to be a place of insecurity gives the artists and authors a more stimulating environment to 7 write about their feelings and to contrast them with the ever-changing and chaotic enviromnent of the harbour. The way in which the natural landscape manages to influence the poetic and artistic expression is of great relevance to the study of the Mediterranean region, especially with regards to the study of the harbour. Poets such as Saba and Montale wrote about the way in which nature felt as a personified figure, able to give hope and change the way poets look at the world. 
They also wrote about nature in the Mediterranean as being an impmiant feature
shaping the way in which history and culture developed.
The sailor as a representation of a Mediterranean traveller is often found in
literature especially with regards to the notion of the harbour as an image of the
Mediterranean culture. Many authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo
Consolo wrote about the figure of the sailor in relation to the sea and everyday life in Mediterranean harbours. The novels fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio by
Vincenzo Consolo and Les Marins Perdus by Jean-Claude Izzo are written in two
different geographical areas of the Mediterranean and reflect two different
periods, but they are tied by an expression of a Meditemm~im i1rn1eirn1ry and
somehow recall common features and aspects of the harbour. Both novels manage to transpose their authors’ personal encounter with the Mediterranean, therefore
recalling their own country of birth. The novels are somewhat personal to the
authors; Consolo recalls Sicily while Izzo often refers to Marseille. The fact that
the novels are projecting two different areas and two different points of view on
8
the Mediterranean proves that by gathering different experiences related to the
region, a rich imaginary is created.
The harbour is a door, an entryway to a new world, and borders. Security
and expectations are all part of the experience of the threshold when entering a
country, especially in the Mediterranean, where thresholds are constantly present and signify a new and exciting experience that leads to a new interpretation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The way in which the harbour acts as an entryway suggests that what lies beyond the harbour is sometimes a mystery to the traveller.
Literature greatly contributes to the fonnation of ideas, especially in regard to the fonnation of thoughts such as the idea of a Mediterranean imaginary, but there is another element of fundamental importance to the formation of ideas on a generic line, which is popular culture. High-culture, referring to elements such as art, literature, philosophy and scholarly writings, creates a common understanding between an educated public. Popular culture refers to the section of culture that has a common understanding between the public. High-culture and popular culture have the power to transform what is mostly regarded as pertaining to high society; literature is constantly being reinterpreted and transfonned by popular culture to be able to reach a greater audience.
9
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The imp01iance of natural landscape which detennines the success or failure of a harbour, also detennines a number of historical events. In this sense, the Mediterranean is a region that has been naturally set up with a number of very important harbours that consequently fonned a particular history. The image of the harbour could be compared to the image of the lighthouse, which is part of the harbour itself but at the same is a distinct entity that in some cases had a role which went beyond its initial role of guidance and assumed almost a function of spiritual assistance. 5 The symbol of the lighthouse is also tied to knowledge and therefore the lighthouse has the ability to give knowledge to the lost traveller at sea, it is able to show the way even in uncertainties. The lighthouses in the Mediterranean had the ability to change through ages and maintain a high historical and cultural meaning; their function is a matter of fact to give direction to the traveller, but in certain cases it has been used to demarcate a border or as a symbol of power.
The Mediterranean Sea has witnessed different exchanges, based on belief,
need and sometimes even based solely on the search of sel£ Among these modes
of exchange and these pretexts of voyage in the Mediterranean, we find the exvoto and the movement of relics. Both types of exchange in the region have in
common at the basis religion that instilled in the traveller a deep wish to follow a
5 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti: 2010)
10
spiritual path. These exchanges resulted in an increasing cultural exchange. The
ex-voto6 shows a number of things. One of these things is that the very existence
of ex-voto proves a deep connection with the geographical aspect in the
Mediterranean and therefore proving that the region is a dangerous one. In this
sense, people in the Mediterranean have shown their gratitude to God or the
Virgin Mary in the fonn of ex-voto after a difficult voyage at sea. On the other
hand, the ex-voto shows how popular culture mingles with the spiritual experience and the way in which a person expresses gratitude to the divine. The ex-voto paintings have a special way of being identified. The saint or in most cases Virgin Mary, is usually set in a cloud or unattached from the sea in a tempest. Another element that shows if a painting is or is not part of an ex-voto collection, is the acronyms found in the bottom of every painting V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit). The use of Latin demonstrates the vicinity to Christianity, whilst the words meaning that ‘I made a vow and I received grace’ prove the tie between the tragedies at sea and the grace given by God. The difficult Mediterranean geographical predisposition, discussed by Femand Braudel7 has developed an abundance of devotion that transformed to shrines and objects of adoration and gratitude. These same shrines, objects and materials that were most of the time exchanged and taken from one place to another, have deeply enriched the Mediterranean with cultural objects and the same shrines are nowadays part of a collective cultural heritage.
6 Joseph Muscat Il-Kwadri ex-voto Martittimi Maltin (Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2003) 7 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II
(Fontana press: 19 8 6)
11
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the
Port The Mediten-anean for Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo revolves around the idea of a harbour that gives inspiration because it is in essence a border where ideas meet and sometimes find concretization. The Mediterranean harbour for centuries has been a meeting place for people and cultures, thus creating a region full of interactions on different levels. The imaginary for both authors has been shaped by both cultural elements and by the literary elements that find a special place in the mindset of the author. Culture as a popular expression of the concept of the Mediten-anean has developed in different ways, one of which is the projection of the harbour and the Mediterranean itself through media and advertising. Various elements such as the touristic publicity or the actual reportage about the harbour and the Mediten-anean have widened the horizon and the imaginary of the region. In advertisements, the Mediterranean has been idealized in some ways and tends to ignore controversial issues such as ‘migration’; advertising also tends to generalize about the Mediterranean and so mentions elements such as the peaceful and relaxing way of life in the region. Advertisement obviously has its own share in the building of an ‘imaginary’ of the region, but it may also create confusion as to what one can expect of the region. On the other hand, the reportage about the Mediterranean harbour and the region itself focuses more on everyday life in the Mediterranean and common interactions such as encounters with fishennen. Nevertheless, when mentioning 12 the MediteITanean even the reportage at times makes assumptions that try to unite the MediteITanean into an ideal space and it sometimes aims to give an exotic feel to the region. Yet there are a number of informative films that have gathered important material about the MediteITanean, such as the French production Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus, produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2.8 The difference between the usual promotional or adve1iising video clips and the documentary film produced for France 2 was that in the latter the focus points were an expression of the beauty of the whole, whereas in the fonner, beauty usually lies in the common features that for marketing purposes aim to synthesize the image of the Mediterranean for a better understating and a more clear approach to the region. The harbour and other vanous words associated to the concept of the harbour have been used in many different spaces and areas of study to signify many different things other than its original meaning, and this makes us realize that the harbour itself may hold various metaphorical meanings. We have seen the way in which the harbour served as a first spiritual refuge or as an initial salvation point, but it is also interesting to note how the harbour is conceptually seen today,
in an era where globalization has shortened distances and brought down barriers. Nowadays, the harbour is also used as a point of reference in the various technological terms especially in relation to the internet, where the ‘port’ or 8 Yan Arthus-Betrand Mediteranee notre mer a taus (France 2, 2014)
www.yannarthusbertrand.org/ en/films-tv/–mediterranee-notre-mer-a-tous (accessed February,
2014)
13
‘portal’ refers to a point of entry and thus we perceive the main purpose of the harbour as being the first point of entry as is in the context of infonnation technology. The concept of core and periphery has deeply changed in the world of Internet and technology, as the concept of core and periphery almost disappeared. Similarly, the Mediterranean’s core and pe1iphery have always been in a way different from what is considered to be the nonn. Geographically, the core could be seen as the central area, the place where things happen, whereas in the Mediterranean, the periphery acquires almost the function of the core. The harbour is the geographical periphery; neve1iheless, it acquires the function of the core. The islands for example are usually centres, whereas in the Mediterranean they are crossroads rather than real centres of power. In nonnal circumstances the relation between core and periphery is something that denotes not only the geographical location of a place but it usually also refers to economical, social and cultural advancement. Therefore, in the Mediterranean region the concept of geographical centre and economical and social centres are different from their usual intended meaning.
The Mediterranean imaginary has developed in such a way that it
purposely distorted the concepts such as the standard core and periphery or the usual relationship between men and nature or between men and the various borders. In the Mediterranean imaginary, which as we have mentioned is being fed by various authors and popular discourse, has the ability to remain imprinted in our own thoughts and thus has the ability to reinterpret the region itself; we find 14 that the usual conceptions change because they suit not only the region but the author that is writing about the region. The way in which the various authors and artists who describe the Mediterranean are faced with the ongoing challenges presented by the region shows how in essence each and every author has their own personal approach to the region. Their works are essentially a personal project which lead to the enriclunent of the region’s imaginary. The differences between each and every author makes the ‘imaginary’ and the accounts about the Mediterranean much more interesting and ersonalized. 
Consolo9 and Izzo10 have different ways of perceiving the region and
although they both aim to create an ‘imaginary’ that may recall similar features, it is undeniable that there are substantial differences in their approach. Consolo on the one hand focuses a lot on the image of Ulysses as a figure that represents him in his voyage in search of the self. Ulysses for Consolo is a figure that manages to preserve a meaning even in the modem era, a figure that is able to travel through time all the while reinventing the Mediterranean. Izzo as well feels that the figure of Ulysses is imperative to the study of the Mediterranean, but he mostly focuses on the impact of the present experience of the region on the conception of a Mediterranean ‘imaginary’ rather than focusing on the past as a representation of the present situation. 9 Vincenzo Consolo Il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori: 2012) 10 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) 15
1.4 Conclusion
The Mediterranean has been seen as a region full of inconsistencies,
contradictions and conflicts, based mainly on the divergent ideas and cultures residing in the same area. The Mediterranean imaginary does not exclude the conflicts that are present in the region and does not aim to unify the region, and in doing so it aims to give voice to the region. For the various authors and thinkers that are mentioned in the thesis, the Mediterranean has transmitted an emotion or has been able to create the right environment to express ideas and fonn thoughts. The relevance of each and every author within the framework of this thesis shows that without analyzing the single expression about the region, through the various works, one cannot fonn an imaginary of the Mediterranean region. The various concepts of borders, thresholds, conflicts and cultural clashes manage to mingle with each other in everyday life in the Mediterranean – greater ideas and fundamental questions find resonance and meaning in simple everyday interaction between a common sailor and a woman at a bar. The Mediterranean in essence is the voyage between the search for deep roots and the analysis of the clashes that result from this search for roots. The study of the Mediterranean is the constant evaluation of boundaries and the search for the ‘self’ through a wholly subjective analysis of the ‘other’. The imaginary plays a fundamental role in bringing near the ‘roots’ and the ‘present’, and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’.
16
2 The Harbour as Threshold The Mediterranean harbour for many authors and thinkers is a starting point as well as a dying point of the so called ‘Mediterranean culture’. In fact many sustain that the ‘MediteITanean culture’ takes place and transfonns itself in its harbours. This concept does not have to confuse us in assuming that a ‘Mediterranean culture’ in its wholesomeness really does exist. There are elements and features that seem to tie us; that the sea so generously brought ashore. On the other hand the same sea has been keeping things well defined and separate. The harbour as the first encounter with land has always maintained an important role in the formation of ideas and collective imagination. The harbour is not selective in who can or cannot approach it and so the fonnation of this collective imagination is a vast one. It is also important to state that the harbour in itself is a place of contradictions, a place where everything and nothing meet. The contrasting elements and the contradictions that reside in Mediterranean ports are of inspiration to the various authors and thinkers who study the Mediterranean. In this sense they have contributed in the formation of this Mediterranean imagination. Literature is an important factor that contributes to a fonnation of a collective imagination; it would be otherwise difficult to analyze the Mediterranean without the help of literature, as the fonnation of a collective imagination was always fed through literature and cultural expedients.
17
The Mediterranean region, as we shall see, is an area that is somehow
constructed; a person in France may not be aware of what a person in Morocco or in Turkey is doing. The concept of a constructed Mediterranean may be tied to the anthropological study conducted by Benedict Anderson 11 where he states that the ‘nation’ is a constructed concept and may serve as a political and somehow economic pretext. The sea is navigated by both tragic boat people and luxurious cruise liners, and these contradictions seem to be legitimized in the Mediterranean region. To give two recent examples we can observe on a political sphere, the European Union’s decision to fonn a Task Force for the Mediterranean (TFM) whose aims are to enhance the security of its shores and to drastically reduce deaths at sea. The TFM is a recent initiative that follows a number of proposals at a political level that have the Mediterranean security at heart. 12 This idea was triggered by a particular event that saw the death of 500 migrants off Lampedusa. It clearly poses a question whether the Mediterranean is a safe place or not, and whether it remains in this sense appealing to touristic and economic investment. The TFM probably reinforces the idea that the Mediterranean is a problematic region and thus requires ongoing ‘security’. To reconnect to the main idea, the TFM reinforces the notion that the Mediterranean is a constructed idea where access from one shore to another is denied and where one shore is treated as a security threat whereas the other shore is treated as an area to be protected or an 11 Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities (Verso, 1996)
12 Brussels, 4.12.2013 COM (2013) 869 Communicationjiwn the commission to the European Parliament and the council on the work of the Task Force Mediterranean 18 area that is unreachable. The contradictions keep on adding up when we see the way the Mediterranean is portrayed for economic and touristic purposes. One example is the ‘Mediterranean port association’ that helps the promotion of cruising in the Mediterranean region providing assistance to tourists who would like to travel in the region. In this context the Mediterranean is used in a positive way in relation to the touristic appeal it may have. The construction of a Mediterranean idea is by no means restricted to an economical or a political discourse; it has deeper roots and meanings that have fonned through a history of relations between countries and of fonnations of literary expedients. For Franco Cassano13, the Mediterranean is a region that in essence is made of differences, it would be otherwise difficult to justify the clashes that have characterized the Mediterranean history, if it was not for the fact that we are all aware that it is a region made up of dissimilarities On the other hand it is due to these dissimilarities that the Mediterranean is an appealing region both for authors and for travelers alike.
13 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano:Feltrinelli, 2007)
19
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature Nature and literature are two elements that intertwine and thus create a collective imagination around the concept of the Mediterranean harbour. In fact, the dialectic between natural landscape and poetic expression was always a matter of great relevance as nature constantly managed to aid the development of poetic expression. The natural landscape helps the fonnation of existential thoughts, such as life, death and the existence of men – thoughts that are always reinterpreted and reinvented through literature. This relation between men and nature was always important in configuring spaces and detennining them according to a common understanding. 14 In the poem of Giacomo Leopardi Dialogo delta Natura e di un Islandese, Nature is personified, and although the indifference and coldness of nature is palpable, we sense that the poet is being aided by nature in fanning his ideas about life itself. Through time and especially through globalization, the world is being interpreted in terms of geographical maps and technology is subsequently narrowing our concept of space and enlarging our concept of life. In the new modem dimension, where the concept of space has acquired an abstract meaning, literature leaves the possibility of dialectic relationship between men and nature, thus enabling men to perceive the places they inhabit as a significant part of their self-construction process. This concept takes us to the perception created around the Mediterranean region and especially the way people look at 14 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo de/la contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Quest: 2009) pp.358-372
20
figures such as the sea, the ports and the shores. In Giambattista Vico’s15 poetic geography we understand that the representation of geography through poetic expression is something that dates back in time, through a cosmic representation of senses and feelings. In this regard, Montale and Saba both express in a relatively modem tone the deep representation of the Mediterranean through a mixture of contrasting feelings and ideas. The image of the harbor and any other images in the Mediterranean are deeply felt and analyzed, through the eyes of the poets that live in the region. Montale uses the dialectic of memory to explain his relationship with the Mediterranean, a region locked in its golden age that lives through the memory of poets and authors. He refers to the Mediterranean as ‘Antico ‘ emphasizing the fact that it is an old region. The word ‘Antico ‘ does not merely refer to oldness, but to oldness combined with prestige. The memory characterizes the Mediterranean for Montale, the image of the sea for instance is an archaic image that notwithstanding holds a modem and yet spiritual meaning as it expresses a sense of purification. The sea with its movement brings ashore all the useless and unwanted elements. On the other hand the sea may be seen as a fatherly figure that becomes severe in its actions and makes the poet feel insignificant and intimidated. Montale’s aim was to overcome the threshold between artistic expression and natural landscape through a dialogue with the Mediterranean Sea. This aim was not fulfilled. Montale tried hard to express artistically what the Mediterranean Sea meant but ended his poem humbly putting himself at a lower stage in comparison to the greatness of the Sea. Montale fills 15Massimo Lollini Il Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009)
21 his poetry with a mixture of humility and paradoxes; two elements that keep on repeating themselves in the poetry concerning the MeditelTanean.
Furthennore, in Umberto Saba’s ‘Medite1Taneet16 we encounter the same
contrasts and paradoxes used by Montale to develop the figure of the
MeditetTanean Sea. Saba uses the microcosm of Trieste to explain a larger
macrocosm: The MeditetTanean. This technique renders his work more personal and gives it a deeper meaning. Saba and Montale both rely on the memory to express a feeling of deep ties with the element of the sea and the life of the MeditelTanean harbour. Saba’s MeditelTanean resides in his microcosm, personal encounters and experiences fonn his ideas about the region; a region he perceives as being full of fascinating contradictions.

‘Ebbri canti si levano e bestemmie
nell’Osteria suburbana. Qui pure
-penso- e Mediterraneo. E il mio pensiero
all’azzulTo s’inebbria di quel nome.’ 17
‘Drunken songs and curses rise up
in the suburban tavern. Here, too,
I think, is the Mediterranean. And my mind is
drunk with the azure of that name.’ 18
16 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
\V\V\V. worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/songbook excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
17 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009) pp.358-372
22
Saba mingles his personal classicist fonnation expressed in the ‘all’azzurro’
with the poorest part of the Mediterranean harbour ‘l’osteria’. Both factors are intertwining, and so, the Mediterranean for Saba is the combination of both the richness of classicist thoughts that fonned in the Mediterranean as well as the meager elements that fonned in its po1is; yet they embellish and enrich the concept of the Mediterranean. Saba is searching for his personal identity through the search for a definition to the Mediterranean. In his art he attempts to portray the very heart of the MediteITanean which is found in his abyss of culture and knowledge with the everyday simple life of the harbours. 2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour In Saba and Montale’s works, the fascinating inconsistencies in the Mediterranean seem to find a suitable place in the ports and in the minds of each and every author and thinker who encounters it. The notion of stability and instability finds its apex in the port. The sea is the synonym of instability, especially in the Mediterranean, being depicted as dangerous and unpredictable. As in the recounts of the Odyssey, the sea, and the Mediterranean as a whole, is a synonym of instability and thus prone to natural catastrophes. The Homeric recounts of Ulysses’ journey explore the Mediterranean that was previously an unknown place. Although the places mentioned by Homer are fictitious, they now 18 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
www.worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/song:book _excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
23
have a general consensus over the definition of the actual places. As time went by historians and authors went on confinning what Homer had depicted in his Odyssey – a Mediterranean that constantly poses a challenge, danger and fascination at the same time. Femand Braudel in his ‘Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip the II’ 19 sustains the view of a difficult Mediterranean, of a succession of events that have helped the success of the Mediterranean for a period of time. Its instability and complication have not aided the area in maintaining its ‘golden age’. This discourse was reinvented by Horden and Purcell in ‘The Corrupting Sea’20 where the Mediterranean meets geographically, historically and anthropologically. In ‘The Corrupting Sea’ the view of Femand Braudel is expanded into what the Mediterranean meant
geographically and historically, therefore Horden and Purcell explain that the inconsistencies and natural features in the Mediterranean really contributed to bring the ‘golden age’ to an end, but they were the same features that brought on the rich culture around the Mediterranean countries in the first place. Where literature is concerned, the inconsistencies and natural features served as an inspiration to various authors who went on fonning the collective imagination around the Mediterranean. Therefore, it could be argued that the geographical
complexity of the region is in fact the tying point to the ‘Mediterranean’ itself that resides in the unconscious and that otherwise would have died with its economical shift towards other areas of interest. The problematic identity and the challenging 19 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986)
20 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing: 2011)
24
natural enviromnent brought by an ongomg sense of curiosity and attraction towards the Mediterranean region. The port is the first encounter with stability after a journey that is characterized by instability, at the surprise of the inexperienced traveler. However, the port does not always covey immovability. The p01i gives a sense of limbo to the traveller that has just arrived. It is a safe place on the one hand but on the other hand due to its vicinity to the sea, it is as unpredictable as the sea itself The sailor is a frequent traveler who knows and embraces the sea. He chose or has been forced to love the sea, to accept the sea as his second home. The sailor is in fact the figure that can help us understand the fascination around the Mediterranean and its ports. It is not an unknown factor that sailors and their voyages have captured the attention of many authors that tried extensively to understand the affinity sailors have to the sea. The sailor21 is a man defined by his relation with the sea and is a recurrent figure in a number of literature works all over Europe and the rest of the world. The sailor is the incarnation of the concept of human marginality, he lives in the margin of life and he embraces the marginality of the harbour with the different aspects of the port. The thresholds present in the port are represented by the sailor; a figure that lives between the sea and land, between betrayal and pure love,
between truth and lie. Like the portrayal of Odysseus, the concept of a sailor has 21 Nora Moll Marinai Ignoti,perduti (e nascosti). fl Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Lare} (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
25
infidelic properties. He carnally betrays his loved one, but he is psychologically anchored to one women for his whole life; a women who is always present in various thoughts but at the same time she is always physically distant. As we will see in various works, the sailor is in constant search of knowledge – the very same knowledge that brought him to love and embrace the sea. The knowledge that is conveyed through the action of travelling itself is another question that would require a deep analysis, but for the sake of our study the fact that knowledge is transmitted through the depth of the sea is enough to make a com1ection with the purpose by which the sailor travels. The sailor fluctuates between sea and land, between danger and security, between knowledge and inexperience. The thresholds are constantly overcome by the curious and free spirited sailor that embarks in this voyage to the discovery of his inner-self. The literary voyage of the sailor in the Mediterranean takes a circular route while it goes deep in ancient history and ties it to modem ideas. Since the sailor is not a new character but a recurring one in literature and culture it has the ability to transfonn and create ideas giving new life to the Mediterranean harbours. While the seamen are the link between the high literature and the popular culture, the sailor does not have a specific theme in literature but the archetype of ‘the sailor’ has a deep resonance in many literary themes. As Nora Moll states in one of her studies about the image of the sailor, she puts forward a list of common themes associated with the image of the sailor:
26
‘Tra i complessi tematici, a cm m parte ho gia accem1ato,si
annoverano l’avventura, il viaggio, l’eros, l’adulterio, il ritorno, il
superamento di limiti (interiori) e di sfide ( esterne ), la liberta, la vita
come “navigatio” e come intrigo conflittuale di esperienze. ’22
‘Amongst the complex themes, which I partly already mentioned, we
find adventure, travel, Eros, adultery, the return, the overcoming of
limits (interior) and challenges (exterior), freedom, life as “navigatio”
and as a conflictual intrigue (or scheme) of experiences.’
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor The interesting fact about the study conducted by Nora Moll is that the sailor in her vision is not merely a figure tied to a specific social class, but as we can see the themes listed are themes that can be tied also to the figure of Ulysses. It is difficult to say that Ulysses or the image of the sailor own a predestined set of themes, and in fact they do not necessarily do so. Ulysses is a character that comprehends certain themes, but these change and shift in accordance to space, time and circumstances. What does not change is the thresholds that are always present in the life of a sailor, the limits that are constantly there to be overcome and the external challenges that need to be confronted. The harbour conveys a 22 Nora Moll Marinai Jgnoti,perduti (e nascosti). I! Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Larej (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
27
number of thresholds; as we have seen these are embodied in the figure of the manner. Jean Claude Izzo in his Les Marins Perdus23 wrote about the discomfort of sailors having to forcedly stay on land and their relationship with the harbor, a passing place that has a special meaning. The harbor is in fact a special place for the mariner, as it is the only place where they can have human contact beyond that of the crew. The mariner in Jean Clause Izzo does not feel that he belongs to any nation or country. He belongs to the sea; a sea that managed to give meaning to his life but at the same time managed to destroy it. Jean Claude Izzo uses strong images of the port to describe the tie the sailor has to the harbour itself, he uses sexual and erotic images and ties them to legends and popular culture expedients. The story is interesting because of the way Jean Claude Izzo reverses the way sailors live. In fact he recreates a story where the sailor is trapped in the harbour and so he is forced to view the sea from land and not the other way round as he usually does. The psychological discomfort that Jean Claude Izzo creates portrays the Mediterranean archetypes and the life in the ports from a reverse point of view. Everyday life in the harbour is analyzed through a succession of tragedies that on one hand recall the classicist view of the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, due to references to everyday life elements, may be easily connected to the modem conception of the Mediterranean port. The links created by Jean Claude Izzo are made on purpose to create an ongoing bond between the classic Homeric 23 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
28
Mediterranean and the modem Mediterranean. In fact, Diamantis -the mam character of the novel- is portrayed as a modem Ulysses trying to cope with ongoing temptations and with the constant drive for knowledge. The Odyssey is for Diamantis a point of anchorage. He reads the Odyssey while attempting to define himself: ‘In effetti l’Odissea non ha mai smesso di essere raccontata, da una taverna all’altra,di bar in bar: … e Ulisse e sempre fra noi. La sua eterna giovinezza e nelle storie che continuiamo a raccontarci anche oggi se abbiamo ancora un avvenire nel Mediterraneo e di sicuro li. [ … ]I porti del Mediterraneo … sono delle strade. ’24 ‘Yes … In fact, the Odyssey has constantly been retold, in every tavern
or bar … And Odysseus is still alive among us. Eternally young, in the
stories we tell, even now. If we have a future in the Mediterranean,
that’s where it lies.” [ … ] “The Mediterranean means … routes. Sea
routes and land routes. All joined together. Connecting cities. Large
and small. Cities holding each other by the hand.’ In this quote we see the continuous threshold between space and time being overcome, that serves to keep alive the Mediterranean itself. It is clear that the classic Homeric recount is always reinterpreted and reinvented. The Odyssey
is not the only point of reflection for Diamantis. In fact the protagonist is seen as a 24 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
29
deep character that reflects on the various incidents in his life and it could be argued that Diamantis is the expression of Jean Claude Izzo’s thoughts. The sailors in Jean Claude Izzo’s novel chose to be Mediterranean; naval commerce exists beyond the enclosed sea, but these men chose to sail with inadequate ships in a region where geographical beauty and historical richness meet. The port for Izzo, has multiple meanings and he defines the Mediterranean harbours as differing from other harbours, because of the way they are accessed. Izzo uses the image of the harbour as a representation of love: ‘Vedi, e’ il modo in cui puo essere avvicinato a detenninare la natura di un porto. A detenninarlo veramente [ … ] Il Mediterraneo e’ un mare di prossimita’. ’25
‘You see, it’s the way it can be approached that detennines the nature of
a port. Really detennines it. [ … ] The Mediterranean, a sea of closeness.’
This passage shows the influence of thought, Izzo inherited from
Matvej evic. In fact the approach used to describe the harbour and to depict the nature is very similar to the one used by Matvejevic in his ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’. 26 We perceive that the harbour is substantially a vehicle of devotion, love, passion and Eros, though we may also observe the threshold between the love and passion found in the port and the insecurity and natural brutality that the sea may convey. In this novel, the port is transfonned in a secure 25 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) ppl22 26 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010)
30
place whilst the sea is a synonym of tragedy. At the same time the port is seen as a filthy and conupt place. While for Izzo the past is used as a background to tie with the present and moreover to show a link with the future, Consolo uses a different technique. He goes deep in one focal historical point to highlight certain Mediterranean features and problematic issues. Consolo uses the period of time where Sicily was undergoing various political changes. He describes the revolution and the Italian unification, and portrays real events and characters tied to Sicilian history. In Vincenzo Consolo, the image of the sailor is used as a metaphor through the work of Antonello ‘il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio’.27 The title itself gives us a hint of the tie between art and everyday life. The voices that intertwine and form the discourse around the Mediterranean are hard to distinguish as they have fanned the discourse itself to a point where a voice or an echo is part of another. The work of Consolo28 goes through a particular historical period in Sicily to describe present situations and ongoing paradoxes in the Mediterranean region. It is difficult to resume and give a name and specific allocation to the works on the Mediterranean as the multiple faces and voices have consequently fanned a variety of literature and artistic works. The beauty behind works on the Mediterranean is that archetypes such as the concept of a ‘sailor’ or the ‘harbour’ are revisited and reinterpreted, thus acquiring a deeper meaning and at the same time enriching the meaning of ‘the Mediterranean’ itself.
27 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
28 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’lgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
31
Consolo focuses on the microcosm of Sicily and he portrays a fluctuation
between sea and land. He locates Sicily in an ideal sphere where the thresholds are nonexistent: ‘La Sicilia! La Sicilia! Pareva qualcosa di vaporoso laggiù nell’azzurro tra mare e cielo, me era l’isola santa! ’29 ‘Sicily! Sicily! It seemed something vaporous down there in the blue between sea and sky, but it was the holy island!’ Sicily is placed in an ideal sphere where beautiful natural elements coexist with famine, degradation and war. The imagery created around the island of Sicily may be comparable to the imagery around the Mediterranean region. As for the harbour it is described by Consolo as a place of contradictions, comparable to the ones found in the whole Mediterranean. The detail given to the life in the port is extremely in depth and the type of sentences used expresses the frenetic lifestyle of the port itself: ‘Il San Cristofaro entrava dentro il porto mentre ne uscivano le barche, caicchi e gozzi, coi pescatori ai rami alle corde vele reti lampe sego stoppa feccia, trafficanti con voce urale e con richiami, dentro la barca, tra barca e barca, tra barca e la banchina, affollata di vecchi, di donne e di bambini, urlanti parimenti e agitati [ … ].’30 29 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:56
30 Vincenzo Consolo fl so1-riso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:29
32
‘The San Cristoforo sailed into the harbour whilst the boats, caiques
and other fishing boats, sailed out with the fishennen holding the
ropes sails nets tallow oakum lee, traffickers beckoning with an ural
voice, inside the boat, from one boat to another, from one boat to the
quay, crowded with the elderly, women and children, screaming
equally and agitated’ [ … ] The tension around the port is well transmitted in the explanation given by Consolo, there seems to be a point of nothingness and a point of departure at the same time. We perceive that there is plenty of life in the port but at the same time confusion reigns, therefore we could argue that people in ports are not really conscious of life and that they are letting things turn. Nevertheless, the port is the starting point of life that develops either in the sea or inland. Both by Consolo and in Izzo we are made aware of the importance of life at the ‘starting point’, therefore the port in the works of both authors acquires the title of a ‘threshold’ between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, love and hatred, nature and artifice, aridity and fertility. In the microcosm described by Consolo, the Sicilian nature and its contradictions seem to recall the ones in the rest of the region. For example, the painting ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ is described as a contradictory painting. In fact, the sailor is seen as an ironic figure that smiles notwithstanding the tragedies he has encountered. The ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ has seen the culture and history of the Mediterranean unveil, he has therefore a strange smile that 33 expresses the deep knowledge acquired through his experience and a deep look that convey all the suffering he has come upon. In the novel by Consolo, the painting serves as a point of reference and in fact, the ‘Ignoto Marinio’ resembles another important character in the novel; Intemodato. Both figures share the ironic and poignant smile and the profound look. Intemodato is seen as a typical Sicilian revolutionary who embraces the sea but at the same time is not psychologically unattached to the situations that happened on land. He is part of the revolution and integral part of the Sicilian history.
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door Consolo and Izzo with their accounts of sailors and the life in Mediterranean harbours brought us to the interpretation of the harbour as a metaphorical door. As in the seminal work of Predrag Matvejevic ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’,31 the harbour is tied to the concept of a metaphorical door. In Latin both ‘porto’ and ‘porta’ have the same root and etymological derivation. A harbour in fact is a metaphorical and physical entryway to a country. In the Roman period, the god Portunos was the deity of the harbour who facilitated the marine commerce and the life in the port in general. The various deities related to the sea in the Roman 31 Predrag Matvejevic II Mediterraneo e I ‘Europa, lezioni al college de France e altri saggi (Garzanti elefanti:2008)
34
and Greek traditions are an indication of a deep relation between the figure of the harbour and the physical and geographical figure of the door or entryway. The door may have many different shapes and may divide different spaces but it always signifies a threshold from one point to another. In literature the harbour signifies a metaphorical door between fantasy and reality, history and fiction, love and hatred, war and peace, safety and danger. The image of the door is concretized through the various border controls, visas and migration issues and in this regard the entryway becomes a question of membership. A piece of paper in this case detennines the access through that doorway, but from a cultural and
identity point of view the Mediterranean threshold is overcome through the encounter with history and fiction. Thierry Fabre in his contribution to the book series ‘Rappresentare ii Mediterraneo’; 32 in relation to the Mediterranean identity he states; ” … Non si situa forse proprio nel punto di incorcio tra la storia vera e i testi letterari che danno origine all’immaginario Mediterraneo?”33 ‘ Isn’t perhaps situated exactly at the meeting point between the real stories and the literature texts that give birth to the Mediterranean imagination?’ Fabre is conscious of the fact that the discourse about the Mediterranean limits itself to a constructed imaginary, the poet or artist in general that enters this metaphorical door is expected to conceive the Mediterranean imaginary; blending reality with fiction. The door is not always a static figure but is sometimes blurred and does not 32 Jean Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, lo sguardo fiwicese (Mesogea: 2000) 33 Ibid (Mesogea: 2000) pp.25
35
clearly divide and distinguish. The Mediterranean itself is a region of unclear lines the fonnation of a port and of a nation itself is sometimes not that clear. In Matvejevic’s ‘Il Mediterraneao e l’Europa’34 literature blends with facts and culture so does the geography around the Mediterranean region: ‘Tra terra e mare, in molti luoghi vi sono dei limiti: un inizio o una
fine, l’immagine o 1 ‘idea che li uniscono o li separano. Numerosi sono
i tratti in cui la terra e il mare s’incontrano senza irregolarita ne rotture,
al punto che non si puo detenninare dove comincia uno o finisce
l’altro.Queste relazioni multiple e reversibili, danno fonna alla costa. ’35 
‘Between land and sea, there are limits in many places: a start or a
finish, the image or the idea that joins or separates them. The places
where sea meets land without any irregularities or breaks are
numerous, to the extent that it’s not possible to detennine where one
starts or the other finishes. These multiple and reversible links that
give shape to the coast.’ The coast in this sense is made up of a set of relations between figures and fonns that meet without touching each other, the door is not always present; it sometimes disappears to give room to imagination and the fonnation of literature.
34 Predrag Matvejevic Il Mediterraneo e !’Europa, Lezioni al College de France e Altri Saggi
(Garzanti elefanti: 2008)
35 Ibid (Garzanti: 2008) pp.53
36
The concept of literature allows the analysis of culture and the way it 1s
envisioned and spread through Mediterranean harbours. The fluctuations of varied thoughts that have shaped the Mediterranean imagery through its harbours have no ties with everyday life, if not by the transmission of culture and the means of popular culture that served as a point of anchorage and sometimes as a point of departure for the fonnation of a deeply rooted but also enriching and contested collective imagination.
37
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The harbour for many centuries has been an anchorage point and a safe place for sailors and travellers that navigate the Mediterranean. We perceive the safety of the harbour as something that is sometimes naturally part of its very makeup, as on such occasions where we encounter natural harbours. In other cases, to suit their needs, people have built around the shores and transfonned paii of the land into an artificial harbour which is able to welcome the foreigner and trade and at the same time to defend if needed the inland. Femand Braudel36 in his The Afediterranean and the Mediterranean World in thP AgP nf Philip TT <liscusse<l the importance of the Mediterranean shores for the traveller in an age when people were already able to explore the outer sea, but yet found it reassuring to travel in a sea where the shore was always in sight. The Mediterranean Sea has always instilled a sense of uncertainty in the traveller, because of its natural instability. Nevertheless, the fact that the shores and ts are always in the vicinity, the Mediterranean traveller is reassured that he can seek refuge whenever needed. The fascinating thing is that the ports in the age delineated by Femand Braudel were not only a means of safety but most of all of communication – a type of economic and cultural c01mnunication that went beyond 36 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 19 8 6)

38
the simple purpose of the port itself. The same simple modes of communications that Braudel describes may seem irrelevant when studying the Mediterranean history in its entirety, but we get to understand that they are actually the building blocks of the Mediterranean itself:
‘This is more that the picturesque sideshow of a highly coloured
history. It is the underlying reality. We are too inclined to pay attention only to the vital communications; they may be interrupted or
restored; all is not necessarily lost or saved. ‘ 37 The primordial modes of communication, the essential trade and the mixture of language and culture all have contributed to the creation of what we now sometimes romantically call the Mediterranean. The truth lies in the fact that
the harbour has always been prone to receiving and giving back; it has been a passing place of objects, customs and of words. We surely cannot deny the fact that trade has shifted not only by moving from different areas of interest but it also shifted into different forms changing the harbour’s initial function. This basic fonn of communication has contributed highly to the formation of a Mediterranean imaginary and a mixture of cultures that have left a deep resonance in language, literature and cultural expression as a whole.
37 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) pp.I 08
39
The risk and insecurity delivered by the sea have contributed to the
fonnation of various symbols that from their end contribute to the fonnation of an imaginary concerning the Mediterranean harbour. Amidst the uncertainties and hazards at sea, the light of the lighthouse that shows the surest path and warns the person travelling of the possible dangers, reassures the traveller while leading the way. The symbol of the lighthouse is tied to the representation of light and thus knowledge. Finding light in the middle of the sea gives the traveller the necessary means to have greater awareness of what is approaching. The geographical position and the architecture of the lighthouse are all an indication of their meaning beyond their primary objective. During the Roman period for example, the lighthouse was primarily an important source of safekeeping,38 but at the same time it represented a high expression of architectural and engineering knowledge. One example is the ancient roman lighthouse in Messina. Studies show that the architecture used was very functional, but at the same time it portrayed Neptune, thus mingling popular beliefs and superstitions. On the other hand, it was also a powerful way of delineating borders between Sicily and the Italian peninsula. Today the lighthouse in Messina has been replaced by fort San Remo and the architecture of the lighthouse has changed to a more functional one. Another powerful example is the ancient lighthouse in Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos where it stood alone as if wanting to replace the harbour itself. In Alexandria it is Poseidon who guards
the harbour, and the myth blends with the social and geographical importance of the lighthouse. Originally, the lighthouse in Alexandria was simply a landmark, but 38 Turismo La Coruna, Roman Lighthouses in the Mediterranean (2009) www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?s=79&l=en (accessed September, 2014)
40
eventually during the Roman Empire, it developed into a functional lighthouse. In the case of the old lighthouse built during the Roman period at the far eastern end of Spain, its dimension and position reflect the way Romans saw the world and how they believed Spain marked the far end of the world. What these lighthouses had in common was the fact that they were not just there to aid and support the traveller in his voyage but to define a border and to give spiritual assistance to the lost passenger. The symbol of the lighthouse is somehow deeply tied to a spiritual experience. In Messina where Neptune guarded the sea, and in many other places and different eras, the lighthouse was positioned in such way that it attracted a spiritual resonance and the light that emanated from the lighthouse may be compared to a spiritual guide. Matvejevic in his Breviario Mediterraneo39 compares lighthouses to sanctuaries and the lighthouse guardian to a spiritual hennit. He also adds that the crews responsible for the running of the lighthouse resemble a group of 1ponks, rather than sailors: ‘Gli equipaggi dei fari, cioe personale che somiglia piuttosto ai monaci dei conventi di un tempo che non ai marinai’ .40 ‘The crews of the lighthouses, that is staff that resembles more the convent’s monks of yore rather than the sailors’. The comparison is by no means striking, considering the mystical importance of the lighthouse. The lighthouse and its crew are seen and respected by the traveller, as they are their first encounter with land, safety and refuge. The link with spirituality is something that comes 39 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.55-56 40 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.56 41
naturally. The lighthouse crew for example is in some cases part of the ex-voto paintings found in the monasteries and convents. This illustrates the deep c01mection with the spiritual aspect. The question sometimes is to detennine whether the harbour and the lighthouse need to be two distinct features in the same space or whether they are part of the same geographical, social and cultural space. The answer may vary according to the way one perceives it. The lighthouse is the first encounter with land, but it is almost a feeling that precedes the real encounter with land, whilst the harbour is the first physical contact with land. The two elements may be taken into account separately, but for the purpose of this study they need to be taken in conjunction. The cultural value of both these elements goes beyond their physical value. In fact, both the lighthouse and the harbour share a common proximity to the sea, and receive cultural and social contributions from every traveller. The lighthouse and the harbour do not distinguish between different types of travellers -they accept everyone and their main gift for this act of pure love is the enrichment of culture, customs, language and food. The different elements intertwine and create a beautiful atmosphere that mixes sounds and tastes from various countries. This is not always distinguishable and it may not in all cases recreate the same atmosphere
in more than one country. What is sure is that the elements present in the harbours are of great relevance to what is portrayed on a higher artistic and cultural level. In this regard the harbour acts as a lighthouse for the country and sometimes for the region too, this time not to alann the traveller but to guide him spiritually and 42 artistically. The harbour was and still is a meeting place, where artists and thinkers stop and reflect. What comes out of these reflections sets deep roots in the cultural knit of the harbour and expands and grows until all the roots intertwine and create such a beautifully varied cultural atmosphere. Although the process may seem an easy and flowing one, we must not forget that the mixture of cultures and the setting up of such a variegated cultural atmosphere was not always flowing and peaceful. 3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility
The way the Mediterranean is geographically set up, contributed to an
expansion of religious pilgrimages that intertwined with marine commerce and
cultural richness. The image of the lighthouse and the harbour instil a sense of
spiritual refuge, and the large number of harbours and lighthouses in the
Mediterranean contribute to the mysticism of the region. Religious pilgrimage
throughout the Mediterranean is something that belongs to an older era and that
could have possibly started very early in the Greek empire, where Gods were
adored and ports and lighthouses had deep ties with different deities. As
Christianity started spreading in the Mediterranean, the Greek and Roman gods
were joined by saints and shrines for adoration.41 The coexistence of both pagan
and monotheistic religious expressions confinned a cultural motif related to
41 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing:2011)
43
divinity that has been a constant throughout Mediterranean history. In the Middle Ages the phenomena of the religious pilgrimage and the movement of saints’ relics gave to the Mediterranean voyage a different dimension. As noted in Borden and Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea, this age of pilgrimage and movement for religious purposes was brought about by a new discovery of sea routes in the Mediterranean and a different conception of religion as a c01mnodity. ‘Through the translation of his remains the saint himself, like the images of pre-Christian deities before him, in a very intense expression of the link between religion and redistribution, became a commodity’ .42 The redistribution of relics brought a new type of secular economy that involved bargaining and bartering. The movement of relics not only created a new wave of economic activity around the Mediterranean but also a movement of tales and accounts that pictured saints and voyages at sea, ‘Tales which echo real webs of communication, such as that of the arrival of St. Restitua from Carthage to Ischia’ .43 The stories seem to recall older stories from Greek culture, but are adapted to a newer setting.
The parallelism between good and bad, projected on the perilous voyage in
the Mediterranean, was always part of the account of a voyage itself, as we can
also recall in the various episodes of Ulysses’ journey. We are thus able to see that
in the voyages of pilgrims, the relationship between good and bad is often
projected onto the hard and extreme weather conditions in the Mediterranean.
42 Ibid pp.443
43 Ibid pp.443
44
Religious travellers had their own way of reading the map of the Mediterranean,
interpreting every danger and threat through religious imagery. From a cultural point of view, the accounts and echoes of religious travellers shaped the Mediterranean Sea itself and gave new life to the ports they anchored in. Apart from the movement of relics, another testimony of the great communication and cultural heritage -as we have previously mentioned- is the exvoto in the Mediterranean shores which gives witness to the cultural interaction and
customs based on faith. In many instances the objects collected for the ex-voto
have been taken up over time and placed in marine museums where cultural
interaction and exchange takes place. One example could be the ex-voto in
Marseille,44 where nowadays the objects collected are part of a collective cultural memory. In France, during the late seventies and the early eighties we have seen a great rediscovery of the ex-voto heritage that led to a deep cultural resonance in the area. The discovery of the ex-voto brought by a new inquiry of religious and harbour customs that were probably ignored previously. The paintings and objects dedicated to the saints and most of the time to the Virgin Mary represented the everyday life of sailors and travellers, the dangers at sea and most of all the miracles encountered during the arduous voyages. In the various exhibitions about ex-voto in France the concept of a Mediterranean ex-voto emerged and we are aware that at the time when the ex-voto was practiced in the majority of cases the 44 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 45
voyage routes were sole1m1ly around the Mediterranean and the fact that marine exhibitions concerning the ex-voto claim a Mediterranean heritage calls for a collective cultural expe1ience. It is difficult though to distinguish between a
personal encounter with the harbour and a Mediterranean experience; one may
intertwine with the other. In this case, the Mediterranean reference is imposed and not implied, and one might therefore wonder if there are elements that are c01mnon in the region and thus justify the use of the word Mediterranean. In the case of the ex-voto, it has been noted that certain elements are common to the whole region.
It is interesting to note the areas of interest and the social groups to whom
the ex-voto applies. This may give a clearer idea of the criteria and the cultural
sphere that surrounded the practice of the ex-voto. In the majority of cases the exvoto represented the medium bourgeoisie and the lower classes, the setting mostly represented small nuclear families. In most of the ex-voto paintings, one can see that the terrestrial elements intertwine with celestial elements ‘Dans sa structure, un ex-voto presente deux espaces, celeste et terrestre’ .45 The anthropological and cultural importance of the ex-voto emerges through the various figures that appear especially in the paintings dedicated to the saints and the Virgin Mary. These figures have a particular placement in these paintings that reveals a deep connection with the cult of miracles and devotion.
In Malta, as in France, the ex-voto was a widespread custom that left a
great cultural heritage. The paintings and objects donated to the ex-voto, especially 45 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 46
in connection to the sea, reveal a number of historical events and geographical
catastrophes that are tied with the Mediterranean region. The fact that the sea is
unpredictable makes the practice of the ex-voto much more relevant in an era
where the only means of transportation in the Mediterranean was by ways of sea. In the Maltese language there is a saying ‘il-bahar iaqqu ratba u rasu iebsa ‘ which literally translates to ‘the sea has a soft stomach but it is hard headed’. This saying is very significant as it shows the profound awareness of the Maltese community of the dangers at sea. The sea is unpredictable and therefore only through divine intercession can the traveller find peace and courage to overcome any dangerous situation. The different types of paintings that were donated portray different types of vessels and so indicate a precise period in history. At the Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille, one finds a number of models of different vessels from various historical periods. We also encounter very recent models of boats. This confirms that in a way the ex-voto is still present nowadays. Even in Malta, the practice of the ex-voto is still relatively present, although one may notice that the advance in technology and the new fonns of transport through the Mediterranean aided the voyage itself and therefore diminished the threats and deaths at sea. The types of vessels used in the paintings also shows the different modes of economic trading voyages in the Mediterranean. For example, in Malta during the nineteenth century, a great number of merchants were travellmg across the Mediterranean. This resulted in a number of ex-voto paintings that pictured merchants’ vessels and one could be made aware of their provenance. Various details in the ex-voto 47
paintings show many important aspects of the Mediterranean history as a whole
and of the connectivity in the region that went on building through time.
One interesting fact common to almost all the ex-voto paintings is the
acronyms V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit) and sometimes P.G.R (Per
Grazia Ricevuta) that categorizes certain paintings into the ex-voto sphere. The
acronyms literally mean that we made a vow and we received grace and P.G.R
stands for the grace received. The acronyms are in Latin, for a long period of time which was the official language of Christianity. These acronyms, which may have indicated the tie of high literature -through the knowledge of Latin- and popular culture -through the concept of the ex-voto, usually associated to a medium to lower class- demonstrate that the use of language may tie the various social classes. Although everyone understood the acronyms, it doesn’t mean that Latin was fully understood amongst sailors and merchants of the sea. Language was a barrier to merchants, traders and seamen most of the time. The Mediterranean has a variety of languages coexist in the region; Semitic languages at its south and Romance languages at its north. The lines of intersection and influence of languages are not at all clear and the geography of the Mediterranean region forced its people to move and shift from one place to another for commerce or for other reasons which brought by a deep need for modes of communication.
48
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication
The communication barrier between people in the Mediterranean coupled
with the profound need for interaction brought by a deep need of a common
language or at least common signals which would be understood by everyone. In
the case of the ex-voto, language or at least a reference made to a certain language, gives the possibility for people from different countries to understand the underlying message. In the Mediterranean harbours where interaction between people from different lands was the order of the day, the need for common signals and language was always deeply felt. Languages in the Mediterranean region contain linguistic elements that throughout history have been absorbed from other languages. In the Mediterranean region especially during the fifteenth century, the great need for communication resulted in the creation of a so-called Lingua fiw1ca, a spoken language that allowed people to communicate more freely within Mediterranean ports. One such language was known as ‘Sabir’, with words mainly from Italian and Spanish, but also words from Arabic and Greek. The interesting fact about Sabir was that the amount of words coming from different languages around the Mediterranean was an indication of the type of c01mnerce that was taking place at the time. Therefore, if at a given moment in time the amount of words from the Italian language was higher than that from the Spanish language, it meant that commerce originating and involving from Italy predominated. As Eva Martinez Diaz explains in her study about the Lingua ji-anca Mediterranea:
49
‘They created a new language from a mixture whose lexical and
morphological base – the base of pidgin – is the Romance component,
exactly the language of the most powerful group in these relations and
which varies according to historical period. ’46 During the 16th Century, for example, the Lingua franca Mediterranea acquired more Spanish vocabulary, due to certain historical events that shifted maritime commerce. This was also an indication of certain political events that shaped Mediterranean history. When a country invaded or colonialized another, as happened in Algeria after the French colonization, linguistic repercussions were observed. This mostly affected everyday language communication, especially with the simpler and more functional mixture of words and phrases from different languages in ports and the areas around them rather than at a political level. In Mediterranean ports, the need among sea people and traders to communicatee led to the creation of a variety like Sabir. Sabir comes from the Spanish word saber (to know), although, it is mostly noticeable that Italian fonned it in its prevalence.47 Sabir is known to be a pidgin language. A pidgin is a language used between two or more groups of people that 46 Eva Martinez Diaz ‘An approach to the lingua franca of the Mediterranean’ Quaderns de la Mediteranea, universidad de Barcelona pp: 224
47 Riccardi Contini, ‘Lingua franca in the Mediterranean by John Wansbrough’ Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Litermy Innovation in Modern Arabic Literature. Schools and Journals. Vol. 18 (2000) (pp. 245-247)
50
speak a different language but need to have a business relation, and so, need to find a common language or mode of communication. The word ‘pidgin’ is said to come from the Chinese pronunciation of the word ‘business’. The Lingua fi’anca
Mediterranea was a language that started fonning in the Mediterranean throughout the 15th century and continued to shape and change itself depending on where the political and commercial hub lay; Sabir, specifically as an offshoot of the lingua fiw1ca mediterranea, fonned after the 17th century. The first time that reference was made to sabir was in 1852, in the newspaper ‘L ‘Algerien’ in an article entitled ‘la langue sabir. Apart from a few references made to the language, it is quite rare to find sabir in writing because it was mostly used for colloquial purposes, but in some cases it may be found in marine records. When it was actually written down, the lingua franca mediterranea used the Latin alphabet, and the sentence structure and grammar were very straightforward. In Sabir the verb was always in the infinitive, as, for example, in ‘Quand moi gagner drahem, moi achetir moukere’48, that means ‘when I will have enough money, I will buy a wife’. The use of the infinitive indicated a less complex grammar that made it more functional to the user, as it was a secondary language mostly used for commerce. Although Sabir was in most cases referred to as a variety of the lingua franca mediterranea, we perceive that in the popular culture sphere the word Sabir is mostly used to refer to the common and functional language used in MeditelTanean harbours for communication. It is deceiving in fact, because the 48 Guido Cifoletti ‘Aggiomamenti sulla lingua franca Mediterranea’ Universita di Udine pp: 146
51
lingua fi’anca mediterranea, is the appropriate reference that needs to be made
when talking in general about the language used in harbours around the
Mediterranean. On the other hand, if we want to refer to Sabir we are reducing the
lingua fi’anca mediterranea to a definite period of time and almost a defined
territory association. Nevertheless, both Sabir and lingua fiw1ca mediterranea are two different words that express almost the same thing, it is thus important to establish the minimal difference between the two tenns. In arguing that the lingua franca mediterranea refers to a more general language used in the Mediterranean harbours during the Middle Ages and that went on changing and fonning and changing-assuming different fonns according to the harbour and place where it was spoken- we are looking at the language in a broader way. It is undeniable though that Sabir as a reference to a specific language that fonned in Algeria during the 17th century, is most of the time more appropriate to address specific arguments, especially when it comes to popular culture expedients. Popular culture and literature have expressed their interest in the language through expressions such as poems and songs recalling Sabir as a language that managed to mingle more words of different derivation into single cultural spaces. Nowadays, Sabir is no longer used; in fact we notice that English and Chinese are developing into new pidgin languages, understood almost by everyone, especially when it comes to trade and busmess.
In the Mediterranean we have encountered the rediscovery of Sabir in
culture as a language that has a deep cultural value for Mediterranean countries as 52 a whole. One of the examples of the presence of Sabir in cultural expedients is the famous play by Moliere Le bourgeois gentilhomme49 that was represented for the first time in 1967 at the court of Louis XIV. The story was a satiric expression of the life at court, Moliere was well aware of the life at court and he wanted to show that there was no difference between royals and nonnal people, especially with regards to emotions. Moliere associates the Sabir to the foreign Turks that by means of Sabir they managed to communicate:
‘Se ti sabir,
Ti respondir;
Se non sabir,
Tazir, tazir. ‘ 50
The use of Sabir for Moliere indicated a common language understood both by
French and Turks in this case. The fact that Moliere used Sabir, it meant that
gradually the resonance of Sabir could reach out to a different audience, than it’s
main purpose. In this case the meeting place as the harbour was not present but we may perceive that the mixture of cultures and the need for communication led to the use of Sabir as the common language. 49 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/l 3 l .pdf
50 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/13 l.pdf pp.143
53
Coming to the present day, it is difficult to say that Sabir or the lingua
franca mediterranea own a particular important space in the cultural sphere or in the language per se. We are mostly sure that in the Mediterranean harbours Sabir has no relevance anymore, nevertheless, we find the use of Sabir in popular culture. One example is the aiiist Stefano Saletti,51 who in his songs uses Sabir. Its use was obviously intentional. Saletti looked at the new uprisings in the North African countries and he could recall the same feelings, faces and atmosphere that southern European countries went through thirty years prior. With this in mind, he decided to use a language that had co1mnon elements to all Mediterranean languages, and so he chose Sabir. His albums are inspired by the notion of music and culture as a tie to the whole Mediterranean, being conscious on the other hand of the numerous contradictions and differences in the Mediterranean region. The CD Saletti and the Piccola banda ikona explain what Sabir is and why they chose this language to communicate a c01mnon message through the music: ‘Once upon a time there was a tongue shared by the peoples of the Mediterranean. This was Sabir, a lingua franca which sailors, pirates,
fishennen, merchants, ship-owners used in the ports to communicate
with each other. From Genoa to Tangiers, from Salonika to Istanbul,
from Marseilles to Algiers, from Valencia to Palenno, until the early
decades of the twentieth century this kind of sea-faring “Esperanto”
developed little by little availing of tenns from Spanish, Italian,
51 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
54
French and Arabic. We like this language. We like to mix sounds and
words. We play Sabir. We sing Sabir.’ 52 The importance of Sabir for Saletti shows that the harbour’s cultural value has been transmitted through time. Does the use of Sabir by Saletti indicate a recreation of a language that was used in the harbour as a functional and common means of communication or does it have the pretext to artificially recreate a common language? It is difficult to understand the importance and relevance an old pidgin language used for a specific purpose might hold today. Nevertheless, the use of this specific language in the music of Saletti reveals a profound search for common cultural traits in the Mediterranean region, that in this case aim to opt for cultural and educational approach to unite a region that is fractured in its own
basis. Saletti refers to Sabir as resembling Esperanto; a failed attempt to
linguistically unite a region that cannot be united. Although we may find the same concept in Esperanto and Sabir, we are aware that they differ in the way they came to be. Esperanto was artificially constructed, whereas, Sabir was born and evolved in an almost natural way by a need that went beyond the actual artifice. This is probably the reason why Sabir and the lingua franca mediterranea lasted for a long period of time, while Esperanto was at its birth a failed attempt to create a language for a detennined sector in society. It is a fact that the main difference between the two languages is that one aimed to create a broader understanding based on a functional everyday life need, whereas the other aimed to create a 52 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
55
language understood by few. In Saletti’s and Moliere’s works, we perceive the Mediterranean harbour as a point of intersection of cultures and ways of living that left a spill-over of cultural traits in the abovementioned artistic works and in many other works by various authors around the Mediterranean region. It is important to notice that the harbour in the expression of the ex-voto, Sabir, lingua franca mediterranea and various literal and artistic expressions, served almost as a lighthouse, where culture was projected and created, and recreated and changed to fit the ever changing needs of the Mediterranean differing cultures. In Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins Perdus, the language used in the harbour is not mentioned often, although he refers to language
as a barrier that finds its purpose in the basic everyday needs. Jean-Claude Izzo
mentions an important point on language in Les Marins Perdus as he delves in the way the word ‘Mediterranean’ is seen in different languages across the region: ‘Il Mediterraneo e di genere neutro nelle lingue slave e latine. E in
maschile in italiano. Femminile in francese. Maschile e femminile in
spagnolo, dipende. Ha due nomi maschili in arabo. E il greco, nelle
sue molteplici definizioni, gli concede tutti I generi. ‘ 53
‘The Mediterranean is neutral in the Slavonic languages, and in Latin.
It’s masculine in Italian. Feminine in French. Sometimes masculine,
sometimes feminine in Spanish. It has two masculine names in Arabic.
53 Jean-Claude IzzoMarinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.237
56
And Greek has many names for it, in different genders.’ Jean-Claude Izzo wants to prove that the word ‘Mediterranean’ in language is a sufficient proof of how people around the shores view the region. The gender of the word Mediterranean does in fact show that the languages in the region have
developed their own way of understanding and perceiving the region. Language as we have seen has deep ties to how popular culture and ideas have evolved and
developed. Sabir in its essence has proved that although the region has a myriad of contradictions and differing cultures, the harbour and everyday needs managed to combine the different languages into one. At the same time it is undeniable that the differences in the Mediterranean region make the region itself not only vast but also wonderful and enticing to the traveller and the artist. Literature and culture have fonned and mingled together, yet each maintained its distinct features at the the Mediterranean harbours; the place of various particular encounters. Jean Claude Izzo, Salletti and Moliere all managed to create a powerful work of art that has deep ties to the culture created and recreated over time in the Mediterranean harbours. Sabir and the ex-voto are only two examples of how harbours throughout
the Mediterranean have been a point of anchorage but also a locus of
Mediterranean cultural development. Harbours have been able to unite, divide and create such a diverse and yet common culture.
57
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo Inspired by the Port The Mediterranean as a discourse has been interpreted and reinterpreted, and idealized and mystified by a myriad of authors, thinkers and artists. In this modem era where globalization of thought is the nonn, the Mediterranean discourse is by far a difficult expression that finds obstacles in the concretization of its own thought. Nevertheless, today the Mediterranean is still capable of producing new artists and new expressions by which the discourse gets richer and deeper. The Mediterranean, as its name suggests, is a sea that is in between two lands, and as Franco Cassano 54 states, has never had the ambition to limit itself to only one of its shores. The Metlitenanean was fm a periotl of time consecutively and simultaneously Arab, Roman and/or Greek; it was everything and nothing at the same time. The Mediterranean never aspired to have a specific identity, and its strength lies in its conflicting identity; it embraces multiple languages and cultures in one sea. Franco Cassano in his L ‘alternativa mediterranea states that borders are always ahead of centres, ‘Il confine e sempre piu avanti di ogni centro’55, and this concept is very relevant when we think about the significance of the harbour, as a place at the border of the country and yet the centre of every interaction.
Cassano goes on explaining how the centre celebrates identity, whereas the border is always facing contradiction, war and suffering. The border cannot deny the suffering by which the conflicting and inhomogeneous Mediterranean identity has 54 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) 55 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.80
58
been built upon. The border is the true expression of the Mediterranean and it is
undeniable here that the most important interactions and historical events in the
region have taken place.
The border is an important concept in the study of the Mediterranean
itself, and as already mentioned, the majority of intersection and cultural
exchanges have taken place in the harbours, which are the borders of a country yet the centre of every interaction. For the concept of a ‘Mediterranean identity’ to arise, the harbour has been a pivotal place economic and religious interactions
which consequently left an undeniable cultural baggage whose strong presence
allowed the Mediterranean shores to benefit from an enriching cultural melange.
Being a sea of proximity, the Mediterranean has always been prone to receive the
‘other’ with all its cultural baggage, and therefore the concept of fusion and
amalgamation of different aspects of every country has always contributed to the
region’s culture. Accounts about the Mediterranean and those set in it have always put at their centre the concept of ‘differences’ and the ‘other’ in contraposition to the conflicts found in the harbours and in its centres. Nevertheless, without expecting the ends to meet to a degree of totality, the Mediterranean has been able to create places where ends do not merely meet but coexist. The coexistence of different races, cultures and languages has been the founding stone of the region.
As Cassano states, an identity that claims to be pure is an identity that is destined
to fail because it is in the essence of a culture that it repels the ‘other’, and
therefore sees the answer to every problem in the elimination of the ‘other’. The
59
Mediterranean, on the other hand has embraced ‘the other’ or on occasion, ‘other’ has forcedly penetrated the Mediterranean, giving birth to a region of different cultures based on a coexistence which is sometimes peaceful but often hard. The Mediterranean nowadays has overcome the complex of Olientalism and moved forward from a vision of an exotic south or border; ‘non e piu una frontiera o una barriera tra il nord e il sud, o tra l’ est e l’ ovest, ma e piuttosto un luogo di incontli e correnti … di transiti continui’ .56 ‘it is not a border or bamer between North and South, or East and West anymore, but it is rather a place of encounters and trends of continuous transits’. The Mediterranean has become a region of transit and a meeting place.
Upon travelling across the Mediterranean, an important thing which makes
itself evident is the imaginary that keeps on building through the interaction
between authors and thinkers, especially through their works that focus on the
importance of stating a discourse about the Mediterranean.
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo
‘Il Mediterraneo none una semplice realta geografica, ma un temtorio
simbolico, un luogo sovraccalico di rappresentazioni. ’57
56 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.92 57Jean-Claude Izzo,Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese
(Mesogea: 2000) pp.7
60
‘The Mediterranean is not a simple geographical reality, but a
symbolic territory, a place overloaded with representations.’
The Mediterranean is a region full of symbolism and representationswhich
would not exist if it were not supp01ied by the literature and culture that has
fonned on and around its shores. The Mediterranean as a region of imaginaries
built on the integration of different voices and stories has produced a number of
authors and thinkers that left a cultural and artistic patrimony to the discourse
about the Mediterranean. We have already seen how the harbour transmits a sense of insecurity and plays a role of threshold which is testified through the works of Izzo and Consolo. Both authors have not only shown the importance of the harbour but have also contributed arduously to the fonnation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The word imaginary, comprehends a number of images, figures and fonns that are created by the observers to define something -not solemnly by the mere reflection of facts and historical events, but by a personal evaluation- that sometimes goes beyond reality. In this sense, it is undeniable that the Mediterranean has gathered a number of observers who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective in a singular imagination. Consolo and Izzo have transfonned their personal encounter with the Mediterranean into a powerful imaginary.
Jean-Claude Izzo was born and raised in Marseille in a family of Italian
immigrants. His background and geographical position highly influenced his
61
writing. Both Izzo and Consolo shared a deep love for their country of origin
especially for the microcosm surrounding them. Vincenzo Consolo wrote about
his beloved Sicily, while Izzo always mentions Marseille. Both authors transpose
the love for the microcosm into a broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole.
Jean Claude Izzo’s Mediterranean is based on a passionate encounter with the
region and states that his Mediterranean differs from the one found at travel
agencies, where beauty and pleasure are easily found.
‘Cio che avevo scoperto non era il Mediterraneo preconfezionato che
ci vendono i mercanti di viaggi e di sogni facili. Che era propio un
piacere possibile quello che questo mare offriva.’ 58
‘I had discovered a Mediterranean beyond the pre-packaged one
usually sold and publicised by Merchants, as an easy dream. The
Mediterranean offered an achievable pleasure.’
The Mediterranean hides its beauty only to reveal it to anyone who
wants to see it. The Mediterranean for Izzo is a mixture of tragedy and pleasure,
and one element cannot exist without the other. This image of beauty and
happiness shared with tragedy and war is a recurring one in the study of the
Mediterranean. Consolo’s writing is based on the concept of suffering. He
pictures human grief and misery as an integral part of the Mediterranean
58 Jean-Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese (Mesogea:
2000) pp.17
62
imaginary and he feels that poetry and literature have the responsibility to transmit the human condition. Izzo in his writings not only shows that the Mediterranean imaginary is made up of tragedy, suffering and war but also shows that there is hope in the discourse about the Mediterranean itself. For Izzo, the Mediterranean is part of his future, part of his destiny, embodied in the geography of the region and in the tales and accounts that inhabit every comer of the region. Through his beloved Marseille, Izzo manages to look at the Mediterranean and thus find himself.
The word ‘imaginary’ in the academic sphere is tied to a concept used
for the definition of spaces, a definition that goes beyond the way things seem
externally, a definition that puts much more faith in how an author, thinker or
artist expresses and describes the space. In the case of the Mediterranean, since
the region is not an officially recognized political entity, identity is based on
interpretation more than anywhere else and the concept of an imaginary proves
that there are paths that still lead to thought about the Mediterranean. With this in mind, one cam1ot deny the fact that in the political or social sphere, the concept of Medite1Tanean is still being mentioned; however, one could argue that the Mediterranean that is being mentioned in a political and social sphere is somehow a constructed ‘Mediterranean’. The Mediterranean’s relevance nowadays is found in the hearth of the author and artist that from Tangiers or from Marseille is able to write about a sea that has thought him to be mobile, to travel not only physically but mentally and emotionally from one shore to another. Jean-Claude Izzo’s troubled identity gives us a hint of the way in which the Mediterranean is 63
perceived as a region and the way in which the personal ‘imaginary’ for Izzo was
fonned. Izzo himself was from a family of mixed origins and was raised in a
constant state of travel. Izzo found his Mediterranean identity in the imaginary
other authors had created but also found his roots in the very absence of more
organic roots. Every story and every country may be part of his own identity, and
so, the Mediterranean has the ability to preserve in the depths of its sea the stories and feelings collected from every shore and give a curious traveller the
opportunity to retrieve these treasures and make them his own.
The historical approach to the Mediterranean has been based on a
comparison between south and north, between the Mediterranean and Europe, and it usually focused much more on the contrasting elements than on its conjunctions and similarities. Braudel59 saw the Mediterranean as a static and unchanging region. Today, modem thought has led to a new perception of the Mediterranean, focusing rather on the points of conjunction than on the differences and contrasting elements, yet accepting the fact that the Mediterranean is diverse in its essence. In a paper by Miriam Cooke about the Mediterranean entitled Mediterranean thinking: from Netizen to Metizen60
, she delves into the importance of the juxtaposition between the liquidity of the sea and the immobility of the land in the rethinking process of the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean imaginary, the sea serves as a mirror and as a fluid that is able to connect and remain welldefined.
It is able to give a sense of time that is very different from the one on
59 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) 60 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
64
land. As we perceive in Jean-Claude Izzo, time is something that is completely
lost at the border between sea and land and especially in contact with the sea.
Sailors in Les Marins Perdus61 realize the concept of time only when they live in
the harbor and in other words, the sea has been able to preserve the sailor’s spirit in the illusion that time on land was as static as it was at sea. In the study about the Mediterranean region, the sea plays a fundamental role that must not be underestimated. Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo both refer extensively to the figure of the sea when addressing the Mediterranean imaginary. When pondering on the Mediterranean, Izzo always places himself facing the sea, embracing the liquidity of this region, whereas in his stories, Consolo always uses the sea as the main mode of transportation and giving it a mystical attribute.
The Mediterranean has a different meaning for the two authors, because
it is perceived from two different places and two different conceptions of the
Mediterranean arise. In much of Consolo’ s writing, the Mediterranean is seen
through the image of Odysseus which is an image that holds a special meaning for Consolo and to which he feels deeply tied. For Consolo, The Odyssey is a story
that has no specific ending and this is done on purpose because it is directly tied to the future. The door to the future was kept open with the specific purpose of
letting the figure of Odysseus trespass time. The importance of Ulysses in
Consolo’s discourse extends to a deep and personal search for identity and it is
identity itself and the search for knowledge that led Ulysses to embark on a
61 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010)
65
voyage around the Mediterranean region and afterwards to return to Ithaca. Like
Izzo, Consolo finds the essence of a Mediterranean imaginary in the act of
travelling and sometimes wandering from coast to coast, from harbour to harbour, somehow like a modem Ulysses that aims to find himself and find knowledge through the act of travelling and meandering. Many authors that have focused their attention on the figure of Ulysses have focused on Ulysses’ return to Ithaca in particular and the search for a Mediterranean identity through this return.
Consolo, however, mainly uses the metaphor of travel and wandering, and he
manages to tie them to the question of a Mediterranean imaginary that is being
built upon the various images that the author is faced with through his voyage. For Consolo the voyage and the constant search for knowledge are the founding
stones of a Mediterranean imaginary. This urge to push further and thus reach a
greater level of knowledge has driven the Mediterranean people to practice
violence, and therefore Consolo believes that violence tied to the expression of a
deep search for knowledge is what has constituted the Mediterranean region. In
L ‘Olivo e L ‘Olivastro 62
, Vincenzo Consolo uses Ulysses’ voyage as a metaphor of his own voyage and his personal relation with Sicily; being his homeland it holds
a special place for Consolo especially in his writings. Constant change in the
modern concept of a Mediterranean has left a deep impact on the Mediterranean
imaginary. The wandering Ulysses returns to a changed and metamorphosed
Ithaca, which is a recurring image in the Mediterranean. Consolo finds his home
62 Norma Bouchard, Massimo Lollini, ed, Reading and Writing the Mediterranean, Essays by Vincenzo Consolo (University of Toronto Press, 2006)
66 island ‘Sicily’ deeply changed by industrialization and although it may have
maintained features that recall the past, it has changed greatly. Images of the
harbour and of the Mediterranean itself have deeply changed. Change may be
positive, negative or may hold a nostalgic tone, although change is always a
positive factor that contributes to the fonnation of an ‘imaginary’. The way
Ulysses and authors such as Consolo and Izzo have wandered and fought their
battles in the Mediterranean has contributed to the change that we now perceive in the region. Through the voyage of Ulysses, Consolo gives testimony of the
Mediterranean violence and change to the rest of the world. For Consolo the
imaginary created around the Mediterranean is a mixture of his own reality such
as a modem Sicily devastated by industrialization and modernization, and the
recurring image of Ulysses. In fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio, Consolo focuses
on the microcosm of Sicily as a metaphor of the larger Mediterranean. His
imaginary is characterized by the concept of conflict – a conflict that keeps on
repeating itself in the Mediterranean and is somehow tied to a general conception of the Mediterranean. The harbour acquires an important space in the novel, being the hub of the whole story. The violence mentioned in the novel is a projection of violence in view of an attempt at unifying two different spheres, in this case the unification of Italy, but in a broader sense the possible unification of a Mediterranean. The attempt is not only a failure but results in a continuous war to establish a dominant culture rather than a possible melange of cultures that manage to keep their personal identities.
67
Izzo on the other hand wrote about the Mediterranean imaginary from
the point of view of sailors, who construct a Mediterranean imaginary based on
the concept of a difficult intercultural relationship and a strange bond with the
Mediterranean harbour. In Les Marins Perdus, the microcosm of Marseille
managed to represent the macrocosm of the Mediterranean, and the figures of the sailors represents a modem Ulysses, with the aim of bringing about a
Mediterranean imaginary that mingled old and traditional conceptions of the
region with new and modem ideas. Jean Claude Izzo’s sailors had different ways
of perceiving the Mediterranean, but they had a similar way of seeing and
identifying the ‘sea’. Izzo’s protagonist, much like Consolo’s protagonist,
develops an interesting habit of collecting old Mediterranean maps. For the sailor, the collection of maps represents in a certain way the concretization of a
Mediterranean and the unification of the geographical conception of the region.
The act of collecting may be considered as an attempt at identifying something
that is common, something that is part of a collective memory.
The works of Consolo and Izzo are the literal expressions of a
Mediterranean imaginary, based on their personal encounter with the region and
on their individual research on the subject. The way in which literal texts shape
our conception and ideas with their powerful imagery proves that the personal
encounter becomes a collective encounter in the translation of facts that each
author perfonns in his writings. However, what is most fascinating is the meeting
of ideas brought about through writing which also share elements with popular
68
culture. In essence, popular culture manages to reach a higher audience but it
often takes inspiration directly from literature and its various expressions. In the
sphere of popular culture one may see that the concept of adve1iising and of
mixing various means of communication to reach a specific goal come into action. 
Popular culture comp1ises various levels of cultural and artistic expression, and is therefore well placed to reach a larger audience and to imprint in the audience
various powerful images related to the subject chosen. In this case, the
Mediterranean has collected a large amount of popular culture expressions that
managed to create a knit of ideas and interpretations that succeed in intertwining and creating ideas through the use of old traditions and seminal literal texts.
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture
The way in which the Mediterranean has been projected in the sphere of
popular culture owes a lot to the dichotomy between sea and land, between a fixed object and a fluid matter. The fascination around the two contrasting elements managed to create an even more fascinating expression of popular culture, thus an idea about the region that is based on the way in which Mediterranean people view the sea and view the stable and immobile element of land. Moreover, the Mediterranean popular culture focuses a lot on the element of the harbour, a place where the two elements of water and land manage to intertwine, meet, discuss ideas and at times fight over who dominates. The conflict between the two elements, projected in the geographical distribution of the region, has deep 69 resonance in the emotional encounter with the region. Thus, the authors, artists and travellers are emotionally part of this dichotomy that is consequently reflected in their artistic expressions.
To talk about the Mediterranean nowadays is to reinvent the idea behind
the region in an innovative and appealing way. Culture and literature are new
means by which we re-conceptualize the region. The Medite1Tanean has been
compared to the Internet, because it is a place where near and far are not too well defined, where space is something fluid and where infonnation and culture are transmitted through a network of connections. In her study, Miriam Cooke63 notes how even the tenninology used on the Internet derives from marine tenninology.
One example could be the ‘port’ or ‘portal’. In relation to the web, it is defined as
a place of entry and usually signifies the first place that people see when entering
the web. Although virtually, the concept of harbour remains the first and most
relevant encounter a person makes when approaching a country or ‘page’ on the
internet. Although air transportation has gained a great deal of importance,
shipping networks used for merchandise are common and still very much in use.
The parallelism between the Mediterranean and the Internet opens a new way of
conceptualizing the Mediterranean as a physical and cybernetic space. Miriam
Cooke explains how the Mediterranean itself, just like the Internet, changes the
traditional concept of core and periphery: 63 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
70
‘The islands that are geographically centered in the Mediterranean are
rarely centers of power; rather, they are crossroads, sometimes sleepy
but sometimes also dangerous places of mixing, where power is most
visibly contested and where difficult choices must be made.’ 64
The way in which the Mediterranean is seen geographically most of the
time does not appear to be consistent with the actual function and thought of the
place. As in the case of the islands in the Mediterranean, their main function lies
in the fact that they are crossroads rather than real centres. Usually, the
geographical centre of a country is the actual political, social and economic
centre, however, in the Mediterranean, the centre is where ideas are fonned, and
this usually lies in the harbours and in the cities located in close proximity to the
sea. The centre and marginality of a place according to Cooke depends on the
position of the viewer. Therefore, the explained and conceptualized Mediterranean may have different centres and borders depending on who is writing about it. The function of popular culture is to somehow give a view on where the centre is and where the margins lie.
When discussing the Mediterranean in advertisements and in the media
m general, there is a tendency to start from the past, from a presumed
Mediterranean origin that seems to tie the whole region. In this assumption, there is no truth but just a commercial way of proposing the historical elements that 64 Ibid pp.296 71
unite the region, therefore making it appealing at a touristic level. The audience at times does not have a precise idea of the differing elements and cultures residing in the region. To make it more appealing and coherent, especially in advertising, culture seems to be portrayed as a feature that holds similar elements that recur throughout the region. Even tastes and sometimes sounds seem to be homogenized tlu·oughout the region. The French documentary film entitled Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2, aims to give an overview of the Mediterranean by focusing not just on the common features, but most of all on the fascination of the differences. The
documentary film traces how the Mediterranean has transfonned and shifted over time and it aims to show the deep cultural heritage it left in Europe. Rather than an advertisement or promotional video, this is an educational movie that rotates around the Mediterranean to explain each and every place while delineating its features and importance. The interesting fact about the movie is that it is filmed from above, giving almost an overview of the region, and that it talks about a Mediterranean future that ultimately lies in a supposed c01mnon past. When advertising a harbour in the Mediterranean, most of the short clips focus on the multiculturalism of the harbour and the projection of the place within a broader Mediterranean vision.
72
A particular advertising video, promoting Tangier65 as a harbour city
that looks onto the Mediterranean but remains predominantly African, focuses on the emotions that it can deliver and on the particular features that can attract the tourist such as traditional food and music. In everyday life, certain music and
traditional food would have probably disappeared, but in the projection of a place that needs to attract the tourist, the sensational aspect prevails and the tradition needs to be prioritized. In all the movies concerning advertisement of the Mediterranean harbours, what prevails is the conception of the harbours as
crossroads, as places where cultures meet, and obviously leave deep cultural
heritage. The movement of people in these short clips is shown as a movement
that has brought richness and cultural heritage to the country, ignoring the
ongoing debates about migration. These clips tend to ignore the ongoing problems in the Mediterranean and this is obviously done to increase tourism and project a nicer image of the region, succeeding in having a positive impact on the mind of the viewer.
Another peculiarity that is noticeable both in the clips about the
Mediterranean harbours and in many movies and stories is a concept of time
which is very different from reality. In short clips, such as the one portraying
Tangiers or the one promoting Valletta, it is noticeable that time slows down. In
the transposition of the novel Les Marins Perdus into a movie66, the concept of
65 Fabounab,Tangiers, port of Aji-ica and the Mediterranean (uploaded May, 2010) www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IJ3zmxC6g (accessed July, 2014)
66 Les Marins Perdus, Claire Devers (2003)
73 time is a fundamental element, because it drastically slows down. The first scene opens up with the overview of the Aldebaran, the ship on which the story unfolds.
This scene is a very long scene that gives the viewer a hint of approaching trouble, from sea to land. It achieves this in a very calm and slow way. Throughout the movie the sense of time being slower than usual is something that finds its apex in the last minutes of the movie when all the tragedies unfold. The way in which the Mediterranean is described in short clips and in this movie shows a common perception of the Mediterranean people as a people who enjoy life at a slower rhytlnn, although in certain cases it might be true that this assumption lacks accuracy. Although it is undeniable that the juxtaposition between land and sea which we especially perceive in the harbour gives a sense of time as a rather fictitious concept, one may recall the Odyssey, where the voyage in the Mediterranean took an unusually long time. The Odyssey in fact bases on the fact that time almost seemed to have stopped and in fact, the time span that Odysseus spent travelling at sea does not match with the actual time that was passing on land in Ithaca. On the other hand we perceive that time is passing by rather slowly for Penelope who patiently raised her son and safeguarded Ithaca while waiting Odysseus.
What the concept of time in the Mediterranean proves is that the various
images that one finds both in writing and in new popular culture are constantly fed to our conception of the region and through time these various concepts fonn an imaginary. In many cases, when we look at popular culture we find elements that 74 we can reconnect to literature. This proves that the means by which an imaginary is constrncted is based on different elements but usually one may find recmTing elements both in popular culture and literature. In the concept of time we also find a common way of seeing life itself. Time in the Mediterranean seems to be stuck therefore we may argue that literature and popular culture have contributed to the fonnation of our ideas about life per se, whilst obviously not denying that everyday life was of constant inspiration to literature and culture. The way in which both popular culture and everyday life intersect, connect and find common points is something of fundamental importance in the study of the Mediterranean imaginary, as it gives different points of view and visions of the subject and therefore creates an imaginary that manages in a subtle way to unite what seems so distant. Jean-Claude Izzo, Vincenzo Consolo and many other authors, as well as different ‘texts’ of popular culture, create an ethos about the Mediterranean that aims to join what appears separate. The fact that nowadays the Mediterranean is still present in popular culture, as in the case of the previously mentioned film shown by France 2, proves that discourse about the region and the Mediterranean imaginary are still alive and they have a presence in the mind of the receiver.
The imaginary of the Mediterranean harbour is also constrncted by the
way it is advertised. A short, recent videob1 advertising the Maltese harbour
repeatedly used the word ‘Mediterranean’ to highlight the connection between
67 Valletta Waterfront, Valletta Cruise Port Malta- the door to the Mediterranean, (uploaded February, 2012) www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMThbEG95WA (accessed May, 2014)
75
Europe and Africa. The way in which the harbour is projected in the French
movie shows a deep connection to the historical and cultural heritage of the
country but it also aims to show how historically and culturally varied the country is. The advertisement’s aim was to create a sense of uniqueness whilst focusing on the broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole. On the one hand it focuses on the fact that Malta is part of the European Union, therefore boasting high standards of security and maritime services, and on the other hand it promotes the various hist01 ical influences on Malta and its Grand Harbour and portrays it as the gateway both to the northern and to the southern shore. Being an island in the Mediterranean gave Malta the possibility to create its uniqueness, but also to affiliate itself to both Europe and Africa. In this sense, the sea serves as a unifying factor but at the same time it was always able to maintain the individuality of each place. The discourse about the Mediterranean is rendered possible thanks to the various factors that inhabit the region – factors that may differ from one shore to another, thus making the region a more interesting one to study.
4.3 Conclusion The discourse about the Mediterranean has always revolved around the projection of different images that supposedly recall a common feeling and common grounds. The Mediterranean is a region that is in essence a combination of a myriad of cultures; this factor is very relevant in the discourse on the region 76 as the attempt to unite the region in one cultural sphere is somehow a failed attempt. It is relevant to mention that in the production of literature and culture, these different expressions especially concerning the Mediterranean have produced a knit of sensations and feelings that are now mostly recognized as being ‘Mediterranean’. The harbour in this case has always been the locus of the Mediterranean imaginary because sea and land meet in the harbour, and therefore many cultures meet and interact in the harbours.
Harbours are places that live an ‘in between’ life but that still manage to
mingle the differences in a subtle way that feels almost nonnal and natural. The
harbour has inspired many authors as it has built a sense of awaiting and hope in the person. The Mediterranean port seems to suggest that everything is possible, and that imageries and ideas can unfold in the same harbour.
77
5 Conclusion
The Mediterranean city is a place where two myths come together: the
myth of the city and the myth of the Mediterranean. Both myths have developed
independently because both managed to create symbols and connotations that
have been able to survive till today. The myth of the city in relation to the myth of
the Mediterranean has been for a long time regarded independently and therefore it created a succession of elements that was able to reside in the same place but was in essence two different elements. 68
From antiquity, the ‘city’ has been seen as a symbol of social order – as a
place where reason and civilization reign in contrast with the ignorance of the
outskirts. The concept of a ‘city’ that is able to unify ideals and control society by
maintaining high levels of education and increasing cultural standards has
developed a division between the rural areas and the city itself. In conjunction
with the harbour, the concept of a civilized ‘city’ mingles with the idea of a
cultural mixture that is able to absorb what the sea has to offer.
In the Mediterranean port cities, the cultural emancipation and the centre
of trade and business in a way managed to intenningle with the idea of ‘squalor’,
most of the time being associated to the harbour. Nevertheless, in the
68 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
78
Mediterranean harbour cities, the idea of cultural richness and emancipation was a concept that found concretization in the idealization of the ‘city’ itself by its
inhabitants. The ‘city’ as much as the Mediterranean itself found deep resonance
with the growth of literature. In the case of the ‘city’, various treaties and
literature expedients that promoted it as a centre of cultural riclmess and
architectural rigor helped the ‘city’ itself to find a place in the mind of the person
approaching it. The obvious consequence of this new fonnation of cities as a
symbol of 1igor and proliferation was that a great number of people migrated from the rural areas to the cities. The myth of the harbour cities as being the centre of business and a locus of culture went on cultivating with the accounts about these cities written by various authors. They managed to give life to a succession of images that are now imprints of harbour cities throughout the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean appears unified in anthropological69 discourse in which
assumptions are made about the way ‘Mediterraneaninsm’ is constituted and the
‘Mediterranean way of life’. A group of cultural anthropologists aimed to view
the Mediterranean as a whole for the purpose of identifying elements that
managed to tie the region and gave meaning to the unification itself. On the one
hand they managed to give international relevance to studies about the region
because they constructed what they regarded as common Mediterranean attributes.
On the other hand they were constructing a discourse that said more about their
own vision than about a region that is varied in its essence. In a way they also
69 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
79 rendered the region ‘exotic’. The way in which anthropology managed to create an idea about the Mediterranean is interesting even though a person living in the region might argue that the picture given is incorrect. In this sense the imaginary of the Mediterranean projected by literature does not aspire to give a detailed account of life in the region but rather to actually transmit the feelings and passions that the region has. In this sense, literature was able to transfonn a passion and a detailed account of one’s own perspective about the region into an imaginary that is in its turn able to remain imprinted in the person’s conception of the Mediterranean. Literature and art in the Mediterranean had the ability to prove that there are common feelings in the region but they are distinguishable in their very essence and the harbour with its strategic position was able to give inspiration to the artist that approached it. The creation of an imaginary about the Mediterranean goes beyond the very need of knowing and apprehending facts that may be or may not be common to the whole region. In this sense, the artistic expedients and the literal world managed to relate to the reader and the spectator in a very special way by creating powerful images that construct society.
5.1 The ‘imaginary’ of the Mediterranean
One important definition of the ‘imaginary’ is given by Castoriadis in his
The Imaginary Institution of Society 70 in which he states that the human being
cannot exist without the collective and that the collective is fonned by different
7° Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth(University of Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
80
elements. One of the elements that is of great importance in the fonnation of the
collective is the symbol. The symbol or the collection of symbols is fonned from
reality and from an imaginary. In the composition of the imaginary, whatever
stems from reality and whatever stems from fiction remains in essence a question which is not resolved or which probably does not intend to be resolved. Therefore, the imaginary explained by Castoriadis gives a social meaning to certain questions that are fundamental in the complexity of reality. For example, the symbol of God was created for various reasons but its creation per se does not distinguish between elements that are true in its essence and elements that are imagined. The example given by Castoriadis on the symbol of God leads us to the conception of the Mediterranean region as a region fonned in its imaginary by reality and myth which intertwine and are not distinguishable. The Mediterranean created by the various authors and artists mentioned reinforces the imaginary that has at its basis the aim of giving a picture of the region which is not far from reality but on the other hand which is not that structured. Therefore we can argue that the difference between an anthropologist’s approach to the region and an artist’s approach is based on the difference in their point of focus. This statement one does not deny the importance of the anthropologist’s approach to the region where in fact social
structure appears and thus one can easily understand the way by which society is fonned. To fuiiher the study and understand it in its complexity one cannot deny the importance of literature and culture in the creation of an imaginary.
Castoriadis 71 states that society shares a number of undeniable truths that are
71 Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth (University of 81
accepted by everyone. By analyzing the imaginary one manages to go beyond
these undeniable truths and thus manages to extend the life of the imaginary itself.
Therefore, if the Mediterranean exists, it is because it managed to create a number of myths and symbols able to renew themselves. The impo1iance of the imaginary for the region itself is based on the fruits that it gives. The Mediterranean that is being mentioned in the various books and poems is supported by the emotions and passions of each and every author. If the author is not moved by passion for the region it would be difficult to create an imaginary. The Mediterranean region is still present in our mind thanks to the imaginary created by the various authors and thinkers.
The choice of the harbour as the locus of a Mediterranean imaginary
comes almost naturally as the harbours facing the Mediterranean Sea have a great impact on culture in the Mediterranean and the threshold between sea and land is on the one hand the very basis of the Mediterranean life. The harbour and the city as two separate and yet same elements intertwine and are able to create rich and variegated cultures, yet they were also the first spectators of conflicts and wars.
From this point of view, it is undeniable that the harbour in the Mediterranean
holds a special place for the author and may be seen by many authors and thinkers as a place of inspiration where ideas concretize and where the emotions, thoughts and ideas brought by the voyage at sea are still very present in the memory.
Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
82
Through the image of the harbour we come across the image of the sailor
who to many authors has been a point of reflection for the discourse on the
Mediterranean and has helped the connection between the real, almost “filthy” life of the harbor, and the ideas and concepts that fonn in the city. The various authors that integrated the image of the sailor to the idea of the harbour in the
Mediterranean were able to reinforce the Mediterranean imaginary by joining
different images and by giving them life and purpose in a way that goes beyond
the truth. The sailor in Jean-Claude Izzo’ s imaginary has a deep and developed
curiosity and a great knowledge of The Odyssey. While it is not be a surprise that
a sailor has a passion for literature, the point that Jean-Claude Izzo makes is that
Homer’s Mediterranean has definitely changed, yet it is still alive in the heart of
the ones that live the region in all its essence. Therefore, the sailor who is an
everyday image and thus is able to relate to a greater audience acquires almost
different attributes that do not match reality, but that are in essence part of a
shared Mediterranean imaginary.
The way in which authors and thinkers contribute to the fonnation of the
Mediterranean has been the principal focus of this dissertation. The pattern
created by art and literature all over the Mediterranean highlights the differences in the region but it also portrays the similarities that are able to give birth to a unified Mediterranean. As discussed throughout, the process of finding
similarities and the fonnation of an imaginary that is able to constitute the
83
Mediterranean was not a smooth one. The Mediterranean does not in fact appear
as a place that has a lot of common features. Even though politically and
sometimes socially it has been portrayed as a unified region, the unifying factors
are few. Literature does not aim to give a picture of the Mediterranean as one but
aims rather to give various personal and interpersonal interpretations of the region to fonn an imaginary able to be transported and reinterpreted in different
circumstances. It is important to understand that the word ‘imaginary’ does not
aim to conduct a political or social inquiry about the region and that the word in
itself actually aims to understand the underlying concept of the Mediterranean. It does not aim to state facts about the region but rather to give an account that is
able to connect the historical roots of the region to personal experience.
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour
Although the harbour was my main focus in identifying the Mediterranean
imaginary, it is definitely not the only point in the Mediterranean that could be
taken into account when studying its imaginary. Other aspects of the
Mediterranean could be of great relevance when expanding the various images of the region. One important aspect in all the literature expedients taken into account was the relationship of every author with their nation and their complex identity.
Therefore, in relation to the study conducted, it would be of great interest to expand the notion of ‘nationhood’ and the fonnation of various and complex
84
identities created in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean nowadays is seen as a region where ‘nationhood’ and identity are created through a complex of knits and relations. The latest ‘citizenship’ programs in all of the northern Mediterranean countries show how the borders and the concept of ‘nationhood’ are deeply changing, most probably opening to further possibilities that range from cultural enrichment to economic advance. When thinking about the Mediterranean JeanClaude Izzo emphasized the fact that he felt that part of himself resided in every harbour and his ‘identity’ was not limited to one place. He makes us realize that the Mediterranean existed before the creation of ‘nations’ and so, each Mediterranean person feels like he can relate to more than one country and more than one culture. The harbour has been the first impact with a deep association to the region, and the person approaching a Mediterranean harbour automatically abandons his roots and is able to relate to what the harbour has to offer. In this sense we have seen how the harbour was vital to the creation of a powerful imaginary. The question of identity and complex relations in the Mediterranean would be a next step in analysing the complexity of the region. The Mediterranean harbour teaches us that all Mediterranean people are prone to the ‘other’ and are open to various cultures, including the exposure to a number of languages and the creation of a lingua .fi’anca to facilitate communication. Therefore, with this exposure promoted by the harbour, the Mediterranean created various identities that sometimes are not distinguishable.
85
Jean-Claude Izzo felt he could relate to almost every country in the
Mediterranean and that part of him resided in every harbour. Nevertheless, he
always saw Marseille as a point of reference and as an anchorage point where his thoughts concretized. Contrarily, the difficult relation of Vincenzo Consolo with the Italian peninsula makes the issue of complex identitites particularly relevant. For a number of years, Consolo worked in northern Italy where he felt like a stranger in his own country. However, with the difference of enviromnent and in a way, a dissimilarity of culture, he was able to contemplate the meaning of the Mediterranean and his native ‘country’, Sicily. The question of a possible or
rather an impossible identity in the Mediterranean does not enrich or denigrate the concept of an ‘imaginary’ but rather enables the person studying the region to understand certain dynamics and the way in which authors and thinkers approach the region. It is rather difficult to paint a clear picture of the Mediterranean through understanding the complexity of ‘identity’, though it would be of great interest to find the way in which each and every Mediterranean person manages to relate to the concept of identity, which is an integral part of his or her social accomplishment. Society instils a deep sense of fulfilment and accomplishment in a person who is able to fully relate to their country of origin, and as Amin Maalouf states in In the Nmne of Identity, 72 identity is something that most of the time may lead to war between countries, and so it is undeniable that it plays a fundamental role in the way we view things.
72 Maalouf Amin, In the name of Identity: violence and the need to belong (Penguin books, 2000)
86
Amin Maalouf is an author of mixed origins. He is Lebanese but has lived
most of his life in France and when asked which of the two countries is his ‘real’
country, he found it difficult to answer as he states that both countries are part of
his identity. Thus identity for Amin Maalouf is something very personal. A person
living in France fonn a number of years has the ability to emich his previous
identity, therefore acquires an added identity to the previous one. The same person cannot deny the previous identity, yet he cannot deny that the present identity plays an important role in his personal fonnation. The Mediterranean as a region has always promoted the mixture of cultures and the voyage itself, therefore contributing to the fonnation of complex and variegated identities. Nowadays, we manage to relate both to a Greek and Roman descent, therefore geographically and historically the Mediterranean has been united in ideas and concepts that are now far from each other but yet undeniable.
The same geography and architectural heritage left by the Greeks and
Romans is still visible in most of the Mediterranean cities and harbours. This is
evident in the lighthouses that were for most of the time a symbol of greatness and architectural splendour, and we encountered a succession of ideas and cultures that mingled with the necessity of the lighthouse. Therefore the lighthouse that was on the one hand a powerful expression of artistic and cultural splendour, managed to create ideas and thoughts that stemmed from the actual need of ‘light’ and guidance. All these elements intertwine in the Mediterranean, rendering the 
87
concept of identity somewhat a complex one. Each person has an identity as
explained by Tarek Abdul Razek in his study about the Mediterranean identity:
‘Each one of us is the depositary of a dual legacy: the first is vertical,
coming from our ancestors, the traditions of our people and religious
c01mnunities; the other is horizontal and derives from our era and
contemporaries. Vertical identity is connected to memory and the past;
it is limited to a given territory within a given area. It usually
corresponds to national identity, the outcome of cultural policy
choices. Instead, horizontal identity extends towards the future,
though it remains open to the contemporary, reaching beyond national
borders, within a social context, in a postmodern approach. Thus,
horizontal identity is a project, a project for the future and not merely
a legacy of the past.’ 73
In relation to the Mediterranean, the horizontal and vertical identity may
be tied to the deep varied history that the Mediterranean holds. If Mediterranean
history is based on the interaction between people and cultures, then each and
everyone’s identity cannot just be based on the value of the nation as it is now.
The horizontal identity that leaves a door open to the future is in this sense very
important and gives substance to the discourse of a Mediterranean imaginary,
73 Abdul Razek ‘Common Mediterranean identity’ The Euro-Mediterranean student research multi-conference EMUNI RES (2009) pp.1-8
88
being the main contributor to the future of the Mediterranean. The imaginary that is the bringing together of both the vertical and horizontal identities manages to give hope to future discourse about the region. The imaginary does not deny the complexity of a possible Mediterranean identity, but merely shows a past where ideas flourished and have now become an integral paii of our own identity. It also proves that the future of a region is not solely made up of geographical, political and social features but is also made of different elements that manage to inte1iwine fanning a knit of images able to reside in the mind of every reader, artist and philosopher.
A search for a common identity is surely not the path to be taken in
understanding the relations in the Mediterranean because a common identity
usually instituted by the idea of a nation instills in the person a set of common
goals and ideals. In the case of the Mediterranean, the various conflicts and wars
show that there is no co1mnon identity tying the region. Therefore, it is quite
difficult to analyze a common identity and it should not be the purpose of a study
itself. It is interesting, however, to delve in the way authors and thinkers that
contributed to the fonnation of an imaginary in the Mediterranean deal with their personal identity, whether it is problematic for a great number of authors or whether authors find that their identity is not limited to their ‘national identity’.
All these factors could be of great interest to the person studying the region in the
sense that if each author writing about the Mediterranean finds the impulse to
write about the region, then he must feel a sense of association to the region,
89 irrespective of his roots or his identity, or the historical elements that he finds
residing in all the Mediterranean. This ‘affiliation’ has an element of identity that
I find interesting in the discourse about the Mediterranean. Jean-Claude Izzo in
his Les Marins Perdus states that every person travelling in the Mediterranean
needs to have a personal reason for it, and this personal reason resides mostly in
the search for an identity. One of the characters in Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins
Perdus was in constant search of an identity; a personal one that could tie him
psychologically and emotionally to a harbour or to a land. The Mediterranean, as
a region, was the place where he could c01mnent, argue and question his own
identity. Whether the search actually resulted in finding his identity is not the
actual point of the novel but the focal point is that the constant search for an
‘affiliation’ and an anchorage point brought out a rich imaginary that is able to be
transported through time.
The Mediterranean imaginary constructed by the various authors and
thinkers created a vision of various concepts such as the sailor, the metaphor of
the harbour, and the thresholds that hold both a geographical and metaphorical
meaning. The imaginary of the region is meant to go beyond the initial sociopolitical meanings that the media tries to portray. The Mediterranean for
anthropologists, authors, politicians and the Mediterranean people themselves has in essence a different meaning for each person, and therefore by analyzing the narration and images about the region, it is possible to understand the relationship between each component of the Mediterranean society to society itself.
90
The aim of analyzing the imaginary in the Mediterranean through the help
of the harbour as a conceptual and geographical area was to focus on the way in
which literature and culture through the help of metaphors and the personal
encounter with the region, manages to leave an imprint on the imaginary of the
region. The region is not only a place where these figures meet, intertwine and are reinvented but it is also a place where politics should be discussed considering the deep historical and geographical ties as well as a place where issues such as ‘migration’ should be viewed with the history of the region in mind. The importance of the Mediterranean does not lie in the accomplishment of a common identity but in realizing that each and every complex identity that resides in and writes about the Mediterranean can contribute to the fonnation of the ‘imaginary’ to which everyone can relate – images and figures with which each Mediterranean person, with their diverse identities, can identify. The imaginary is the result of images, narratives and depictions that from a personal meaning and manage to acquire a deeper and more global meaning. The Mediterranean people would not feel that these common ideas and values are in any way limiting their freedom or restricting their identity, but on the contrary, feel that it is enriching to their personalized and contradictory identity.
91
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97 

I dedicate this thesis to you, dear father. You showed me with your constant love, that whatever I do with persistence and commitment will open the doors to my destiny. The long nights I spent awake, reading and researching reminded me of the long nights you spent awake working, pennitting me to study and build my future. Your sacrifices are always accompanied by a constant smile that continuously gives me courage in difficult moments.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The number of people to whom I owe my accomplishments is far too long to fit on this page, as many have inspired me and given me their constant support which has helped me realize that knowledge could open doors I did not even know existed. Nevertheless, there are a number of people who I would like to mention as they have been there for me during tough times and have given me the support I needed. I would like to thank my family without whom I would not have been able to further my studies, my boyfriend Terry, who has always believed in me and has always been there to support me with his constant love, and my uncle Carlo, who from an early age fed me with books and literature that fostered my love of knowledge and the curiosity to find my inner self. I would also like to thank my dearest colleague Ray Cassar, who always helped me grow both academically and as a person, as well as my tutor and mentor Adrian Grima, who directed me, allowing me to ground and express my ideas better whilst always respecting and valuing my opinions.
II
Table of Contents
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold ………………………………………………………………. 7
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………….. 10
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the Port12
1.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
2 The Harbour as Threshold …………………………………………………………………… 1 7
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature …………………….. 20
2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour ………………………. 23
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor …………………………………………………………………. 27
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door ……………………………………………… 34
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………………… 38
3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility ………………………………………………………….. 43
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication ………. 49
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo
Inspired by the Port ………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo ………………………….. 60
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture ……………………………. 69
4.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 76
5 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………… 78
5.1 The ‘Imaginary’ of the Mediterranean ……………………………………………. 80
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour ……………………….. 84
6 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….. .. 9?.
III
Abstract

The Mediterranean harbour is a place of meeting, of encounters between
civilizations, of clashes, wars, destructions, peace; a place where culture comes to live, where art is expressed in various ways and where authors and thinkers have found inspiration in every comer. The harbour imposes a number of thresholds to the person approaching it. This threshold could have different fonns which could be emotional, geographical, spiritual or cultural. Authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo lived and experienced the Mediterranean harbour in all its aspects and expressions; their powerful experience resulted in the formation of important images referred to as ‘imaginary’. The Mediterranean imaginary is the vision of various authors who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective, but at the same time singular imagination. The harbour is an important part of the Mediterranean geographical structure and thus it has been the main point of study for many examining the region. Factors such as language have transformed and suited the needs of the harbour, being a cultural melting pot.
1 Introduction
The Mediterranean is represented by chaos, especially in the harbour cities that are witness to the myriad of cultures which meet each and every day to discuss and interact in the harbour. It is imperative to state that chaos, as the very basis of a Mediterranean discourse has been fed through the different voices fonned in the region. These same voices, images and interpretations have found a suitable home in the Mediterranean harbours, places where literature and culture managed to flourish and where the so-called ‘margins’, both geographical and social, found centrality. The harbour has acquired significance in the discourse on the Mediterranean and thus on how literature and cultural expedients and the vaiious authors and artists recall the harbour as an anchorage point for their deep thoughts about the region. 1
Nowadays, the unification of the Mediterranean seems a ‘utopia’, since the Mediterranean is politically perceived as a region full of borders and security plans. One may easily mention the various strategic moves put forward by the European Union to safeguard the northern Mediterranean countries from migration from North African shores. By applying and reinforcing these security plans, the Mediterranean has become ever increasingly a region of borders. It is also important not to idealize the Mediterranean past as a unified past, because the 1 Georges Duby Gli ideali def Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea
(Mesogea, 2000) pp.80-104
2
region was always characterized by conflict and chaos. Despite the chaos that was always part of the Mediterranean, being a region of clashing civilizations, it managed to produce a mosaic of various cultures that is visible to the eye of the philosopher or the artist. The artist and the philosopher manage to project their thoughts and ambitions for the region; therefore they are able to see hannony in a region that seems so incoherent. The aim of my thesis is to understand why the harbour is crucial in the construction of the Mediterranean imaginary. Both open space and border, the port, as in the case of Alexandria or Istanbul, has for a long time been a center for trade, commerce and interaction. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on the study of the harbour and harbour cities to be able to give substance to a study about the Mediterranean as a complex of imaginaries. The boundaries in the study about the Mediterranean have a special place; in fact a boundary that may be either geographical or political has the ability to project and create very courageous individuals that manage to transgress and go over their limits when facing the ‘other’. In the Mediterranean we perceive that the actual reason for transgressing and overcoming a limit is the need of confonning or confronting the ‘other’, sometimes a powerful ‘other’ able to change and shift ideas, able to transpose or impose cultural traits. Yet, the Mediterranean in its multicultural environment has been able to maintain certain traits that have shaped what it is today. Through movement of people in the region, the Mediterranean has been able to produce a number of great innovations, such as the movement of the Dorians who moved from the south all along the 3 Greek peninsula, and also the ‘sea people’ that came from Asia and, being hungry and thirsty, destroyed whatever they found. The same destruction and movement resulted in the creation of three important factors for the Mediterranean: the creation of currency, the alphabet, and marine navigation as we know it today. The various movements also contributed to the fonnation of the person as a free being with the ability to move freely. Therefore, movement and the overcoming of boundaries in the Mediterranean have contributed greatly to the fonnation of civilization itself.2 A board, today found in the museum of Damascus, with an alphabet very similar to the Latin one written on it, was very useful as it was very simple in its structure. This confirms a high level of democracy, as civilization meant that each individual had the possibility of knowing and understanding what his leaders understood. We get to understand that in the Mediterranean each person can practice his freedom by travelling out at sea and engage in trading. All this was made possible by the same interactions and conflicts raised in the region. Conflicts though are not the only factor that promoted the interaction and the fonnation of interesting cultural and literature in the Mediterranean, as we know it today. Art and culture have been means by which the various conflicts and interactions took life and expressed the deep feelings that inhabited the soul 2 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, filosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
4
of the artist. Karl Popper3 states that the cultural mixture alone is not sufficient to put the grounds for a civilization and he gives the example of Pisistratus, a Greek tyrant that ordered to collect and copy all the works of Homer. This made it possible to have a book fair a century later and thus spread the knowledge of Homer. Karl Popper wants to tell us that art and culture have deeply influence the fonnation of a general outset of the region and that the fonnation of the general public is not something that comes naturally, but is rather encouraged. The Greeks in this sense were directly fed the works of Homer by the diffusion of the works themselves. On the other hand, the majority of Greeks already knew how to read and write, further enabling the diffusion of knowledge. Art and architecture are two important factors that have detennined the survival of empires and cultures through time. When artists such as Van Gogh were exposed to the Mediterranean, they expressed art in a different way and when Van Gogh came in contact with the Mediterranean region, the French Riviera and Provence in particular, he discovered a new way of conceiving art. In a letter that Van Gogh wrote to his sister in 1888, he explained that the impact the Mediterranean had on him had changed the way he expressed art itself. He told her that the colours are now brighter, being directly inspired by the nature and passions of the region. The Mediterranean inspired Van Gogh to use a different kind of colour palette. If the art expressed by Van Gogh that is inspired by the Mediterranean is directly 3 Georges Duby Gli ideali del Mediterraneo, storia, jilosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
5 represented and interpreted by the spectator, the region manages to be transposed through the action of art itself.4 The way in which the thesis is structured aims to focus on the vanous images created by poets, popular music and art. Each chapter provides evidence that the harbour has been the centre of attention for the many authors and thinkers who wrote, discussed and painted the Mediterranean. The thesis aims to prove that certain phenomena such as language and religion have contributed to a knit of imaginaries, the layout of certain events such as the ex-voto in the Mediterranean and the use of Sabir or Lingua Franca Mediterranea, which shows how the harbour managed to be the center of events that shaped the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean. The language and religious movement mentioned have left their mark on the Mediterranean countries, especially the harbour cities, which were the first cities encountered. The choice of the harbour cities as the representation and the loci of a Mediterranean imaginary vision is by no means a casual one. In fact, the harbour for many centuries has been the anchorage point not only in the physical sense but also emotionally and philosophically for many authors and thinkers, two of which are Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo, extensively mentioned in the dissertation. These two authors are relevant for the purpose of this study as they manage to create a vision of the Mediterranean, based on their personal experience and influenced by 4 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp.43-55
6 the harbour from which they are looking at the region and observing the
Mediterranean. Popular culture ‘texts’ such as movies and music based on the interaction between the person and the Mediterranean region have an important role in the study, as they represent the first encounter with the harbour. It is a known fact that in the postmodern era where technological means have a broader and deeper reach, popular culture has become the first harbour in which many find anchorage. Therefore it would be difficult to mention literature works that have shaped the Mediterranean without mentioning the popular texts that have constructed images about the region that intertwine and fonn a complete and powerful image. The relevance of each factor is well defined in this study, delving deep in not only popular culture but also in language and various historical events that have transformed the Mediterranean, providing examples of how factors such as geographical elements, spirituality, devotion and passion have transfonned the way in which we perceive a region.
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold The first chapter focuses on the harbour as a threshold between stability and instability, between wealth and poverty, between mobility and ilmnobility. The various elements that constitute the harbour always convey a sense of ‘in between’ to the person approaching. The very fact that the harbour seems to be a place of insecurity gives the artists and authors a more stimulating environment to 7 write about their feelings and to contrast them with the ever-changing and chaotic enviromnent of the harbour. The way in which the natural landscape manages to influence the poetic and artistic expression is of great relevance to the study of the Mediterranean region, especially with regards to the study of the harbour. Poets such as Saba and Montale wrote about the way in which nature felt as a personified figure, able to give hope and change the way poets look at the world. 
They also wrote about nature in the Mediterranean as being an impmiant feature
shaping the way in which history and culture developed.
The sailor as a representation of a Mediterranean traveller is often found in
literature especially with regards to the notion of the harbour as an image of the
Mediterranean culture. Many authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo
Consolo wrote about the figure of the sailor in relation to the sea and everyday life in Mediterranean harbours. The novels fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio by
Vincenzo Consolo and Les Marins Perdus by Jean-Claude Izzo are written in two
different geographical areas of the Mediterranean and reflect two different
periods, but they are tied by an expression of a Meditemm~im i1rn1eirn1ry and
somehow recall common features and aspects of the harbour. Both novels manage to transpose their authors’ personal encounter with the Mediterranean, therefore
recalling their own country of birth. The novels are somewhat personal to the
authors; Consolo recalls Sicily while Izzo often refers to Marseille. The fact that
the novels are projecting two different areas and two different points of view on
8
the Mediterranean proves that by gathering different experiences related to the
region, a rich imaginary is created.
The harbour is a door, an entryway to a new world, and borders. Security
and expectations are all part of the experience of the threshold when entering a
country, especially in the Mediterranean, where thresholds are constantly present and signify a new and exciting experience that leads to a new interpretation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The way in which the harbour acts as an entryway suggests that what lies beyond the harbour is sometimes a mystery to the traveller.
Literature greatly contributes to the fonnation of ideas, especially in regard to the fonnation of thoughts such as the idea of a Mediterranean imaginary, but there is another element of fundamental importance to the formation of ideas on a generic line, which is popular culture. High-culture, referring to elements such as art, literature, philosophy and scholarly writings, creates a common understanding between an educated public. Popular culture refers to the section of culture that has a common understanding between the public. High-culture and popular culture have the power to transform what is mostly regarded as pertaining to high society; literature is constantly being reinterpreted and transfonned by popular culture to be able to reach a greater audience.
9
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The imp01iance of natural landscape which detennines the success or failure of a harbour, also detennines a number of historical events. In this sense, the Mediterranean is a region that has been naturally set up with a number of very important harbours that consequently fonned a particular history. The image of the harbour could be compared to the image of the lighthouse, which is part of the harbour itself but at the same is a distinct entity that in some cases had a role which went beyond its initial role of guidance and assumed almost a function of spiritual assistance. 5 The symbol of the lighthouse is also tied to knowledge and therefore the lighthouse has the ability to give knowledge to the lost traveller at sea, it is able to show the way even in uncertainties. The lighthouses in the Mediterranean had the ability to change through ages and maintain a high historical and cultural meaning; their function is a matter of fact to give direction to the traveller, but in certain cases it has been used to demarcate a border or as a symbol of power.
The Mediterranean Sea has witnessed different exchanges, based on belief,
need and sometimes even based solely on the search of sel£ Among these modes
of exchange and these pretexts of voyage in the Mediterranean, we find the exvoto and the movement of relics. Both types of exchange in the region have in
common at the basis religion that instilled in the traveller a deep wish to follow a
5 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti: 2010)
10
spiritual path. These exchanges resulted in an increasing cultural exchange. The
ex-voto6 shows a number of things. One of these things is that the very existence
of ex-voto proves a deep connection with the geographical aspect in the
Mediterranean and therefore proving that the region is a dangerous one. In this
sense, people in the Mediterranean have shown their gratitude to God or the
Virgin Mary in the fonn of ex-voto after a difficult voyage at sea. On the other
hand, the ex-voto shows how popular culture mingles with the spiritual experience and the way in which a person expresses gratitude to the divine. The ex-voto paintings have a special way of being identified. The saint or in most cases Virgin Mary, is usually set in a cloud or unattached from the sea in a tempest. Another element that shows if a painting is or is not part of an ex-voto collection, is the acronyms found in the bottom of every painting V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit). The use of Latin demonstrates the vicinity to Christianity, whilst the words meaning that ‘I made a vow and I received grace’ prove the tie between the tragedies at sea and the grace given by God. The difficult Mediterranean geographical predisposition, discussed by Femand Braudel7 has developed an abundance of devotion that transformed to shrines and objects of adoration and gratitude. These same shrines, objects and materials that were most of the time exchanged and taken from one place to another, have deeply enriched the Mediterranean with cultural objects and the same shrines are nowadays part of a collective cultural heritage.
6 Joseph Muscat Il-Kwadri ex-voto Martittimi Maltin (Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2003) 7 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II
(Fontana press: 19 8 6)
11
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the
Port The Mediten-anean for Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo revolves around the idea of a harbour that gives inspiration because it is in essence a border where ideas meet and sometimes find concretization. The Mediterranean harbour for centuries has been a meeting place for people and cultures, thus creating a region full of interactions on different levels. The imaginary for both authors has been shaped by both cultural elements and by the literary elements that find a special place in the mindset of the author. Culture as a popular expression of the concept of the Mediten-anean has developed in different ways, one of which is the projection of the harbour and the Mediterranean itself through media and advertising. Various elements such as the touristic publicity or the actual reportage about the harbour and the Mediten-anean have widened the horizon and the imaginary of the region. In advertisements, the Mediterranean has been idealized in some ways and tends to ignore controversial issues such as ‘migration’; advertising also tends to generalize about the Mediterranean and so mentions elements such as the peaceful and relaxing way of life in the region. Advertisement obviously has its own share in the building of an ‘imaginary’ of the region, but it may also create confusion as to what one can expect of the region. On the other hand, the reportage about the Mediterranean harbour and the region itself focuses more on everyday life in the Mediterranean and common interactions such as encounters with fishennen. Nevertheless, when mentioning 12 the MediteITanean even the reportage at times makes assumptions that try to unite the MediteITanean into an ideal space and it sometimes aims to give an exotic feel to the region. Yet there are a number of informative films that have gathered important material about the MediteITanean, such as the French production Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus, produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2.8 The difference between the usual promotional or adve1iising video clips and the documentary film produced for France 2 was that in the latter the focus points were an expression of the beauty of the whole, whereas in the fonner, beauty usually lies in the common features that for marketing purposes aim to synthesize the image of the Mediterranean for a better understating and a more clear approach to the region. The harbour and other vanous words associated to the concept of the harbour have been used in many different spaces and areas of study to signify many different things other than its original meaning, and this makes us realize that the harbour itself may hold various metaphorical meanings. We have seen the way in which the harbour served as a first spiritual refuge or as an initial salvation point, but it is also interesting to note how the harbour is conceptually seen today,
in an era where globalization has shortened distances and brought down barriers. Nowadays, the harbour is also used as a point of reference in the various technological terms especially in relation to the internet, where the ‘port’ or 8 Yan Arthus-Betrand Mediteranee notre mer a taus (France 2, 2014)
www.yannarthusbertrand.org/ en/films-tv/–mediterranee-notre-mer-a-tous (accessed February,
2014)
13
‘portal’ refers to a point of entry and thus we perceive the main purpose of the harbour as being the first point of entry as is in the context of infonnation technology. The concept of core and periphery has deeply changed in the world of Internet and technology, as the concept of core and periphery almost disappeared. Similarly, the Mediterranean’s core and pe1iphery have always been in a way different from what is considered to be the nonn. Geographically, the core could be seen as the central area, the place where things happen, whereas in the Mediterranean, the periphery acquires almost the function of the core. The harbour is the geographical periphery; neve1iheless, it acquires the function of the core. The islands for example are usually centres, whereas in the Mediterranean they are crossroads rather than real centres of power. In nonnal circumstances the relation between core and periphery is something that denotes not only the geographical location of a place but it usually also refers to economical, social and cultural advancement. Therefore, in the Mediterranean region the concept of geographical centre and economical and social centres are different from their usual intended meaning.
The Mediterranean imaginary has developed in such a way that it
purposely distorted the concepts such as the standard core and periphery or the usual relationship between men and nature or between men and the various borders. In the Mediterranean imaginary, which as we have mentioned is being fed by various authors and popular discourse, has the ability to remain imprinted in our own thoughts and thus has the ability to reinterpret the region itself; we find 14 that the usual conceptions change because they suit not only the region but the author that is writing about the region. The way in which the various authors and artists who describe the Mediterranean are faced with the ongoing challenges presented by the region shows how in essence each and every author has their own personal approach to the region. Their works are essentially a personal project which lead to the enriclunent of the region’s imaginary. The differences between each and every author makes the ‘imaginary’ and the accounts about the Mediterranean much more interesting and ersonalized. 
Consolo9 and Izzo10 have different ways of perceiving the region and
although they both aim to create an ‘imaginary’ that may recall similar features, it is undeniable that there are substantial differences in their approach. Consolo on the one hand focuses a lot on the image of Ulysses as a figure that represents him in his voyage in search of the self. Ulysses for Consolo is a figure that manages to preserve a meaning even in the modem era, a figure that is able to travel through time all the while reinventing the Mediterranean. Izzo as well feels that the figure of Ulysses is imperative to the study of the Mediterranean, but he mostly focuses on the impact of the present experience of the region on the conception of a Mediterranean ‘imaginary’ rather than focusing on the past as a representation of the present situation. 9 Vincenzo Consolo Il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori: 2012) 10 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) 15
1.4 Conclusion
The Mediterranean has been seen as a region full of inconsistencies,
contradictions and conflicts, based mainly on the divergent ideas and cultures residing in the same area. The Mediterranean imaginary does not exclude the conflicts that are present in the region and does not aim to unify the region, and in doing so it aims to give voice to the region. For the various authors and thinkers that are mentioned in the thesis, the Mediterranean has transmitted an emotion or has been able to create the right environment to express ideas and fonn thoughts. The relevance of each and every author within the framework of this thesis shows that without analyzing the single expression about the region, through the various works, one cannot fonn an imaginary of the Mediterranean region. The various concepts of borders, thresholds, conflicts and cultural clashes manage to mingle with each other in everyday life in the Mediterranean – greater ideas and fundamental questions find resonance and meaning in simple everyday interaction between a common sailor and a woman at a bar. The Mediterranean in essence is the voyage between the search for deep roots and the analysis of the clashes that result from this search for roots. The study of the Mediterranean is the constant evaluation of boundaries and the search for the ‘self’ through a wholly subjective analysis of the ‘other’. The imaginary plays a fundamental role in bringing near the ‘roots’ and the ‘present’, and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’.
16
2 The Harbour as Threshold The Mediterranean harbour for many authors and thinkers is a starting point as well as a dying point of the so called ‘Mediterranean culture’. In fact many sustain that the ‘MediteITanean culture’ takes place and transfonns itself in its harbours. This concept does not have to confuse us in assuming that a ‘Mediterranean culture’ in its wholesomeness really does exist. There are elements and features that seem to tie us; that the sea so generously brought ashore. On the other hand the same sea has been keeping things well defined and separate. The harbour as the first encounter with land has always maintained an important role in the formation of ideas and collective imagination. The harbour is not selective in who can or cannot approach it and so the fonnation of this collective imagination is a vast one. It is also important to state that the harbour in itself is a place of contradictions, a place where everything and nothing meet. The contrasting elements and the contradictions that reside in Mediterranean ports are of inspiration to the various authors and thinkers who study the Mediterranean. In this sense they have contributed in the formation of this Mediterranean imagination. Literature is an important factor that contributes to a fonnation of a collective imagination; it would be otherwise difficult to analyze the Mediterranean without the help of literature, as the fonnation of a collective imagination was always fed through literature and cultural expedients.
17
The Mediterranean region, as we shall see, is an area that is somehow
constructed; a person in France may not be aware of what a person in Morocco or in Turkey is doing. The concept of a constructed Mediterranean may be tied to the anthropological study conducted by Benedict Anderson 11 where he states that the ‘nation’ is a constructed concept and may serve as a political and somehow economic pretext. The sea is navigated by both tragic boat people and luxurious cruise liners, and these contradictions seem to be legitimized in the Mediterranean region. To give two recent examples we can observe on a political sphere, the European Union’s decision to fonn a Task Force for the Mediterranean (TFM) whose aims are to enhance the security of its shores and to drastically reduce deaths at sea. The TFM is a recent initiative that follows a number of proposals at a political level that have the Mediterranean security at heart. 12 This idea was triggered by a particular event that saw the death of 500 migrants off Lampedusa. It clearly poses a question whether the Mediterranean is a safe place or not, and whether it remains in this sense appealing to touristic and economic investment. The TFM probably reinforces the idea that the Mediterranean is a problematic region and thus requires ongoing ‘security’. To reconnect to the main idea, the TFM reinforces the notion that the Mediterranean is a constructed idea where access from one shore to another is denied and where one shore is treated as a security threat whereas the other shore is treated as an area to be protected or an 11 Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities (Verso, 1996)
12 Brussels, 4.12.2013 COM (2013) 869 Communicationjiwn the commission to the European Parliament and the council on the work of the Task Force Mediterranean 18 area that is unreachable. The contradictions keep on adding up when we see the way the Mediterranean is portrayed for economic and touristic purposes. One example is the ‘Mediterranean port association’ that helps the promotion of cruising in the Mediterranean region providing assistance to tourists who would like to travel in the region. In this context the Mediterranean is used in a positive way in relation to the touristic appeal it may have. The construction of a Mediterranean idea is by no means restricted to an economical or a political discourse; it has deeper roots and meanings that have fonned through a history of relations between countries and of fonnations of literary expedients. For Franco Cassano13, the Mediterranean is a region that in essence is made of differences, it would be otherwise difficult to justify the clashes that have characterized the Mediterranean history, if it was not for the fact that we are all aware that it is a region made up of dissimilarities On the other hand it is due to these dissimilarities that the Mediterranean is an appealing region both for authors and for travelers alike.
13 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano:Feltrinelli, 2007)
19
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature Nature and literature are two elements that intertwine and thus create a collective imagination around the concept of the Mediterranean harbour. In fact, the dialectic between natural landscape and poetic expression was always a matter of great relevance as nature constantly managed to aid the development of poetic expression. The natural landscape helps the fonnation of existential thoughts, such as life, death and the existence of men – thoughts that are always reinterpreted and reinvented through literature. This relation between men and nature was always important in configuring spaces and detennining them according to a common understanding. 14 In the poem of Giacomo Leopardi Dialogo delta Natura e di un Islandese, Nature is personified, and although the indifference and coldness of nature is palpable, we sense that the poet is being aided by nature in fanning his ideas about life itself. Through time and especially through globalization, the world is being interpreted in terms of geographical maps and technology is subsequently narrowing our concept of space and enlarging our concept of life. In the new modem dimension, where the concept of space has acquired an abstract meaning, literature leaves the possibility of dialectic relationship between men and nature, thus enabling men to perceive the places they inhabit as a significant part of their self-construction process. This concept takes us to the perception created around the Mediterranean region and especially the way people look at 14 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo de/la contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Quest: 2009) pp.358-372
20
figures such as the sea, the ports and the shores. In Giambattista Vico’s15 poetic geography we understand that the representation of geography through poetic expression is something that dates back in time, through a cosmic representation of senses and feelings. In this regard, Montale and Saba both express in a relatively modem tone the deep representation of the Mediterranean through a mixture of contrasting feelings and ideas. The image of the harbor and any other images in the Mediterranean are deeply felt and analyzed, through the eyes of the poets that live in the region. Montale uses the dialectic of memory to explain his relationship with the Mediterranean, a region locked in its golden age that lives through the memory of poets and authors. He refers to the Mediterranean as ‘Antico ‘ emphasizing the fact that it is an old region. The word ‘Antico ‘ does not merely refer to oldness, but to oldness combined with prestige. The memory characterizes the Mediterranean for Montale, the image of the sea for instance is an archaic image that notwithstanding holds a modem and yet spiritual meaning as it expresses a sense of purification. The sea with its movement brings ashore all the useless and unwanted elements. On the other hand the sea may be seen as a fatherly figure that becomes severe in its actions and makes the poet feel insignificant and intimidated. Montale’s aim was to overcome the threshold between artistic expression and natural landscape through a dialogue with the Mediterranean Sea. This aim was not fulfilled. Montale tried hard to express artistically what the Mediterranean Sea meant but ended his poem humbly putting himself at a lower stage in comparison to the greatness of the Sea. Montale fills 15Massimo Lollini Il Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009)
21 his poetry with a mixture of humility and paradoxes; two elements that keep on repeating themselves in the poetry concerning the MeditelTanean.
Furthennore, in Umberto Saba’s ‘Medite1Taneet16 we encounter the same
contrasts and paradoxes used by Montale to develop the figure of the
MeditetTanean Sea. Saba uses the microcosm of Trieste to explain a larger
macrocosm: The MeditetTanean. This technique renders his work more personal and gives it a deeper meaning. Saba and Montale both rely on the memory to express a feeling of deep ties with the element of the sea and the life of the MeditelTanean harbour. Saba’s MeditelTanean resides in his microcosm, personal encounters and experiences fonn his ideas about the region; a region he perceives as being full of fascinating contradictions.

‘Ebbri canti si levano e bestemmie
nell’Osteria suburbana. Qui pure
-penso- e Mediterraneo. E il mio pensiero
all’azzulTo s’inebbria di quel nome.’ 17
‘Drunken songs and curses rise up
in the suburban tavern. Here, too,
I think, is the Mediterranean. And my mind is
drunk with the azure of that name.’ 18
16 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
\V\V\V. worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/songbook excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
17 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009) pp.358-372
22
Saba mingles his personal classicist fonnation expressed in the ‘all’azzurro’
with the poorest part of the Mediterranean harbour ‘l’osteria’. Both factors are intertwining, and so, the Mediterranean for Saba is the combination of both the richness of classicist thoughts that fonned in the Mediterranean as well as the meager elements that fonned in its po1is; yet they embellish and enrich the concept of the Mediterranean. Saba is searching for his personal identity through the search for a definition to the Mediterranean. In his art he attempts to portray the very heart of the MediteITanean which is found in his abyss of culture and knowledge with the everyday simple life of the harbours. 2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour In Saba and Montale’s works, the fascinating inconsistencies in the Mediterranean seem to find a suitable place in the ports and in the minds of each and every author and thinker who encounters it. The notion of stability and instability finds its apex in the port. The sea is the synonym of instability, especially in the Mediterranean, being depicted as dangerous and unpredictable. As in the recounts of the Odyssey, the sea, and the Mediterranean as a whole, is a synonym of instability and thus prone to natural catastrophes. The Homeric recounts of Ulysses’ journey explore the Mediterranean that was previously an unknown place. Although the places mentioned by Homer are fictitious, they now 18 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
www.worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/song:book _excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
23
have a general consensus over the definition of the actual places. As time went by historians and authors went on confinning what Homer had depicted in his Odyssey – a Mediterranean that constantly poses a challenge, danger and fascination at the same time. Femand Braudel in his ‘Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip the II’ 19 sustains the view of a difficult Mediterranean, of a succession of events that have helped the success of the Mediterranean for a period of time. Its instability and complication have not aided the area in maintaining its ‘golden age’. This discourse was reinvented by Horden and Purcell in ‘The Corrupting Sea’20 where the Mediterranean meets geographically, historically and anthropologically. In ‘The Corrupting Sea’ the view of Femand Braudel is expanded into what the Mediterranean meant
geographically and historically, therefore Horden and Purcell explain that the inconsistencies and natural features in the Mediterranean really contributed to bring the ‘golden age’ to an end, but they were the same features that brought on the rich culture around the Mediterranean countries in the first place. Where literature is concerned, the inconsistencies and natural features served as an inspiration to various authors who went on fonning the collective imagination around the Mediterranean. Therefore, it could be argued that the geographical
complexity of the region is in fact the tying point to the ‘Mediterranean’ itself that resides in the unconscious and that otherwise would have died with its economical shift towards other areas of interest. The problematic identity and the challenging 19 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986)
20 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing: 2011)
24
natural enviromnent brought by an ongomg sense of curiosity and attraction towards the Mediterranean region. The port is the first encounter with stability after a journey that is characterized by instability, at the surprise of the inexperienced traveler. However, the port does not always covey immovability. The p01i gives a sense of limbo to the traveller that has just arrived. It is a safe place on the one hand but on the other hand due to its vicinity to the sea, it is as unpredictable as the sea itself The sailor is a frequent traveler who knows and embraces the sea. He chose or has been forced to love the sea, to accept the sea as his second home. The sailor is in fact the figure that can help us understand the fascination around the Mediterranean and its ports. It is not an unknown factor that sailors and their voyages have captured the attention of many authors that tried extensively to understand the affinity sailors have to the sea. The sailor21 is a man defined by his relation with the sea and is a recurrent figure in a number of literature works all over Europe and the rest of the world. The sailor is the incarnation of the concept of human marginality, he lives in the margin of life and he embraces the marginality of the harbour with the different aspects of the port. The thresholds present in the port are represented by the sailor; a figure that lives between the sea and land, between betrayal and pure love,
between truth and lie. Like the portrayal of Odysseus, the concept of a sailor has 21 Nora Moll Marinai Ignoti,perduti (e nascosti). fl Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Lare} (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
25
infidelic properties. He carnally betrays his loved one, but he is psychologically anchored to one women for his whole life; a women who is always present in various thoughts but at the same time she is always physically distant. As we will see in various works, the sailor is in constant search of knowledge – the very same knowledge that brought him to love and embrace the sea. The knowledge that is conveyed through the action of travelling itself is another question that would require a deep analysis, but for the sake of our study the fact that knowledge is transmitted through the depth of the sea is enough to make a com1ection with the purpose by which the sailor travels. The sailor fluctuates between sea and land, between danger and security, between knowledge and inexperience. The thresholds are constantly overcome by the curious and free spirited sailor that embarks in this voyage to the discovery of his inner-self. The literary voyage of the sailor in the Mediterranean takes a circular route while it goes deep in ancient history and ties it to modem ideas. Since the sailor is not a new character but a recurring one in literature and culture it has the ability to transfonn and create ideas giving new life to the Mediterranean harbours. While the seamen are the link between the high literature and the popular culture, the sailor does not have a specific theme in literature but the archetype of ‘the sailor’ has a deep resonance in many literary themes. As Nora Moll states in one of her studies about the image of the sailor, she puts forward a list of common themes associated with the image of the sailor:
26
‘Tra i complessi tematici, a cm m parte ho gia accem1ato,si
annoverano l’avventura, il viaggio, l’eros, l’adulterio, il ritorno, il
superamento di limiti (interiori) e di sfide ( esterne ), la liberta, la vita
come “navigatio” e come intrigo conflittuale di esperienze. ’22
‘Amongst the complex themes, which I partly already mentioned, we
find adventure, travel, Eros, adultery, the return, the overcoming of
limits (interior) and challenges (exterior), freedom, life as “navigatio”
and as a conflictual intrigue (or scheme) of experiences.’
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor The interesting fact about the study conducted by Nora Moll is that the sailor in her vision is not merely a figure tied to a specific social class, but as we can see the themes listed are themes that can be tied also to the figure of Ulysses. It is difficult to say that Ulysses or the image of the sailor own a predestined set of themes, and in fact they do not necessarily do so. Ulysses is a character that comprehends certain themes, but these change and shift in accordance to space, time and circumstances. What does not change is the thresholds that are always present in the life of a sailor, the limits that are constantly there to be overcome and the external challenges that need to be confronted. The harbour conveys a 22 Nora Moll Marinai Jgnoti,perduti (e nascosti). I! Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Larej (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
27
number of thresholds; as we have seen these are embodied in the figure of the manner. Jean Claude Izzo in his Les Marins Perdus23 wrote about the discomfort of sailors having to forcedly stay on land and their relationship with the harbor, a passing place that has a special meaning. The harbor is in fact a special place for the mariner, as it is the only place where they can have human contact beyond that of the crew. The mariner in Jean Clause Izzo does not feel that he belongs to any nation or country. He belongs to the sea; a sea that managed to give meaning to his life but at the same time managed to destroy it. Jean Claude Izzo uses strong images of the port to describe the tie the sailor has to the harbour itself, he uses sexual and erotic images and ties them to legends and popular culture expedients. The story is interesting because of the way Jean Claude Izzo reverses the way sailors live. In fact he recreates a story where the sailor is trapped in the harbour and so he is forced to view the sea from land and not the other way round as he usually does. The psychological discomfort that Jean Claude Izzo creates portrays the Mediterranean archetypes and the life in the ports from a reverse point of view. Everyday life in the harbour is analyzed through a succession of tragedies that on one hand recall the classicist view of the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, due to references to everyday life elements, may be easily connected to the modem conception of the Mediterranean port. The links created by Jean Claude Izzo are made on purpose to create an ongoing bond between the classic Homeric 23 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
28
Mediterranean and the modem Mediterranean. In fact, Diamantis -the mam character of the novel- is portrayed as a modem Ulysses trying to cope with ongoing temptations and with the constant drive for knowledge. The Odyssey is for Diamantis a point of anchorage. He reads the Odyssey while attempting to define himself: ‘In effetti l’Odissea non ha mai smesso di essere raccontata, da una taverna all’altra,di bar in bar: … e Ulisse e sempre fra noi. La sua eterna giovinezza e nelle storie che continuiamo a raccontarci anche oggi se abbiamo ancora un avvenire nel Mediterraneo e di sicuro li. [ … ]I porti del Mediterraneo … sono delle strade. ’24 ‘Yes … In fact, the Odyssey has constantly been retold, in every tavern
or bar … And Odysseus is still alive among us. Eternally young, in the
stories we tell, even now. If we have a future in the Mediterranean,
that’s where it lies.” [ … ] “The Mediterranean means … routes. Sea
routes and land routes. All joined together. Connecting cities. Large
and small. Cities holding each other by the hand.’ In this quote we see the continuous threshold between space and time being overcome, that serves to keep alive the Mediterranean itself. It is clear that the classic Homeric recount is always reinterpreted and reinvented. The Odyssey
is not the only point of reflection for Diamantis. In fact the protagonist is seen as a 24 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
29
deep character that reflects on the various incidents in his life and it could be argued that Diamantis is the expression of Jean Claude Izzo’s thoughts. The sailors in Jean Claude Izzo’s novel chose to be Mediterranean; naval commerce exists beyond the enclosed sea, but these men chose to sail with inadequate ships in a region where geographical beauty and historical richness meet. The port for Izzo, has multiple meanings and he defines the Mediterranean harbours as differing from other harbours, because of the way they are accessed. Izzo uses the image of the harbour as a representation of love: ‘Vedi, e’ il modo in cui puo essere avvicinato a detenninare la natura di un porto. A detenninarlo veramente [ … ] Il Mediterraneo e’ un mare di prossimita’. ’25
‘You see, it’s the way it can be approached that detennines the nature of
a port. Really detennines it. [ … ] The Mediterranean, a sea of closeness.’
This passage shows the influence of thought, Izzo inherited from
Matvej evic. In fact the approach used to describe the harbour and to depict the nature is very similar to the one used by Matvejevic in his ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’. 26 We perceive that the harbour is substantially a vehicle of devotion, love, passion and Eros, though we may also observe the threshold between the love and passion found in the port and the insecurity and natural brutality that the sea may convey. In this novel, the port is transfonned in a secure 25 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) ppl22 26 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010)
30
place whilst the sea is a synonym of tragedy. At the same time the port is seen as a filthy and conupt place. While for Izzo the past is used as a background to tie with the present and moreover to show a link with the future, Consolo uses a different technique. He goes deep in one focal historical point to highlight certain Mediterranean features and problematic issues. Consolo uses the period of time where Sicily was undergoing various political changes. He describes the revolution and the Italian unification, and portrays real events and characters tied to Sicilian history. In Vincenzo Consolo, the image of the sailor is used as a metaphor through the work of Antonello ‘il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio’.27 The title itself gives us a hint of the tie between art and everyday life. The voices that intertwine and form the discourse around the Mediterranean are hard to distinguish as they have fanned the discourse itself to a point where a voice or an echo is part of another. The work of Consolo28 goes through a particular historical period in Sicily to describe present situations and ongoing paradoxes in the Mediterranean region. It is difficult to resume and give a name and specific allocation to the works on the Mediterranean as the multiple faces and voices have consequently fanned a variety of literature and artistic works. The beauty behind works on the Mediterranean is that archetypes such as the concept of a ‘sailor’ or the ‘harbour’ are revisited and reinterpreted, thus acquiring a deeper meaning and at the same time enriching the meaning of ‘the Mediterranean’ itself.
27 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
28 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’lgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
31
Consolo focuses on the microcosm of Sicily and he portrays a fluctuation
between sea and land. He locates Sicily in an ideal sphere where the thresholds are nonexistent: ‘La Sicilia! La Sicilia! Pareva qualcosa di vaporoso laggiù nell’azzurro tra mare e cielo, me era l’isola santa! ’29 ‘Sicily! Sicily! It seemed something vaporous down there in the blue between sea and sky, but it was the holy island!’ Sicily is placed in an ideal sphere where beautiful natural elements coexist with famine, degradation and war. The imagery created around the island of Sicily may be comparable to the imagery around the Mediterranean region. As for the harbour it is described by Consolo as a place of contradictions, comparable to the ones found in the whole Mediterranean. The detail given to the life in the port is extremely in depth and the type of sentences used expresses the frenetic lifestyle of the port itself: ‘Il San Cristofaro entrava dentro il porto mentre ne uscivano le barche, caicchi e gozzi, coi pescatori ai rami alle corde vele reti lampe sego stoppa feccia, trafficanti con voce urale e con richiami, dentro la barca, tra barca e barca, tra barca e la banchina, affollata di vecchi, di donne e di bambini, urlanti parimenti e agitati [ … ].’30 29 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:56
30 Vincenzo Consolo fl so1-riso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:29
32
‘The San Cristoforo sailed into the harbour whilst the boats, caiques
and other fishing boats, sailed out with the fishennen holding the
ropes sails nets tallow oakum lee, traffickers beckoning with an ural
voice, inside the boat, from one boat to another, from one boat to the
quay, crowded with the elderly, women and children, screaming
equally and agitated’ [ … ] The tension around the port is well transmitted in the explanation given by Consolo, there seems to be a point of nothingness and a point of departure at the same time. We perceive that there is plenty of life in the port but at the same time confusion reigns, therefore we could argue that people in ports are not really conscious of life and that they are letting things turn. Nevertheless, the port is the starting point of life that develops either in the sea or inland. Both by Consolo and in Izzo we are made aware of the importance of life at the ‘starting point’, therefore the port in the works of both authors acquires the title of a ‘threshold’ between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, love and hatred, nature and artifice, aridity and fertility. In the microcosm described by Consolo, the Sicilian nature and its contradictions seem to recall the ones in the rest of the region. For example, the painting ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ is described as a contradictory painting. In fact, the sailor is seen as an ironic figure that smiles notwithstanding the tragedies he has encountered. The ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ has seen the culture and history of the Mediterranean unveil, he has therefore a strange smile that 33 expresses the deep knowledge acquired through his experience and a deep look that convey all the suffering he has come upon. In the novel by Consolo, the painting serves as a point of reference and in fact, the ‘Ignoto Marinio’ resembles another important character in the novel; Intemodato. Both figures share the ironic and poignant smile and the profound look. Intemodato is seen as a typical Sicilian revolutionary who embraces the sea but at the same time is not psychologically unattached to the situations that happened on land. He is part of the revolution and integral part of the Sicilian history.
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door Consolo and Izzo with their accounts of sailors and the life in Mediterranean harbours brought us to the interpretation of the harbour as a metaphorical door. As in the seminal work of Predrag Matvejevic ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’,31 the harbour is tied to the concept of a metaphorical door. In Latin both ‘porto’ and ‘porta’ have the same root and etymological derivation. A harbour in fact is a metaphorical and physical entryway to a country. In the Roman period, the god Portunos was the deity of the harbour who facilitated the marine commerce and the life in the port in general. The various deities related to the sea in the Roman 31 Predrag Matvejevic II Mediterraneo e I ‘Europa, lezioni al college de France e altri saggi (Garzanti elefanti:2008)
34
and Greek traditions are an indication of a deep relation between the figure of the harbour and the physical and geographical figure of the door or entryway. The door may have many different shapes and may divide different spaces but it always signifies a threshold from one point to another. In literature the harbour signifies a metaphorical door between fantasy and reality, history and fiction, love and hatred, war and peace, safety and danger. The image of the door is concretized through the various border controls, visas and migration issues and in this regard the entryway becomes a question of membership. A piece of paper in this case detennines the access through that doorway, but from a cultural and
identity point of view the Mediterranean threshold is overcome through the encounter with history and fiction. Thierry Fabre in his contribution to the book series ‘Rappresentare ii Mediterraneo’; 32 in relation to the Mediterranean identity he states; ” … Non si situa forse proprio nel punto di incorcio tra la storia vera e i testi letterari che danno origine all’immaginario Mediterraneo?”33 ‘ Isn’t perhaps situated exactly at the meeting point between the real stories and the literature texts that give birth to the Mediterranean imagination?’ Fabre is conscious of the fact that the discourse about the Mediterranean limits itself to a constructed imaginary, the poet or artist in general that enters this metaphorical door is expected to conceive the Mediterranean imaginary; blending reality with fiction. The door is not always a static figure but is sometimes blurred and does not 32 Jean Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, lo sguardo fiwicese (Mesogea: 2000) 33 Ibid (Mesogea: 2000) pp.25
35
clearly divide and distinguish. The Mediterranean itself is a region of unclear lines the fonnation of a port and of a nation itself is sometimes not that clear. In Matvejevic’s ‘Il Mediterraneao e l’Europa’34 literature blends with facts and culture so does the geography around the Mediterranean region: ‘Tra terra e mare, in molti luoghi vi sono dei limiti: un inizio o una
fine, l’immagine o 1 ‘idea che li uniscono o li separano. Numerosi sono
i tratti in cui la terra e il mare s’incontrano senza irregolarita ne rotture,
al punto che non si puo detenninare dove comincia uno o finisce
l’altro.Queste relazioni multiple e reversibili, danno fonna alla costa. ’35 
‘Between land and sea, there are limits in many places: a start or a
finish, the image or the idea that joins or separates them. The places
where sea meets land without any irregularities or breaks are
numerous, to the extent that it’s not possible to detennine where one
starts or the other finishes. These multiple and reversible links that
give shape to the coast.’ The coast in this sense is made up of a set of relations between figures and fonns that meet without touching each other, the door is not always present; it sometimes disappears to give room to imagination and the fonnation of literature.
34 Predrag Matvejevic Il Mediterraneo e !’Europa, Lezioni al College de France e Altri Saggi
(Garzanti elefanti: 2008)
35 Ibid (Garzanti: 2008) pp.53
36
The concept of literature allows the analysis of culture and the way it 1s
envisioned and spread through Mediterranean harbours. The fluctuations of varied thoughts that have shaped the Mediterranean imagery through its harbours have no ties with everyday life, if not by the transmission of culture and the means of popular culture that served as a point of anchorage and sometimes as a point of departure for the fonnation of a deeply rooted but also enriching and contested collective imagination.
37
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The harbour for many centuries has been an anchorage point and a safe place for sailors and travellers that navigate the Mediterranean. We perceive the safety of the harbour as something that is sometimes naturally part of its very makeup, as on such occasions where we encounter natural harbours. In other cases, to suit their needs, people have built around the shores and transfonned paii of the land into an artificial harbour which is able to welcome the foreigner and trade and at the same time to defend if needed the inland. Femand Braudel36 in his The Afediterranean and the Mediterranean World in thP AgP nf Philip TT <liscusse<l the importance of the Mediterranean shores for the traveller in an age when people were already able to explore the outer sea, but yet found it reassuring to travel in a sea where the shore was always in sight. The Mediterranean Sea has always instilled a sense of uncertainty in the traveller, because of its natural instability. Nevertheless, the fact that the shores and ts are always in the vicinity, the Mediterranean traveller is reassured that he can seek refuge whenever needed. The fascinating thing is that the ports in the age delineated by Femand Braudel were not only a means of safety but most of all of communication – a type of economic and cultural c01mnunication that went beyond 36 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 19 8 6)

38
the simple purpose of the port itself. The same simple modes of communications that Braudel describes may seem irrelevant when studying the Mediterranean history in its entirety, but we get to understand that they are actually the building blocks of the Mediterranean itself:
‘This is more that the picturesque sideshow of a highly coloured
history. It is the underlying reality. We are too inclined to pay attention only to the vital communications; they may be interrupted or
restored; all is not necessarily lost or saved. ‘ 37 The primordial modes of communication, the essential trade and the mixture of language and culture all have contributed to the creation of what we now sometimes romantically call the Mediterranean. The truth lies in the fact that
the harbour has always been prone to receiving and giving back; it has been a passing place of objects, customs and of words. We surely cannot deny the fact that trade has shifted not only by moving from different areas of interest but it also shifted into different forms changing the harbour’s initial function. This basic fonn of communication has contributed highly to the formation of a Mediterranean imaginary and a mixture of cultures that have left a deep resonance in language, literature and cultural expression as a whole.
37 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) pp.I 08
39
The risk and insecurity delivered by the sea have contributed to the
fonnation of various symbols that from their end contribute to the fonnation of an imaginary concerning the Mediterranean harbour. Amidst the uncertainties and hazards at sea, the light of the lighthouse that shows the surest path and warns the person travelling of the possible dangers, reassures the traveller while leading the way. The symbol of the lighthouse is tied to the representation of light and thus knowledge. Finding light in the middle of the sea gives the traveller the necessary means to have greater awareness of what is approaching. The geographical position and the architecture of the lighthouse are all an indication of their meaning beyond their primary objective. During the Roman period for example, the lighthouse was primarily an important source of safekeeping,38 but at the same time it represented a high expression of architectural and engineering knowledge. One example is the ancient roman lighthouse in Messina. Studies show that the architecture used was very functional, but at the same time it portrayed Neptune, thus mingling popular beliefs and superstitions. On the other hand, it was also a powerful way of delineating borders between Sicily and the Italian peninsula. Today the lighthouse in Messina has been replaced by fort San Remo and the architecture of the lighthouse has changed to a more functional one. Another powerful example is the ancient lighthouse in Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos where it stood alone as if wanting to replace the harbour itself. In Alexandria it is Poseidon who guards
the harbour, and the myth blends with the social and geographical importance of the lighthouse. Originally, the lighthouse in Alexandria was simply a landmark, but 38 Turismo La Coruna, Roman Lighthouses in the Mediterranean (2009) www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?s=79&l=en (accessed September, 2014)
40
eventually during the Roman Empire, it developed into a functional lighthouse. In the case of the old lighthouse built during the Roman period at the far eastern end of Spain, its dimension and position reflect the way Romans saw the world and how they believed Spain marked the far end of the world. What these lighthouses had in common was the fact that they were not just there to aid and support the traveller in his voyage but to define a border and to give spiritual assistance to the lost passenger. The symbol of the lighthouse is somehow deeply tied to a spiritual experience. In Messina where Neptune guarded the sea, and in many other places and different eras, the lighthouse was positioned in such way that it attracted a spiritual resonance and the light that emanated from the lighthouse may be compared to a spiritual guide. Matvejevic in his Breviario Mediterraneo39 compares lighthouses to sanctuaries and the lighthouse guardian to a spiritual hennit. He also adds that the crews responsible for the running of the lighthouse resemble a group of 1ponks, rather than sailors: ‘Gli equipaggi dei fari, cioe personale che somiglia piuttosto ai monaci dei conventi di un tempo che non ai marinai’ .40 ‘The crews of the lighthouses, that is staff that resembles more the convent’s monks of yore rather than the sailors’. The comparison is by no means striking, considering the mystical importance of the lighthouse. The lighthouse and its crew are seen and respected by the traveller, as they are their first encounter with land, safety and refuge. The link with spirituality is something that comes 39 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.55-56 40 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.56 41
naturally. The lighthouse crew for example is in some cases part of the ex-voto paintings found in the monasteries and convents. This illustrates the deep c01mection with the spiritual aspect. The question sometimes is to detennine whether the harbour and the lighthouse need to be two distinct features in the same space or whether they are part of the same geographical, social and cultural space. The answer may vary according to the way one perceives it. The lighthouse is the first encounter with land, but it is almost a feeling that precedes the real encounter with land, whilst the harbour is the first physical contact with land. The two elements may be taken into account separately, but for the purpose of this study they need to be taken in conjunction. The cultural value of both these elements goes beyond their physical value. In fact, both the lighthouse and the harbour share a common proximity to the sea, and receive cultural and social contributions from every traveller. The lighthouse and the harbour do not distinguish between different types of travellers -they accept everyone and their main gift for this act of pure love is the enrichment of culture, customs, language and food. The different elements intertwine and create a beautiful atmosphere that mixes sounds and tastes from various countries. This is not always distinguishable and it may not in all cases recreate the same atmosphere
in more than one country. What is sure is that the elements present in the harbours are of great relevance to what is portrayed on a higher artistic and cultural level. In this regard the harbour acts as a lighthouse for the country and sometimes for the region too, this time not to alann the traveller but to guide him spiritually and 42 artistically. The harbour was and still is a meeting place, where artists and thinkers stop and reflect. What comes out of these reflections sets deep roots in the cultural knit of the harbour and expands and grows until all the roots intertwine and create such a beautifully varied cultural atmosphere. Although the process may seem an easy and flowing one, we must not forget that the mixture of cultures and the setting up of such a variegated cultural atmosphere was not always flowing and peaceful. 3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility
The way the Mediterranean is geographically set up, contributed to an
expansion of religious pilgrimages that intertwined with marine commerce and
cultural richness. The image of the lighthouse and the harbour instil a sense of
spiritual refuge, and the large number of harbours and lighthouses in the
Mediterranean contribute to the mysticism of the region. Religious pilgrimage
throughout the Mediterranean is something that belongs to an older era and that
could have possibly started very early in the Greek empire, where Gods were
adored and ports and lighthouses had deep ties with different deities. As
Christianity started spreading in the Mediterranean, the Greek and Roman gods
were joined by saints and shrines for adoration.41 The coexistence of both pagan
and monotheistic religious expressions confinned a cultural motif related to
41 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing:2011)
43
divinity that has been a constant throughout Mediterranean history. In the Middle Ages the phenomena of the religious pilgrimage and the movement of saints’ relics gave to the Mediterranean voyage a different dimension. As noted in Borden and Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea, this age of pilgrimage and movement for religious purposes was brought about by a new discovery of sea routes in the Mediterranean and a different conception of religion as a c01mnodity. ‘Through the translation of his remains the saint himself, like the images of pre-Christian deities before him, in a very intense expression of the link between religion and redistribution, became a commodity’ .42 The redistribution of relics brought a new type of secular economy that involved bargaining and bartering. The movement of relics not only created a new wave of economic activity around the Mediterranean but also a movement of tales and accounts that pictured saints and voyages at sea, ‘Tales which echo real webs of communication, such as that of the arrival of St. Restitua from Carthage to Ischia’ .43 The stories seem to recall older stories from Greek culture, but are adapted to a newer setting.
The parallelism between good and bad, projected on the perilous voyage in
the Mediterranean, was always part of the account of a voyage itself, as we can
also recall in the various episodes of Ulysses’ journey. We are thus able to see that
in the voyages of pilgrims, the relationship between good and bad is often
projected onto the hard and extreme weather conditions in the Mediterranean.
42 Ibid pp.443
43 Ibid pp.443
44
Religious travellers had their own way of reading the map of the Mediterranean,
interpreting every danger and threat through religious imagery. From a cultural point of view, the accounts and echoes of religious travellers shaped the Mediterranean Sea itself and gave new life to the ports they anchored in. Apart from the movement of relics, another testimony of the great communication and cultural heritage -as we have previously mentioned- is the exvoto in the Mediterranean shores which gives witness to the cultural interaction and
customs based on faith. In many instances the objects collected for the ex-voto
have been taken up over time and placed in marine museums where cultural
interaction and exchange takes place. One example could be the ex-voto in
Marseille,44 where nowadays the objects collected are part of a collective cultural memory. In France, during the late seventies and the early eighties we have seen a great rediscovery of the ex-voto heritage that led to a deep cultural resonance in the area. The discovery of the ex-voto brought by a new inquiry of religious and harbour customs that were probably ignored previously. The paintings and objects dedicated to the saints and most of the time to the Virgin Mary represented the everyday life of sailors and travellers, the dangers at sea and most of all the miracles encountered during the arduous voyages. In the various exhibitions about ex-voto in France the concept of a Mediterranean ex-voto emerged and we are aware that at the time when the ex-voto was practiced in the majority of cases the 44 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 45
voyage routes were sole1m1ly around the Mediterranean and the fact that marine exhibitions concerning the ex-voto claim a Mediterranean heritage calls for a collective cultural expe1ience. It is difficult though to distinguish between a
personal encounter with the harbour and a Mediterranean experience; one may
intertwine with the other. In this case, the Mediterranean reference is imposed and not implied, and one might therefore wonder if there are elements that are c01mnon in the region and thus justify the use of the word Mediterranean. In the case of the ex-voto, it has been noted that certain elements are common to the whole region.
It is interesting to note the areas of interest and the social groups to whom
the ex-voto applies. This may give a clearer idea of the criteria and the cultural
sphere that surrounded the practice of the ex-voto. In the majority of cases the exvoto represented the medium bourgeoisie and the lower classes, the setting mostly represented small nuclear families. In most of the ex-voto paintings, one can see that the terrestrial elements intertwine with celestial elements ‘Dans sa structure, un ex-voto presente deux espaces, celeste et terrestre’ .45 The anthropological and cultural importance of the ex-voto emerges through the various figures that appear especially in the paintings dedicated to the saints and the Virgin Mary. These figures have a particular placement in these paintings that reveals a deep connection with the cult of miracles and devotion.
In Malta, as in France, the ex-voto was a widespread custom that left a
great cultural heritage. The paintings and objects donated to the ex-voto, especially 45 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 46
in connection to the sea, reveal a number of historical events and geographical
catastrophes that are tied with the Mediterranean region. The fact that the sea is
unpredictable makes the practice of the ex-voto much more relevant in an era
where the only means of transportation in the Mediterranean was by ways of sea. In the Maltese language there is a saying ‘il-bahar iaqqu ratba u rasu iebsa ‘ which literally translates to ‘the sea has a soft stomach but it is hard headed’. This saying is very significant as it shows the profound awareness of the Maltese community of the dangers at sea. The sea is unpredictable and therefore only through divine intercession can the traveller find peace and courage to overcome any dangerous situation. The different types of paintings that were donated portray different types of vessels and so indicate a precise period in history. At the Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille, one finds a number of models of different vessels from various historical periods. We also encounter very recent models of boats. This confirms that in a way the ex-voto is still present nowadays. Even in Malta, the practice of the ex-voto is still relatively present, although one may notice that the advance in technology and the new fonns of transport through the Mediterranean aided the voyage itself and therefore diminished the threats and deaths at sea. The types of vessels used in the paintings also shows the different modes of economic trading voyages in the Mediterranean. For example, in Malta during the nineteenth century, a great number of merchants were travellmg across the Mediterranean. This resulted in a number of ex-voto paintings that pictured merchants’ vessels and one could be made aware of their provenance. Various details in the ex-voto 47
paintings show many important aspects of the Mediterranean history as a whole
and of the connectivity in the region that went on building through time.
One interesting fact common to almost all the ex-voto paintings is the
acronyms V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit) and sometimes P.G.R (Per
Grazia Ricevuta) that categorizes certain paintings into the ex-voto sphere. The
acronyms literally mean that we made a vow and we received grace and P.G.R
stands for the grace received. The acronyms are in Latin, for a long period of time which was the official language of Christianity. These acronyms, which may have indicated the tie of high literature -through the knowledge of Latin- and popular culture -through the concept of the ex-voto, usually associated to a medium to lower class- demonstrate that the use of language may tie the various social classes. Although everyone understood the acronyms, it doesn’t mean that Latin was fully understood amongst sailors and merchants of the sea. Language was a barrier to merchants, traders and seamen most of the time. The Mediterranean has a variety of languages coexist in the region; Semitic languages at its south and Romance languages at its north. The lines of intersection and influence of languages are not at all clear and the geography of the Mediterranean region forced its people to move and shift from one place to another for commerce or for other reasons which brought by a deep need for modes of communication.
48
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication
The communication barrier between people in the Mediterranean coupled
with the profound need for interaction brought by a deep need of a common
language or at least common signals which would be understood by everyone. In
the case of the ex-voto, language or at least a reference made to a certain language, gives the possibility for people from different countries to understand the underlying message. In the Mediterranean harbours where interaction between people from different lands was the order of the day, the need for common signals and language was always deeply felt. Languages in the Mediterranean region contain linguistic elements that throughout history have been absorbed from other languages. In the Mediterranean region especially during the fifteenth century, the great need for communication resulted in the creation of a so-called Lingua fiw1ca, a spoken language that allowed people to communicate more freely within Mediterranean ports. One such language was known as ‘Sabir’, with words mainly from Italian and Spanish, but also words from Arabic and Greek. The interesting fact about Sabir was that the amount of words coming from different languages around the Mediterranean was an indication of the type of c01mnerce that was taking place at the time. Therefore, if at a given moment in time the amount of words from the Italian language was higher than that from the Spanish language, it meant that commerce originating and involving from Italy predominated. As Eva Martinez Diaz explains in her study about the Lingua ji-anca Mediterranea:
49
‘They created a new language from a mixture whose lexical and
morphological base – the base of pidgin – is the Romance component,
exactly the language of the most powerful group in these relations and
which varies according to historical period. ’46 During the 16th Century, for example, the Lingua franca Mediterranea acquired more Spanish vocabulary, due to certain historical events that shifted maritime commerce. This was also an indication of certain political events that shaped Mediterranean history. When a country invaded or colonialized another, as happened in Algeria after the French colonization, linguistic repercussions were observed. This mostly affected everyday language communication, especially with the simpler and more functional mixture of words and phrases from different languages in ports and the areas around them rather than at a political level. In Mediterranean ports, the need among sea people and traders to communicatee led to the creation of a variety like Sabir. Sabir comes from the Spanish word saber (to know), although, it is mostly noticeable that Italian fonned it in its prevalence.47 Sabir is known to be a pidgin language. A pidgin is a language used between two or more groups of people that 46 Eva Martinez Diaz ‘An approach to the lingua franca of the Mediterranean’ Quaderns de la Mediteranea, universidad de Barcelona pp: 224
47 Riccardi Contini, ‘Lingua franca in the Mediterranean by John Wansbrough’ Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Litermy Innovation in Modern Arabic Literature. Schools and Journals. Vol. 18 (2000) (pp. 245-247)
50
speak a different language but need to have a business relation, and so, need to find a common language or mode of communication. The word ‘pidgin’ is said to come from the Chinese pronunciation of the word ‘business’. The Lingua fi’anca
Mediterranea was a language that started fonning in the Mediterranean throughout the 15th century and continued to shape and change itself depending on where the political and commercial hub lay; Sabir, specifically as an offshoot of the lingua fiw1ca mediterranea, fonned after the 17th century. The first time that reference was made to sabir was in 1852, in the newspaper ‘L ‘Algerien’ in an article entitled ‘la langue sabir. Apart from a few references made to the language, it is quite rare to find sabir in writing because it was mostly used for colloquial purposes, but in some cases it may be found in marine records. When it was actually written down, the lingua franca mediterranea used the Latin alphabet, and the sentence structure and grammar were very straightforward. In Sabir the verb was always in the infinitive, as, for example, in ‘Quand moi gagner drahem, moi achetir moukere’48, that means ‘when I will have enough money, I will buy a wife’. The use of the infinitive indicated a less complex grammar that made it more functional to the user, as it was a secondary language mostly used for commerce. Although Sabir was in most cases referred to as a variety of the lingua franca mediterranea, we perceive that in the popular culture sphere the word Sabir is mostly used to refer to the common and functional language used in MeditelTanean harbours for communication. It is deceiving in fact, because the 48 Guido Cifoletti ‘Aggiomamenti sulla lingua franca Mediterranea’ Universita di Udine pp: 146
51
lingua fi’anca mediterranea, is the appropriate reference that needs to be made
when talking in general about the language used in harbours around the
Mediterranean. On the other hand, if we want to refer to Sabir we are reducing the
lingua fi’anca mediterranea to a definite period of time and almost a defined
territory association. Nevertheless, both Sabir and lingua fiw1ca mediterranea are two different words that express almost the same thing, it is thus important to establish the minimal difference between the two tenns. In arguing that the lingua franca mediterranea refers to a more general language used in the Mediterranean harbours during the Middle Ages and that went on changing and fonning and changing-assuming different fonns according to the harbour and place where it was spoken- we are looking at the language in a broader way. It is undeniable though that Sabir as a reference to a specific language that fonned in Algeria during the 17th century, is most of the time more appropriate to address specific arguments, especially when it comes to popular culture expedients. Popular culture and literature have expressed their interest in the language through expressions such as poems and songs recalling Sabir as a language that managed to mingle more words of different derivation into single cultural spaces. Nowadays, Sabir is no longer used; in fact we notice that English and Chinese are developing into new pidgin languages, understood almost by everyone, especially when it comes to trade and busmess.
In the Mediterranean we have encountered the rediscovery of Sabir in
culture as a language that has a deep cultural value for Mediterranean countries as 52 a whole. One of the examples of the presence of Sabir in cultural expedients is the famous play by Moliere Le bourgeois gentilhomme49 that was represented for the first time in 1967 at the court of Louis XIV. The story was a satiric expression of the life at court, Moliere was well aware of the life at court and he wanted to show that there was no difference between royals and nonnal people, especially with regards to emotions. Moliere associates the Sabir to the foreign Turks that by means of Sabir they managed to communicate:
‘Se ti sabir,
Ti respondir;
Se non sabir,
Tazir, tazir. ‘ 50
The use of Sabir for Moliere indicated a common language understood both by
French and Turks in this case. The fact that Moliere used Sabir, it meant that
gradually the resonance of Sabir could reach out to a different audience, than it’s
main purpose. In this case the meeting place as the harbour was not present but we may perceive that the mixture of cultures and the need for communication led to the use of Sabir as the common language. 49 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/l 3 l .pdf
50 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/13 l.pdf pp.143
53
Coming to the present day, it is difficult to say that Sabir or the lingua
franca mediterranea own a particular important space in the cultural sphere or in the language per se. We are mostly sure that in the Mediterranean harbours Sabir has no relevance anymore, nevertheless, we find the use of Sabir in popular culture. One example is the aiiist Stefano Saletti,51 who in his songs uses Sabir. Its use was obviously intentional. Saletti looked at the new uprisings in the North African countries and he could recall the same feelings, faces and atmosphere that southern European countries went through thirty years prior. With this in mind, he decided to use a language that had co1mnon elements to all Mediterranean languages, and so he chose Sabir. His albums are inspired by the notion of music and culture as a tie to the whole Mediterranean, being conscious on the other hand of the numerous contradictions and differences in the Mediterranean region. The CD Saletti and the Piccola banda ikona explain what Sabir is and why they chose this language to communicate a c01mnon message through the music: ‘Once upon a time there was a tongue shared by the peoples of the Mediterranean. This was Sabir, a lingua franca which sailors, pirates,
fishennen, merchants, ship-owners used in the ports to communicate
with each other. From Genoa to Tangiers, from Salonika to Istanbul,
from Marseilles to Algiers, from Valencia to Palenno, until the early
decades of the twentieth century this kind of sea-faring “Esperanto”
developed little by little availing of tenns from Spanish, Italian,
51 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
54
French and Arabic. We like this language. We like to mix sounds and
words. We play Sabir. We sing Sabir.’ 52 The importance of Sabir for Saletti shows that the harbour’s cultural value has been transmitted through time. Does the use of Sabir by Saletti indicate a recreation of a language that was used in the harbour as a functional and common means of communication or does it have the pretext to artificially recreate a common language? It is difficult to understand the importance and relevance an old pidgin language used for a specific purpose might hold today. Nevertheless, the use of this specific language in the music of Saletti reveals a profound search for common cultural traits in the Mediterranean region, that in this case aim to opt for cultural and educational approach to unite a region that is fractured in its own
basis. Saletti refers to Sabir as resembling Esperanto; a failed attempt to
linguistically unite a region that cannot be united. Although we may find the same concept in Esperanto and Sabir, we are aware that they differ in the way they came to be. Esperanto was artificially constructed, whereas, Sabir was born and evolved in an almost natural way by a need that went beyond the actual artifice. This is probably the reason why Sabir and the lingua franca mediterranea lasted for a long period of time, while Esperanto was at its birth a failed attempt to create a language for a detennined sector in society. It is a fact that the main difference between the two languages is that one aimed to create a broader understanding based on a functional everyday life need, whereas the other aimed to create a 52 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
55
language understood by few. In Saletti’s and Moliere’s works, we perceive the Mediterranean harbour as a point of intersection of cultures and ways of living that left a spill-over of cultural traits in the abovementioned artistic works and in many other works by various authors around the Mediterranean region. It is important to notice that the harbour in the expression of the ex-voto, Sabir, lingua franca mediterranea and various literal and artistic expressions, served almost as a lighthouse, where culture was projected and created, and recreated and changed to fit the ever changing needs of the Mediterranean differing cultures. In Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins Perdus, the language used in the harbour is not mentioned often, although he refers to language
as a barrier that finds its purpose in the basic everyday needs. Jean-Claude Izzo
mentions an important point on language in Les Marins Perdus as he delves in the way the word ‘Mediterranean’ is seen in different languages across the region: ‘Il Mediterraneo e di genere neutro nelle lingue slave e latine. E in
maschile in italiano. Femminile in francese. Maschile e femminile in
spagnolo, dipende. Ha due nomi maschili in arabo. E il greco, nelle
sue molteplici definizioni, gli concede tutti I generi. ‘ 53
‘The Mediterranean is neutral in the Slavonic languages, and in Latin.
It’s masculine in Italian. Feminine in French. Sometimes masculine,
sometimes feminine in Spanish. It has two masculine names in Arabic.
53 Jean-Claude IzzoMarinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.237
56
And Greek has many names for it, in different genders.’ Jean-Claude Izzo wants to prove that the word ‘Mediterranean’ in language is a sufficient proof of how people around the shores view the region. The gender of the word Mediterranean does in fact show that the languages in the region have
developed their own way of understanding and perceiving the region. Language as we have seen has deep ties to how popular culture and ideas have evolved and
developed. Sabir in its essence has proved that although the region has a myriad of contradictions and differing cultures, the harbour and everyday needs managed to combine the different languages into one. At the same time it is undeniable that the differences in the Mediterranean region make the region itself not only vast but also wonderful and enticing to the traveller and the artist. Literature and culture have fonned and mingled together, yet each maintained its distinct features at the the Mediterranean harbours; the place of various particular encounters. Jean Claude Izzo, Salletti and Moliere all managed to create a powerful work of art that has deep ties to the culture created and recreated over time in the Mediterranean harbours. Sabir and the ex-voto are only two examples of how harbours throughout
the Mediterranean have been a point of anchorage but also a locus of
Mediterranean cultural development. Harbours have been able to unite, divide and create such a diverse and yet common culture.
57
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo Inspired by the Port The Mediterranean as a discourse has been interpreted and reinterpreted, and idealized and mystified by a myriad of authors, thinkers and artists. In this modem era where globalization of thought is the nonn, the Mediterranean discourse is by far a difficult expression that finds obstacles in the concretization of its own thought. Nevertheless, today the Mediterranean is still capable of producing new artists and new expressions by which the discourse gets richer and deeper. The Mediterranean, as its name suggests, is a sea that is in between two lands, and as Franco Cassano 54 states, has never had the ambition to limit itself to only one of its shores. The Metlitenanean was fm a periotl of time consecutively and simultaneously Arab, Roman and/or Greek; it was everything and nothing at the same time. The Mediterranean never aspired to have a specific identity, and its strength lies in its conflicting identity; it embraces multiple languages and cultures in one sea. Franco Cassano in his L ‘alternativa mediterranea states that borders are always ahead of centres, ‘Il confine e sempre piu avanti di ogni centro’55, and this concept is very relevant when we think about the significance of the harbour, as a place at the border of the country and yet the centre of every interaction.
Cassano goes on explaining how the centre celebrates identity, whereas the border is always facing contradiction, war and suffering. The border cannot deny the suffering by which the conflicting and inhomogeneous Mediterranean identity has 54 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) 55 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.80
58
been built upon. The border is the true expression of the Mediterranean and it is
undeniable here that the most important interactions and historical events in the
region have taken place.
The border is an important concept in the study of the Mediterranean
itself, and as already mentioned, the majority of intersection and cultural
exchanges have taken place in the harbours, which are the borders of a country yet the centre of every interaction. For the concept of a ‘Mediterranean identity’ to arise, the harbour has been a pivotal place economic and religious interactions
which consequently left an undeniable cultural baggage whose strong presence
allowed the Mediterranean shores to benefit from an enriching cultural melange.
Being a sea of proximity, the Mediterranean has always been prone to receive the
‘other’ with all its cultural baggage, and therefore the concept of fusion and
amalgamation of different aspects of every country has always contributed to the
region’s culture. Accounts about the Mediterranean and those set in it have always put at their centre the concept of ‘differences’ and the ‘other’ in contraposition to the conflicts found in the harbours and in its centres. Nevertheless, without expecting the ends to meet to a degree of totality, the Mediterranean has been able to create places where ends do not merely meet but coexist. The coexistence of different races, cultures and languages has been the founding stone of the region.
As Cassano states, an identity that claims to be pure is an identity that is destined
to fail because it is in the essence of a culture that it repels the ‘other’, and
therefore sees the answer to every problem in the elimination of the ‘other’. The
59
Mediterranean, on the other hand has embraced ‘the other’ or on occasion, ‘other’ has forcedly penetrated the Mediterranean, giving birth to a region of different cultures based on a coexistence which is sometimes peaceful but often hard. The Mediterranean nowadays has overcome the complex of Olientalism and moved forward from a vision of an exotic south or border; ‘non e piu una frontiera o una barriera tra il nord e il sud, o tra l’ est e l’ ovest, ma e piuttosto un luogo di incontli e correnti … di transiti continui’ .56 ‘it is not a border or bamer between North and South, or East and West anymore, but it is rather a place of encounters and trends of continuous transits’. The Mediterranean has become a region of transit and a meeting place.
Upon travelling across the Mediterranean, an important thing which makes
itself evident is the imaginary that keeps on building through the interaction
between authors and thinkers, especially through their works that focus on the
importance of stating a discourse about the Mediterranean.
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo
‘Il Mediterraneo none una semplice realta geografica, ma un temtorio
simbolico, un luogo sovraccalico di rappresentazioni. ’57
56 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.92 57Jean-Claude Izzo,Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese
(Mesogea: 2000) pp.7
60
‘The Mediterranean is not a simple geographical reality, but a
symbolic territory, a place overloaded with representations.’
The Mediterranean is a region full of symbolism and representationswhich
would not exist if it were not supp01ied by the literature and culture that has
fonned on and around its shores. The Mediterranean as a region of imaginaries
built on the integration of different voices and stories has produced a number of
authors and thinkers that left a cultural and artistic patrimony to the discourse
about the Mediterranean. We have already seen how the harbour transmits a sense of insecurity and plays a role of threshold which is testified through the works of Izzo and Consolo. Both authors have not only shown the importance of the harbour but have also contributed arduously to the fonnation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The word imaginary, comprehends a number of images, figures and fonns that are created by the observers to define something -not solemnly by the mere reflection of facts and historical events, but by a personal evaluation- that sometimes goes beyond reality. In this sense, it is undeniable that the Mediterranean has gathered a number of observers who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective in a singular imagination. Consolo and Izzo have transfonned their personal encounter with the Mediterranean into a powerful imaginary.
Jean-Claude Izzo was born and raised in Marseille in a family of Italian
immigrants. His background and geographical position highly influenced his
61
writing. Both Izzo and Consolo shared a deep love for their country of origin
especially for the microcosm surrounding them. Vincenzo Consolo wrote about
his beloved Sicily, while Izzo always mentions Marseille. Both authors transpose
the love for the microcosm into a broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole.
Jean Claude Izzo’s Mediterranean is based on a passionate encounter with the
region and states that his Mediterranean differs from the one found at travel
agencies, where beauty and pleasure are easily found.
‘Cio che avevo scoperto non era il Mediterraneo preconfezionato che
ci vendono i mercanti di viaggi e di sogni facili. Che era propio un
piacere possibile quello che questo mare offriva.’ 58
‘I had discovered a Mediterranean beyond the pre-packaged one
usually sold and publicised by Merchants, as an easy dream. The
Mediterranean offered an achievable pleasure.’
The Mediterranean hides its beauty only to reveal it to anyone who
wants to see it. The Mediterranean for Izzo is a mixture of tragedy and pleasure,
and one element cannot exist without the other. This image of beauty and
happiness shared with tragedy and war is a recurring one in the study of the
Mediterranean. Consolo’s writing is based on the concept of suffering. He
pictures human grief and misery as an integral part of the Mediterranean
58 Jean-Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese (Mesogea:
2000) pp.17
62
imaginary and he feels that poetry and literature have the responsibility to transmit the human condition. Izzo in his writings not only shows that the Mediterranean imaginary is made up of tragedy, suffering and war but also shows that there is hope in the discourse about the Mediterranean itself. For Izzo, the Mediterranean is part of his future, part of his destiny, embodied in the geography of the region and in the tales and accounts that inhabit every comer of the region. Through his beloved Marseille, Izzo manages to look at the Mediterranean and thus find himself.
The word ‘imaginary’ in the academic sphere is tied to a concept used
for the definition of spaces, a definition that goes beyond the way things seem
externally, a definition that puts much more faith in how an author, thinker or
artist expresses and describes the space. In the case of the Mediterranean, since
the region is not an officially recognized political entity, identity is based on
interpretation more than anywhere else and the concept of an imaginary proves
that there are paths that still lead to thought about the Mediterranean. With this in mind, one cam1ot deny the fact that in the political or social sphere, the concept of Medite1Tanean is still being mentioned; however, one could argue that the Mediterranean that is being mentioned in a political and social sphere is somehow a constructed ‘Mediterranean’. The Mediterranean’s relevance nowadays is found in the hearth of the author and artist that from Tangiers or from Marseille is able to write about a sea that has thought him to be mobile, to travel not only physically but mentally and emotionally from one shore to another. Jean-Claude Izzo’s troubled identity gives us a hint of the way in which the Mediterranean is 63
perceived as a region and the way in which the personal ‘imaginary’ for Izzo was
fonned. Izzo himself was from a family of mixed origins and was raised in a
constant state of travel. Izzo found his Mediterranean identity in the imaginary
other authors had created but also found his roots in the very absence of more
organic roots. Every story and every country may be part of his own identity, and
so, the Mediterranean has the ability to preserve in the depths of its sea the stories and feelings collected from every shore and give a curious traveller the
opportunity to retrieve these treasures and make them his own.
The historical approach to the Mediterranean has been based on a
comparison between south and north, between the Mediterranean and Europe, and it usually focused much more on the contrasting elements than on its conjunctions and similarities. Braudel59 saw the Mediterranean as a static and unchanging region. Today, modem thought has led to a new perception of the Mediterranean, focusing rather on the points of conjunction than on the differences and contrasting elements, yet accepting the fact that the Mediterranean is diverse in its essence. In a paper by Miriam Cooke about the Mediterranean entitled Mediterranean thinking: from Netizen to Metizen60
, she delves into the importance of the juxtaposition between the liquidity of the sea and the immobility of the land in the rethinking process of the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean imaginary, the sea serves as a mirror and as a fluid that is able to connect and remain welldefined.
It is able to give a sense of time that is very different from the one on
59 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) 60 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
64
land. As we perceive in Jean-Claude Izzo, time is something that is completely
lost at the border between sea and land and especially in contact with the sea.
Sailors in Les Marins Perdus61 realize the concept of time only when they live in
the harbor and in other words, the sea has been able to preserve the sailor’s spirit in the illusion that time on land was as static as it was at sea. In the study about the Mediterranean region, the sea plays a fundamental role that must not be underestimated. Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo both refer extensively to the figure of the sea when addressing the Mediterranean imaginary. When pondering on the Mediterranean, Izzo always places himself facing the sea, embracing the liquidity of this region, whereas in his stories, Consolo always uses the sea as the main mode of transportation and giving it a mystical attribute.
The Mediterranean has a different meaning for the two authors, because
it is perceived from two different places and two different conceptions of the
Mediterranean arise. In much of Consolo’ s writing, the Mediterranean is seen
through the image of Odysseus which is an image that holds a special meaning for Consolo and to which he feels deeply tied. For Consolo, The Odyssey is a story
that has no specific ending and this is done on purpose because it is directly tied to the future. The door to the future was kept open with the specific purpose of
letting the figure of Odysseus trespass time. The importance of Ulysses in
Consolo’s discourse extends to a deep and personal search for identity and it is
identity itself and the search for knowledge that led Ulysses to embark on a
61 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010)
65
voyage around the Mediterranean region and afterwards to return to Ithaca. Like
Izzo, Consolo finds the essence of a Mediterranean imaginary in the act of
travelling and sometimes wandering from coast to coast, from harbour to harbour, somehow like a modem Ulysses that aims to find himself and find knowledge through the act of travelling and meandering. Many authors that have focused their attention on the figure of Ulysses have focused on Ulysses’ return to Ithaca in particular and the search for a Mediterranean identity through this return.
Consolo, however, mainly uses the metaphor of travel and wandering, and he
manages to tie them to the question of a Mediterranean imaginary that is being
built upon the various images that the author is faced with through his voyage. For Consolo the voyage and the constant search for knowledge are the founding
stones of a Mediterranean imaginary. This urge to push further and thus reach a
greater level of knowledge has driven the Mediterranean people to practice
violence, and therefore Consolo believes that violence tied to the expression of a
deep search for knowledge is what has constituted the Mediterranean region. In
L ‘Olivo e L ‘Olivastro 62
, Vincenzo Consolo uses Ulysses’ voyage as a metaphor of his own voyage and his personal relation with Sicily; being his homeland it holds
a special place for Consolo especially in his writings. Constant change in the
modern concept of a Mediterranean has left a deep impact on the Mediterranean
imaginary. The wandering Ulysses returns to a changed and metamorphosed
Ithaca, which is a recurring image in the Mediterranean. Consolo finds his home
62 Norma Bouchard, Massimo Lollini, ed, Reading and Writing the Mediterranean, Essays by Vincenzo Consolo (University of Toronto Press, 2006)
66 island ‘Sicily’ deeply changed by industrialization and although it may have
maintained features that recall the past, it has changed greatly. Images of the
harbour and of the Mediterranean itself have deeply changed. Change may be
positive, negative or may hold a nostalgic tone, although change is always a
positive factor that contributes to the fonnation of an ‘imaginary’. The way
Ulysses and authors such as Consolo and Izzo have wandered and fought their
battles in the Mediterranean has contributed to the change that we now perceive in the region. Through the voyage of Ulysses, Consolo gives testimony of the
Mediterranean violence and change to the rest of the world. For Consolo the
imaginary created around the Mediterranean is a mixture of his own reality such
as a modem Sicily devastated by industrialization and modernization, and the
recurring image of Ulysses. In fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio, Consolo focuses
on the microcosm of Sicily as a metaphor of the larger Mediterranean. His
imaginary is characterized by the concept of conflict – a conflict that keeps on
repeating itself in the Mediterranean and is somehow tied to a general conception of the Mediterranean. The harbour acquires an important space in the novel, being the hub of the whole story. The violence mentioned in the novel is a projection of violence in view of an attempt at unifying two different spheres, in this case the unification of Italy, but in a broader sense the possible unification of a Mediterranean. The attempt is not only a failure but results in a continuous war to establish a dominant culture rather than a possible melange of cultures that manage to keep their personal identities.
67
Izzo on the other hand wrote about the Mediterranean imaginary from
the point of view of sailors, who construct a Mediterranean imaginary based on
the concept of a difficult intercultural relationship and a strange bond with the
Mediterranean harbour. In Les Marins Perdus, the microcosm of Marseille
managed to represent the macrocosm of the Mediterranean, and the figures of the sailors represents a modem Ulysses, with the aim of bringing about a
Mediterranean imaginary that mingled old and traditional conceptions of the
region with new and modem ideas. Jean Claude Izzo’s sailors had different ways
of perceiving the Mediterranean, but they had a similar way of seeing and
identifying the ‘sea’. Izzo’s protagonist, much like Consolo’s protagonist,
develops an interesting habit of collecting old Mediterranean maps. For the sailor, the collection of maps represents in a certain way the concretization of a
Mediterranean and the unification of the geographical conception of the region.
The act of collecting may be considered as an attempt at identifying something
that is common, something that is part of a collective memory.
The works of Consolo and Izzo are the literal expressions of a
Mediterranean imaginary, based on their personal encounter with the region and
on their individual research on the subject. The way in which literal texts shape
our conception and ideas with their powerful imagery proves that the personal
encounter becomes a collective encounter in the translation of facts that each
author perfonns in his writings. However, what is most fascinating is the meeting
of ideas brought about through writing which also share elements with popular
68
culture. In essence, popular culture manages to reach a higher audience but it
often takes inspiration directly from literature and its various expressions. In the
sphere of popular culture one may see that the concept of adve1iising and of
mixing various means of communication to reach a specific goal come into action. 
Popular culture comp1ises various levels of cultural and artistic expression, and is therefore well placed to reach a larger audience and to imprint in the audience
various powerful images related to the subject chosen. In this case, the
Mediterranean has collected a large amount of popular culture expressions that
managed to create a knit of ideas and interpretations that succeed in intertwining and creating ideas through the use of old traditions and seminal literal texts.
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture
The way in which the Mediterranean has been projected in the sphere of
popular culture owes a lot to the dichotomy between sea and land, between a fixed object and a fluid matter. The fascination around the two contrasting elements managed to create an even more fascinating expression of popular culture, thus an idea about the region that is based on the way in which Mediterranean people view the sea and view the stable and immobile element of land. Moreover, the Mediterranean popular culture focuses a lot on the element of the harbour, a place where the two elements of water and land manage to intertwine, meet, discuss ideas and at times fight over who dominates. The conflict between the two elements, projected in the geographical distribution of the region, has deep 69 resonance in the emotional encounter with the region. Thus, the authors, artists and travellers are emotionally part of this dichotomy that is consequently reflected in their artistic expressions.
To talk about the Mediterranean nowadays is to reinvent the idea behind
the region in an innovative and appealing way. Culture and literature are new
means by which we re-conceptualize the region. The Medite1Tanean has been
compared to the Internet, because it is a place where near and far are not too well defined, where space is something fluid and where infonnation and culture are transmitted through a network of connections. In her study, Miriam Cooke63 notes how even the tenninology used on the Internet derives from marine tenninology.
One example could be the ‘port’ or ‘portal’. In relation to the web, it is defined as
a place of entry and usually signifies the first place that people see when entering
the web. Although virtually, the concept of harbour remains the first and most
relevant encounter a person makes when approaching a country or ‘page’ on the
internet. Although air transportation has gained a great deal of importance,
shipping networks used for merchandise are common and still very much in use.
The parallelism between the Mediterranean and the Internet opens a new way of
conceptualizing the Mediterranean as a physical and cybernetic space. Miriam
Cooke explains how the Mediterranean itself, just like the Internet, changes the
traditional concept of core and periphery: 63 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
70
‘The islands that are geographically centered in the Mediterranean are
rarely centers of power; rather, they are crossroads, sometimes sleepy
but sometimes also dangerous places of mixing, where power is most
visibly contested and where difficult choices must be made.’ 64
The way in which the Mediterranean is seen geographically most of the
time does not appear to be consistent with the actual function and thought of the
place. As in the case of the islands in the Mediterranean, their main function lies
in the fact that they are crossroads rather than real centres. Usually, the
geographical centre of a country is the actual political, social and economic
centre, however, in the Mediterranean, the centre is where ideas are fonned, and
this usually lies in the harbours and in the cities located in close proximity to the
sea. The centre and marginality of a place according to Cooke depends on the
position of the viewer. Therefore, the explained and conceptualized Mediterranean may have different centres and borders depending on who is writing about it. The function of popular culture is to somehow give a view on where the centre is and where the margins lie.
When discussing the Mediterranean in advertisements and in the media
m general, there is a tendency to start from the past, from a presumed
Mediterranean origin that seems to tie the whole region. In this assumption, there is no truth but just a commercial way of proposing the historical elements that 64 Ibid pp.296 71
unite the region, therefore making it appealing at a touristic level. The audience at times does not have a precise idea of the differing elements and cultures residing in the region. To make it more appealing and coherent, especially in advertising, culture seems to be portrayed as a feature that holds similar elements that recur throughout the region. Even tastes and sometimes sounds seem to be homogenized tlu·oughout the region. The French documentary film entitled Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2, aims to give an overview of the Mediterranean by focusing not just on the common features, but most of all on the fascination of the differences. The
documentary film traces how the Mediterranean has transfonned and shifted over time and it aims to show the deep cultural heritage it left in Europe. Rather than an advertisement or promotional video, this is an educational movie that rotates around the Mediterranean to explain each and every place while delineating its features and importance. The interesting fact about the movie is that it is filmed from above, giving almost an overview of the region, and that it talks about a Mediterranean future that ultimately lies in a supposed c01mnon past. When advertising a harbour in the Mediterranean, most of the short clips focus on the multiculturalism of the harbour and the projection of the place within a broader Mediterranean vision.
72
A particular advertising video, promoting Tangier65 as a harbour city
that looks onto the Mediterranean but remains predominantly African, focuses on the emotions that it can deliver and on the particular features that can attract the tourist such as traditional food and music. In everyday life, certain music and
traditional food would have probably disappeared, but in the projection of a place that needs to attract the tourist, the sensational aspect prevails and the tradition needs to be prioritized. In all the movies concerning advertisement of the Mediterranean harbours, what prevails is the conception of the harbours as
crossroads, as places where cultures meet, and obviously leave deep cultural
heritage. The movement of people in these short clips is shown as a movement
that has brought richness and cultural heritage to the country, ignoring the
ongoing debates about migration. These clips tend to ignore the ongoing problems in the Mediterranean and this is obviously done to increase tourism and project a nicer image of the region, succeeding in having a positive impact on the mind of the viewer.
Another peculiarity that is noticeable both in the clips about the
Mediterranean harbours and in many movies and stories is a concept of time
which is very different from reality. In short clips, such as the one portraying
Tangiers or the one promoting Valletta, it is noticeable that time slows down. In
the transposition of the novel Les Marins Perdus into a movie66, the concept of
65 Fabounab,Tangiers, port of Aji-ica and the Mediterranean (uploaded May, 2010) www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IJ3zmxC6g (accessed July, 2014)
66 Les Marins Perdus, Claire Devers (2003)
73 time is a fundamental element, because it drastically slows down. The first scene opens up with the overview of the Aldebaran, the ship on which the story unfolds.
This scene is a very long scene that gives the viewer a hint of approaching trouble, from sea to land. It achieves this in a very calm and slow way. Throughout the movie the sense of time being slower than usual is something that finds its apex in the last minutes of the movie when all the tragedies unfold. The way in which the Mediterranean is described in short clips and in this movie shows a common perception of the Mediterranean people as a people who enjoy life at a slower rhytlnn, although in certain cases it might be true that this assumption lacks accuracy. Although it is undeniable that the juxtaposition between land and sea which we especially perceive in the harbour gives a sense of time as a rather fictitious concept, one may recall the Odyssey, where the voyage in the Mediterranean took an unusually long time. The Odyssey in fact bases on the fact that time almost seemed to have stopped and in fact, the time span that Odysseus spent travelling at sea does not match with the actual time that was passing on land in Ithaca. On the other hand we perceive that time is passing by rather slowly for Penelope who patiently raised her son and safeguarded Ithaca while waiting Odysseus.
What the concept of time in the Mediterranean proves is that the various
images that one finds both in writing and in new popular culture are constantly fed to our conception of the region and through time these various concepts fonn an imaginary. In many cases, when we look at popular culture we find elements that 74 we can reconnect to literature. This proves that the means by which an imaginary is constrncted is based on different elements but usually one may find recmTing elements both in popular culture and literature. In the concept of time we also find a common way of seeing life itself. Time in the Mediterranean seems to be stuck therefore we may argue that literature and popular culture have contributed to the fonnation of our ideas about life per se, whilst obviously not denying that everyday life was of constant inspiration to literature and culture. The way in which both popular culture and everyday life intersect, connect and find common points is something of fundamental importance in the study of the Mediterranean imaginary, as it gives different points of view and visions of the subject and therefore creates an imaginary that manages in a subtle way to unite what seems so distant. Jean-Claude Izzo, Vincenzo Consolo and many other authors, as well as different ‘texts’ of popular culture, create an ethos about the Mediterranean that aims to join what appears separate. The fact that nowadays the Mediterranean is still present in popular culture, as in the case of the previously mentioned film shown by France 2, proves that discourse about the region and the Mediterranean imaginary are still alive and they have a presence in the mind of the receiver.
The imaginary of the Mediterranean harbour is also constrncted by the
way it is advertised. A short, recent videob1 advertising the Maltese harbour
repeatedly used the word ‘Mediterranean’ to highlight the connection between
67 Valletta Waterfront, Valletta Cruise Port Malta- the door to the Mediterranean, (uploaded February, 2012) www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMThbEG95WA (accessed May, 2014)
75
Europe and Africa. The way in which the harbour is projected in the French
movie shows a deep connection to the historical and cultural heritage of the
country but it also aims to show how historically and culturally varied the country is. The advertisement’s aim was to create a sense of uniqueness whilst focusing on the broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole. On the one hand it focuses on the fact that Malta is part of the European Union, therefore boasting high standards of security and maritime services, and on the other hand it promotes the various hist01 ical influences on Malta and its Grand Harbour and portrays it as the gateway both to the northern and to the southern shore. Being an island in the Mediterranean gave Malta the possibility to create its uniqueness, but also to affiliate itself to both Europe and Africa. In this sense, the sea serves as a unifying factor but at the same time it was always able to maintain the individuality of each place. The discourse about the Mediterranean is rendered possible thanks to the various factors that inhabit the region – factors that may differ from one shore to another, thus making the region a more interesting one to study.
4.3 Conclusion The discourse about the Mediterranean has always revolved around the projection of different images that supposedly recall a common feeling and common grounds. The Mediterranean is a region that is in essence a combination of a myriad of cultures; this factor is very relevant in the discourse on the region 76 as the attempt to unite the region in one cultural sphere is somehow a failed attempt. It is relevant to mention that in the production of literature and culture, these different expressions especially concerning the Mediterranean have produced a knit of sensations and feelings that are now mostly recognized as being ‘Mediterranean’. The harbour in this case has always been the locus of the Mediterranean imaginary because sea and land meet in the harbour, and therefore many cultures meet and interact in the harbours.
Harbours are places that live an ‘in between’ life but that still manage to
mingle the differences in a subtle way that feels almost nonnal and natural. The
harbour has inspired many authors as it has built a sense of awaiting and hope in the person. The Mediterranean port seems to suggest that everything is possible, and that imageries and ideas can unfold in the same harbour.
77
5 Conclusion
The Mediterranean city is a place where two myths come together: the
myth of the city and the myth of the Mediterranean. Both myths have developed
independently because both managed to create symbols and connotations that
have been able to survive till today. The myth of the city in relation to the myth of
the Mediterranean has been for a long time regarded independently and therefore it created a succession of elements that was able to reside in the same place but was in essence two different elements. 68
From antiquity, the ‘city’ has been seen as a symbol of social order – as a
place where reason and civilization reign in contrast with the ignorance of the
outskirts. The concept of a ‘city’ that is able to unify ideals and control society by
maintaining high levels of education and increasing cultural standards has
developed a division between the rural areas and the city itself. In conjunction
with the harbour, the concept of a civilized ‘city’ mingles with the idea of a
cultural mixture that is able to absorb what the sea has to offer.
In the Mediterranean port cities, the cultural emancipation and the centre
of trade and business in a way managed to intenningle with the idea of ‘squalor’,
most of the time being associated to the harbour. Nevertheless, in the
68 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
78
Mediterranean harbour cities, the idea of cultural richness and emancipation was a concept that found concretization in the idealization of the ‘city’ itself by its
inhabitants. The ‘city’ as much as the Mediterranean itself found deep resonance
with the growth of literature. In the case of the ‘city’, various treaties and
literature expedients that promoted it as a centre of cultural riclmess and
architectural rigor helped the ‘city’ itself to find a place in the mind of the person
approaching it. The obvious consequence of this new fonnation of cities as a
symbol of 1igor and proliferation was that a great number of people migrated from the rural areas to the cities. The myth of the harbour cities as being the centre of business and a locus of culture went on cultivating with the accounts about these cities written by various authors. They managed to give life to a succession of images that are now imprints of harbour cities throughout the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean appears unified in anthropological69 discourse in which
assumptions are made about the way ‘Mediterraneaninsm’ is constituted and the
‘Mediterranean way of life’. A group of cultural anthropologists aimed to view
the Mediterranean as a whole for the purpose of identifying elements that
managed to tie the region and gave meaning to the unification itself. On the one
hand they managed to give international relevance to studies about the region
because they constructed what they regarded as common Mediterranean attributes.
On the other hand they were constructing a discourse that said more about their
own vision than about a region that is varied in its essence. In a way they also
69 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
79 rendered the region ‘exotic’. The way in which anthropology managed to create an idea about the Mediterranean is interesting even though a person living in the region might argue that the picture given is incorrect. In this sense the imaginary of the Mediterranean projected by literature does not aspire to give a detailed account of life in the region but rather to actually transmit the feelings and passions that the region has. In this sense, literature was able to transfonn a passion and a detailed account of one’s own perspective about the region into an imaginary that is in its turn able to remain imprinted in the person’s conception of the Mediterranean. Literature and art in the Mediterranean had the ability to prove that there are common feelings in the region but they are distinguishable in their very essence and the harbour with its strategic position was able to give inspiration to the artist that approached it. The creation of an imaginary about the Mediterranean goes beyond the very need of knowing and apprehending facts that may be or may not be common to the whole region. In this sense, the artistic expedients and the literal world managed to relate to the reader and the spectator in a very special way by creating powerful images that construct society.
5.1 The ‘imaginary’ of the Mediterranean
One important definition of the ‘imaginary’ is given by Castoriadis in his
The Imaginary Institution of Society 70 in which he states that the human being
cannot exist without the collective and that the collective is fonned by different
7° Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth(University of Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
80
elements. One of the elements that is of great importance in the fonnation of the
collective is the symbol. The symbol or the collection of symbols is fonned from
reality and from an imaginary. In the composition of the imaginary, whatever
stems from reality and whatever stems from fiction remains in essence a question which is not resolved or which probably does not intend to be resolved. Therefore, the imaginary explained by Castoriadis gives a social meaning to certain questions that are fundamental in the complexity of reality. For example, the symbol of God was created for various reasons but its creation per se does not distinguish between elements that are true in its essence and elements that are imagined. The example given by Castoriadis on the symbol of God leads us to the conception of the Mediterranean region as a region fonned in its imaginary by reality and myth which intertwine and are not distinguishable. The Mediterranean created by the various authors and artists mentioned reinforces the imaginary that has at its basis the aim of giving a picture of the region which is not far from reality but on the other hand which is not that structured. Therefore we can argue that the difference between an anthropologist’s approach to the region and an artist’s approach is based on the difference in their point of focus. This statement one does not deny the importance of the anthropologist’s approach to the region where in fact social
structure appears and thus one can easily understand the way by which society is fonned. To fuiiher the study and understand it in its complexity one cannot deny the importance of literature and culture in the creation of an imaginary.
Castoriadis 71 states that society shares a number of undeniable truths that are
71 Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth (University of 81
accepted by everyone. By analyzing the imaginary one manages to go beyond
these undeniable truths and thus manages to extend the life of the imaginary itself.
Therefore, if the Mediterranean exists, it is because it managed to create a number of myths and symbols able to renew themselves. The impo1iance of the imaginary for the region itself is based on the fruits that it gives. The Mediterranean that is being mentioned in the various books and poems is supported by the emotions and passions of each and every author. If the author is not moved by passion for the region it would be difficult to create an imaginary. The Mediterranean region is still present in our mind thanks to the imaginary created by the various authors and thinkers.
The choice of the harbour as the locus of a Mediterranean imaginary
comes almost naturally as the harbours facing the Mediterranean Sea have a great impact on culture in the Mediterranean and the threshold between sea and land is on the one hand the very basis of the Mediterranean life. The harbour and the city as two separate and yet same elements intertwine and are able to create rich and variegated cultures, yet they were also the first spectators of conflicts and wars.
From this point of view, it is undeniable that the harbour in the Mediterranean
holds a special place for the author and may be seen by many authors and thinkers as a place of inspiration where ideas concretize and where the emotions, thoughts and ideas brought by the voyage at sea are still very present in the memory.
Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
82
Through the image of the harbour we come across the image of the sailor
who to many authors has been a point of reflection for the discourse on the
Mediterranean and has helped the connection between the real, almost “filthy” life of the harbor, and the ideas and concepts that fonn in the city. The various authors that integrated the image of the sailor to the idea of the harbour in the
Mediterranean were able to reinforce the Mediterranean imaginary by joining
different images and by giving them life and purpose in a way that goes beyond
the truth. The sailor in Jean-Claude Izzo’ s imaginary has a deep and developed
curiosity and a great knowledge of The Odyssey. While it is not be a surprise that
a sailor has a passion for literature, the point that Jean-Claude Izzo makes is that
Homer’s Mediterranean has definitely changed, yet it is still alive in the heart of
the ones that live the region in all its essence. Therefore, the sailor who is an
everyday image and thus is able to relate to a greater audience acquires almost
different attributes that do not match reality, but that are in essence part of a
shared Mediterranean imaginary.
The way in which authors and thinkers contribute to the fonnation of the
Mediterranean has been the principal focus of this dissertation. The pattern
created by art and literature all over the Mediterranean highlights the differences in the region but it also portrays the similarities that are able to give birth to a unified Mediterranean. As discussed throughout, the process of finding
similarities and the fonnation of an imaginary that is able to constitute the
83
Mediterranean was not a smooth one. The Mediterranean does not in fact appear
as a place that has a lot of common features. Even though politically and
sometimes socially it has been portrayed as a unified region, the unifying factors
are few. Literature does not aim to give a picture of the Mediterranean as one but
aims rather to give various personal and interpersonal interpretations of the region to fonn an imaginary able to be transported and reinterpreted in different
circumstances. It is important to understand that the word ‘imaginary’ does not
aim to conduct a political or social inquiry about the region and that the word in
itself actually aims to understand the underlying concept of the Mediterranean. It does not aim to state facts about the region but rather to give an account that is
able to connect the historical roots of the region to personal experience.
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour
Although the harbour was my main focus in identifying the Mediterranean
imaginary, it is definitely not the only point in the Mediterranean that could be
taken into account when studying its imaginary. Other aspects of the
Mediterranean could be of great relevance when expanding the various images of the region. One important aspect in all the literature expedients taken into account was the relationship of every author with their nation and their complex identity.
Therefore, in relation to the study conducted, it would be of great interest to expand the notion of ‘nationhood’ and the fonnation of various and complex
84
identities created in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean nowadays is seen as a region where ‘nationhood’ and identity are created through a complex of knits and relations. The latest ‘citizenship’ programs in all of the northern Mediterranean countries show how the borders and the concept of ‘nationhood’ are deeply changing, most probably opening to further possibilities that range from cultural enrichment to economic advance. When thinking about the Mediterranean JeanClaude Izzo emphasized the fact that he felt that part of himself resided in every harbour and his ‘identity’ was not limited to one place. He makes us realize that the Mediterranean existed before the creation of ‘nations’ and so, each Mediterranean person feels like he can relate to more than one country and more than one culture. The harbour has been the first impact with a deep association to the region, and the person approaching a Mediterranean harbour automatically abandons his roots and is able to relate to what the harbour has to offer. In this sense we have seen how the harbour was vital to the creation of a powerful imaginary. The question of identity and complex relations in the Mediterranean would be a next step in analysing the complexity of the region. The Mediterranean harbour teaches us that all Mediterranean people are prone to the ‘other’ and are open to various cultures, including the exposure to a number of languages and the creation of a lingua .fi’anca to facilitate communication. Therefore, with this exposure promoted by the harbour, the Mediterranean created various identities that sometimes are not distinguishable.
85
Jean-Claude Izzo felt he could relate to almost every country in the
Mediterranean and that part of him resided in every harbour. Nevertheless, he
always saw Marseille as a point of reference and as an anchorage point where his thoughts concretized. Contrarily, the difficult relation of Vincenzo Consolo with the Italian peninsula makes the issue of complex identitites particularly relevant. For a number of years, Consolo worked in northern Italy where he felt like a stranger in his own country. However, with the difference of enviromnent and in a way, a dissimilarity of culture, he was able to contemplate the meaning of the Mediterranean and his native ‘country’, Sicily. The question of a possible or
rather an impossible identity in the Mediterranean does not enrich or denigrate the concept of an ‘imaginary’ but rather enables the person studying the region to understand certain dynamics and the way in which authors and thinkers approach the region. It is rather difficult to paint a clear picture of the Mediterranean through understanding the complexity of ‘identity’, though it would be of great interest to find the way in which each and every Mediterranean person manages to relate to the concept of identity, which is an integral part of his or her social accomplishment. Society instils a deep sense of fulfilment and accomplishment in a person who is able to fully relate to their country of origin, and as Amin Maalouf states in In the Nmne of Identity, 72 identity is something that most of the time may lead to war between countries, and so it is undeniable that it plays a fundamental role in the way we view things.
72 Maalouf Amin, In the name of Identity: violence and the need to belong (Penguin books, 2000)
86
Amin Maalouf is an author of mixed origins. He is Lebanese but has lived
most of his life in France and when asked which of the two countries is his ‘real’
country, he found it difficult to answer as he states that both countries are part of
his identity. Thus identity for Amin Maalouf is something very personal. A person
living in France fonn a number of years has the ability to emich his previous
identity, therefore acquires an added identity to the previous one. The same person cannot deny the previous identity, yet he cannot deny that the present identity plays an important role in his personal fonnation. The Mediterranean as a region has always promoted the mixture of cultures and the voyage itself, therefore contributing to the fonnation of complex and variegated identities. Nowadays, we manage to relate both to a Greek and Roman descent, therefore geographically and historically the Mediterranean has been united in ideas and concepts that are now far from each other but yet undeniable.
The same geography and architectural heritage left by the Greeks and
Romans is still visible in most of the Mediterranean cities and harbours. This is
evident in the lighthouses that were for most of the time a symbol of greatness and architectural splendour, and we encountered a succession of ideas and cultures that mingled with the necessity of the lighthouse. Therefore the lighthouse that was on the one hand a powerful expression of artistic and cultural splendour, managed to create ideas and thoughts that stemmed from the actual need of ‘light’ and guidance. All these elements intertwine in the Mediterranean, rendering the 
87
concept of identity somewhat a complex one. Each person has an identity as
explained by Tarek Abdul Razek in his study about the Mediterranean identity:
‘Each one of us is the depositary of a dual legacy: the first is vertical,
coming from our ancestors, the traditions of our people and religious
c01mnunities; the other is horizontal and derives from our era and
contemporaries. Vertical identity is connected to memory and the past;
it is limited to a given territory within a given area. It usually
corresponds to national identity, the outcome of cultural policy
choices. Instead, horizontal identity extends towards the future,
though it remains open to the contemporary, reaching beyond national
borders, within a social context, in a postmodern approach. Thus,
horizontal identity is a project, a project for the future and not merely
a legacy of the past.’ 73
In relation to the Mediterranean, the horizontal and vertical identity may
be tied to the deep varied history that the Mediterranean holds. If Mediterranean
history is based on the interaction between people and cultures, then each and
everyone’s identity cannot just be based on the value of the nation as it is now.
The horizontal identity that leaves a door open to the future is in this sense very
important and gives substance to the discourse of a Mediterranean imaginary,
73 Abdul Razek ‘Common Mediterranean identity’ The Euro-Mediterranean student research multi-conference EMUNI RES (2009) pp.1-8
88
being the main contributor to the future of the Mediterranean. The imaginary that is the bringing together of both the vertical and horizontal identities manages to give hope to future discourse about the region. The imaginary does not deny the complexity of a possible Mediterranean identity, but merely shows a past where ideas flourished and have now become an integral paii of our own identity. It also proves that the future of a region is not solely made up of geographical, political and social features but is also made of different elements that manage to inte1iwine fanning a knit of images able to reside in the mind of every reader, artist and philosopher.
A search for a common identity is surely not the path to be taken in
understanding the relations in the Mediterranean because a common identity
usually instituted by the idea of a nation instills in the person a set of common
goals and ideals. In the case of the Mediterranean, the various conflicts and wars
show that there is no co1mnon identity tying the region. Therefore, it is quite
difficult to analyze a common identity and it should not be the purpose of a study
itself. It is interesting, however, to delve in the way authors and thinkers that
contributed to the fonnation of an imaginary in the Mediterranean deal with their personal identity, whether it is problematic for a great number of authors or whether authors find that their identity is not limited to their ‘national identity’.
All these factors could be of great interest to the person studying the region in the
sense that if each author writing about the Mediterranean finds the impulse to
write about the region, then he must feel a sense of association to the region,
89 irrespective of his roots or his identity, or the historical elements that he finds
residing in all the Mediterranean. This ‘affiliation’ has an element of identity that
I find interesting in the discourse about the Mediterranean. Jean-Claude Izzo in
his Les Marins Perdus states that every person travelling in the Mediterranean
needs to have a personal reason for it, and this personal reason resides mostly in
the search for an identity. One of the characters in Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins
Perdus was in constant search of an identity; a personal one that could tie him
psychologically and emotionally to a harbour or to a land. The Mediterranean, as
a region, was the place where he could c01mnent, argue and question his own
identity. Whether the search actually resulted in finding his identity is not the
actual point of the novel but the focal point is that the constant search for an
‘affiliation’ and an anchorage point brought out a rich imaginary that is able to be
transported through time.
The Mediterranean imaginary constructed by the various authors and
thinkers created a vision of various concepts such as the sailor, the metaphor of
the harbour, and the thresholds that hold both a geographical and metaphorical
meaning. The imaginary of the region is meant to go beyond the initial sociopolitical meanings that the media tries to portray. The Mediterranean for
anthropologists, authors, politicians and the Mediterranean people themselves has in essence a different meaning for each person, and therefore by analyzing the narration and images about the region, it is possible to understand the relationship between each component of the Mediterranean society to society itself.
90
The aim of analyzing the imaginary in the Mediterranean through the help
of the harbour as a conceptual and geographical area was to focus on the way in
which literature and culture through the help of metaphors and the personal
encounter with the region, manages to leave an imprint on the imaginary of the
region. The region is not only a place where these figures meet, intertwine and are reinvented but it is also a place where politics should be discussed considering the deep historical and geographical ties as well as a place where issues such as ‘migration’ should be viewed with the history of the region in mind. The importance of the Mediterranean does not lie in the accomplishment of a common identity but in realizing that each and every complex identity that resides in and writes about the Mediterranean can contribute to the fonnation of the ‘imaginary’ to which everyone can relate – images and figures with which each Mediterranean person, with their diverse identities, can identify. The imaginary is the result of images, narratives and depictions that from a personal meaning and manage to acquire a deeper and more global meaning. The Mediterranean people would not feel that these common ideas and values are in any way limiting their freedom or restricting their identity, but on the contrary, feel that it is enriching to their personalized and contradictory identity.
91
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97 

I dedicate this thesis to you, dear father. You showed me with your constant love, that whatever I do with persistence and commitment will open the doors to my destiny. The long nights I spent awake, reading and researching reminded me of the long nights you spent awake working, pennitting me to study and build my future. Your sacrifices are always accompanied by a constant smile that continuously gives me courage in difficult moments.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The number of people to whom I owe my accomplishments is far too long to fit on this page, as many have inspired me and given me their constant support which has helped me realize that knowledge could open doors I did not even know existed. Nevertheless, there are a number of people who I would like to mention as they have been there for me during tough times and have given me the support I needed. I would like to thank my family without whom I would not have been able to further my studies, my boyfriend Terry, who has always believed in me and has always been there to support me with his constant love, and my uncle Carlo, who from an early age fed me with books and literature that fostered my love of knowledge and the curiosity to find my inner self. I would also like to thank my dearest colleague Ray Cassar, who always helped me grow both academically and as a person, as well as my tutor and mentor Adrian Grima, who directed me, allowing me to ground and express my ideas better whilst always respecting and valuing my opinions.
II
Table of Contents
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold ………………………………………………………………. 7
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………….. 10
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the Port12
1.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
2 The Harbour as Threshold …………………………………………………………………… 1 7
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature …………………….. 20
2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour ………………………. 23
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor …………………………………………………………………. 27
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door ……………………………………………… 34
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse ………………………………………………………… 38
3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility ………………………………………………………….. 43
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication ………. 49
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo
Inspired by the Port ………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo ………………………….. 60
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture ……………………………. 69
4.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 76
5 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………… 78
5.1 The ‘Imaginary’ of the Mediterranean ……………………………………………. 80
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour ……………………….. 84
6 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….. .. 9?.
III
Abstract

The Mediterranean harbour is a place of meeting, of encounters between
civilizations, of clashes, wars, destructions, peace; a place where culture comes to live, where art is expressed in various ways and where authors and thinkers have found inspiration in every comer. The harbour imposes a number of thresholds to the person approaching it. This threshold could have different fonns which could be emotional, geographical, spiritual or cultural. Authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo lived and experienced the Mediterranean harbour in all its aspects and expressions; their powerful experience resulted in the formation of important images referred to as ‘imaginary’. The Mediterranean imaginary is the vision of various authors who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective, but at the same time singular imagination. The harbour is an important part of the Mediterranean geographical structure and thus it has been the main point of study for many examining the region. Factors such as language have transformed and suited the needs of the harbour, being a cultural melting pot.
1 Introduction
The Mediterranean is represented by chaos, especially in the harbour cities that are witness to the myriad of cultures which meet each and every day to discuss and interact in the harbour. It is imperative to state that chaos, as the very basis of a Mediterranean discourse has been fed through the different voices fonned in the region. These same voices, images and interpretations have found a suitable home in the Mediterranean harbours, places where literature and culture managed to flourish and where the so-called ‘margins’, both geographical and social, found centrality. The harbour has acquired significance in the discourse on the Mediterranean and thus on how literature and cultural expedients and the vaiious authors and artists recall the harbour as an anchorage point for their deep thoughts about the region. 1
Nowadays, the unification of the Mediterranean seems a ‘utopia’, since the Mediterranean is politically perceived as a region full of borders and security plans. One may easily mention the various strategic moves put forward by the European Union to safeguard the northern Mediterranean countries from migration from North African shores. By applying and reinforcing these security plans, the Mediterranean has become ever increasingly a region of borders. It is also important not to idealize the Mediterranean past as a unified past, because the 1 Georges Duby Gli ideali def Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea
(Mesogea, 2000) pp.80-104
2
region was always characterized by conflict and chaos. Despite the chaos that was always part of the Mediterranean, being a region of clashing civilizations, it managed to produce a mosaic of various cultures that is visible to the eye of the philosopher or the artist. The artist and the philosopher manage to project their thoughts and ambitions for the region; therefore they are able to see hannony in a region that seems so incoherent. The aim of my thesis is to understand why the harbour is crucial in the construction of the Mediterranean imaginary. Both open space and border, the port, as in the case of Alexandria or Istanbul, has for a long time been a center for trade, commerce and interaction. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on the study of the harbour and harbour cities to be able to give substance to a study about the Mediterranean as a complex of imaginaries. The boundaries in the study about the Mediterranean have a special place; in fact a boundary that may be either geographical or political has the ability to project and create very courageous individuals that manage to transgress and go over their limits when facing the ‘other’. In the Mediterranean we perceive that the actual reason for transgressing and overcoming a limit is the need of confonning or confronting the ‘other’, sometimes a powerful ‘other’ able to change and shift ideas, able to transpose or impose cultural traits. Yet, the Mediterranean in its multicultural environment has been able to maintain certain traits that have shaped what it is today. Through movement of people in the region, the Mediterranean has been able to produce a number of great innovations, such as the movement of the Dorians who moved from the south all along the 3 Greek peninsula, and also the ‘sea people’ that came from Asia and, being hungry and thirsty, destroyed whatever they found. The same destruction and movement resulted in the creation of three important factors for the Mediterranean: the creation of currency, the alphabet, and marine navigation as we know it today. The various movements also contributed to the fonnation of the person as a free being with the ability to move freely. Therefore, movement and the overcoming of boundaries in the Mediterranean have contributed greatly to the fonnation of civilization itself.2 A board, today found in the museum of Damascus, with an alphabet very similar to the Latin one written on it, was very useful as it was very simple in its structure. This confirms a high level of democracy, as civilization meant that each individual had the possibility of knowing and understanding what his leaders understood. We get to understand that in the Mediterranean each person can practice his freedom by travelling out at sea and engage in trading. All this was made possible by the same interactions and conflicts raised in the region. Conflicts though are not the only factor that promoted the interaction and the fonnation of interesting cultural and literature in the Mediterranean, as we know it today. Art and culture have been means by which the various conflicts and interactions took life and expressed the deep feelings that inhabited the soul 2 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, filosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
4
of the artist. Karl Popper3 states that the cultural mixture alone is not sufficient to put the grounds for a civilization and he gives the example of Pisistratus, a Greek tyrant that ordered to collect and copy all the works of Homer. This made it possible to have a book fair a century later and thus spread the knowledge of Homer. Karl Popper wants to tell us that art and culture have deeply influence the fonnation of a general outset of the region and that the fonnation of the general public is not something that comes naturally, but is rather encouraged. The Greeks in this sense were directly fed the works of Homer by the diffusion of the works themselves. On the other hand, the majority of Greeks already knew how to read and write, further enabling the diffusion of knowledge. Art and architecture are two important factors that have detennined the survival of empires and cultures through time. When artists such as Van Gogh were exposed to the Mediterranean, they expressed art in a different way and when Van Gogh came in contact with the Mediterranean region, the French Riviera and Provence in particular, he discovered a new way of conceiving art. In a letter that Van Gogh wrote to his sister in 1888, he explained that the impact the Mediterranean had on him had changed the way he expressed art itself. He told her that the colours are now brighter, being directly inspired by the nature and passions of the region. The Mediterranean inspired Van Gogh to use a different kind of colour palette. If the art expressed by Van Gogh that is inspired by the Mediterranean is directly 3 Georges Duby Gli ideali del Mediterraneo, storia, jilosofia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp. 80-104
5 represented and interpreted by the spectator, the region manages to be transposed through the action of art itself.4 The way in which the thesis is structured aims to focus on the vanous images created by poets, popular music and art. Each chapter provides evidence that the harbour has been the centre of attention for the many authors and thinkers who wrote, discussed and painted the Mediterranean. The thesis aims to prove that certain phenomena such as language and religion have contributed to a knit of imaginaries, the layout of certain events such as the ex-voto in the Mediterranean and the use of Sabir or Lingua Franca Mediterranea, which shows how the harbour managed to be the center of events that shaped the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean. The language and religious movement mentioned have left their mark on the Mediterranean countries, especially the harbour cities, which were the first cities encountered. The choice of the harbour cities as the representation and the loci of a Mediterranean imaginary vision is by no means a casual one. In fact, the harbour for many centuries has been the anchorage point not only in the physical sense but also emotionally and philosophically for many authors and thinkers, two of which are Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo, extensively mentioned in the dissertation. These two authors are relevant for the purpose of this study as they manage to create a vision of the Mediterranean, based on their personal experience and influenced by 4 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo, storia, jilosojia e letteratura nella cultura europea (Mesogea,2000) pp.43-55
6 the harbour from which they are looking at the region and observing the
Mediterranean. Popular culture ‘texts’ such as movies and music based on the interaction between the person and the Mediterranean region have an important role in the study, as they represent the first encounter with the harbour. It is a known fact that in the postmodern era where technological means have a broader and deeper reach, popular culture has become the first harbour in which many find anchorage. Therefore it would be difficult to mention literature works that have shaped the Mediterranean without mentioning the popular texts that have constructed images about the region that intertwine and fonn a complete and powerful image. The relevance of each factor is well defined in this study, delving deep in not only popular culture but also in language and various historical events that have transformed the Mediterranean, providing examples of how factors such as geographical elements, spirituality, devotion and passion have transfonned the way in which we perceive a region.
1.1 The Harbour as Threshold The first chapter focuses on the harbour as a threshold between stability and instability, between wealth and poverty, between mobility and ilmnobility. The various elements that constitute the harbour always convey a sense of ‘in between’ to the person approaching. The very fact that the harbour seems to be a place of insecurity gives the artists and authors a more stimulating environment to 7 write about their feelings and to contrast them with the ever-changing and chaotic enviromnent of the harbour. The way in which the natural landscape manages to influence the poetic and artistic expression is of great relevance to the study of the Mediterranean region, especially with regards to the study of the harbour. Poets such as Saba and Montale wrote about the way in which nature felt as a personified figure, able to give hope and change the way poets look at the world. 
They also wrote about nature in the Mediterranean as being an impmiant feature
shaping the way in which history and culture developed.
The sailor as a representation of a Mediterranean traveller is often found in
literature especially with regards to the notion of the harbour as an image of the
Mediterranean culture. Many authors such as Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo
Consolo wrote about the figure of the sailor in relation to the sea and everyday life in Mediterranean harbours. The novels fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio by
Vincenzo Consolo and Les Marins Perdus by Jean-Claude Izzo are written in two
different geographical areas of the Mediterranean and reflect two different
periods, but they are tied by an expression of a Meditemm~im i1rn1eirn1ry and
somehow recall common features and aspects of the harbour. Both novels manage to transpose their authors’ personal encounter with the Mediterranean, therefore
recalling their own country of birth. The novels are somewhat personal to the
authors; Consolo recalls Sicily while Izzo often refers to Marseille. The fact that
the novels are projecting two different areas and two different points of view on
8
the Mediterranean proves that by gathering different experiences related to the
region, a rich imaginary is created.
The harbour is a door, an entryway to a new world, and borders. Security
and expectations are all part of the experience of the threshold when entering a
country, especially in the Mediterranean, where thresholds are constantly present and signify a new and exciting experience that leads to a new interpretation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The way in which the harbour acts as an entryway suggests that what lies beyond the harbour is sometimes a mystery to the traveller.
Literature greatly contributes to the fonnation of ideas, especially in regard to the fonnation of thoughts such as the idea of a Mediterranean imaginary, but there is another element of fundamental importance to the formation of ideas on a generic line, which is popular culture. High-culture, referring to elements such as art, literature, philosophy and scholarly writings, creates a common understanding between an educated public. Popular culture refers to the section of culture that has a common understanding between the public. High-culture and popular culture have the power to transform what is mostly regarded as pertaining to high society; literature is constantly being reinterpreted and transfonned by popular culture to be able to reach a greater audience.
9
1.2 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The imp01iance of natural landscape which detennines the success or failure of a harbour, also detennines a number of historical events. In this sense, the Mediterranean is a region that has been naturally set up with a number of very important harbours that consequently fonned a particular history. The image of the harbour could be compared to the image of the lighthouse, which is part of the harbour itself but at the same is a distinct entity that in some cases had a role which went beyond its initial role of guidance and assumed almost a function of spiritual assistance. 5 The symbol of the lighthouse is also tied to knowledge and therefore the lighthouse has the ability to give knowledge to the lost traveller at sea, it is able to show the way even in uncertainties. The lighthouses in the Mediterranean had the ability to change through ages and maintain a high historical and cultural meaning; their function is a matter of fact to give direction to the traveller, but in certain cases it has been used to demarcate a border or as a symbol of power.
The Mediterranean Sea has witnessed different exchanges, based on belief,
need and sometimes even based solely on the search of sel£ Among these modes
of exchange and these pretexts of voyage in the Mediterranean, we find the exvoto and the movement of relics. Both types of exchange in the region have in
common at the basis religion that instilled in the traveller a deep wish to follow a
5 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti: 2010)
10
spiritual path. These exchanges resulted in an increasing cultural exchange. The
ex-voto6 shows a number of things. One of these things is that the very existence
of ex-voto proves a deep connection with the geographical aspect in the
Mediterranean and therefore proving that the region is a dangerous one. In this
sense, people in the Mediterranean have shown their gratitude to God or the
Virgin Mary in the fonn of ex-voto after a difficult voyage at sea. On the other
hand, the ex-voto shows how popular culture mingles with the spiritual experience and the way in which a person expresses gratitude to the divine. The ex-voto paintings have a special way of being identified. The saint or in most cases Virgin Mary, is usually set in a cloud or unattached from the sea in a tempest. Another element that shows if a painting is or is not part of an ex-voto collection, is the acronyms found in the bottom of every painting V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit). The use of Latin demonstrates the vicinity to Christianity, whilst the words meaning that ‘I made a vow and I received grace’ prove the tie between the tragedies at sea and the grace given by God. The difficult Mediterranean geographical predisposition, discussed by Femand Braudel7 has developed an abundance of devotion that transformed to shrines and objects of adoration and gratitude. These same shrines, objects and materials that were most of the time exchanged and taken from one place to another, have deeply enriched the Mediterranean with cultural objects and the same shrines are nowadays part of a collective cultural heritage.
6 Joseph Muscat Il-Kwadri ex-voto Martittimi Maltin (Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2003) 7 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II
(Fontana press: 19 8 6)
11
1.3 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Izzo and Consolo Inspired by the
Port The Mediten-anean for Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo revolves around the idea of a harbour that gives inspiration because it is in essence a border where ideas meet and sometimes find concretization. The Mediterranean harbour for centuries has been a meeting place for people and cultures, thus creating a region full of interactions on different levels. The imaginary for both authors has been shaped by both cultural elements and by the literary elements that find a special place in the mindset of the author. Culture as a popular expression of the concept of the Mediten-anean has developed in different ways, one of which is the projection of the harbour and the Mediterranean itself through media and advertising. Various elements such as the touristic publicity or the actual reportage about the harbour and the Mediten-anean have widened the horizon and the imaginary of the region. In advertisements, the Mediterranean has been idealized in some ways and tends to ignore controversial issues such as ‘migration’; advertising also tends to generalize about the Mediterranean and so mentions elements such as the peaceful and relaxing way of life in the region. Advertisement obviously has its own share in the building of an ‘imaginary’ of the region, but it may also create confusion as to what one can expect of the region. On the other hand, the reportage about the Mediterranean harbour and the region itself focuses more on everyday life in the Mediterranean and common interactions such as encounters with fishennen. Nevertheless, when mentioning 12 the MediteITanean even the reportage at times makes assumptions that try to unite the MediteITanean into an ideal space and it sometimes aims to give an exotic feel to the region. Yet there are a number of informative films that have gathered important material about the MediteITanean, such as the French production Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus, produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2.8 The difference between the usual promotional or adve1iising video clips and the documentary film produced for France 2 was that in the latter the focus points were an expression of the beauty of the whole, whereas in the fonner, beauty usually lies in the common features that for marketing purposes aim to synthesize the image of the Mediterranean for a better understating and a more clear approach to the region. The harbour and other vanous words associated to the concept of the harbour have been used in many different spaces and areas of study to signify many different things other than its original meaning, and this makes us realize that the harbour itself may hold various metaphorical meanings. We have seen the way in which the harbour served as a first spiritual refuge or as an initial salvation point, but it is also interesting to note how the harbour is conceptually seen today,
in an era where globalization has shortened distances and brought down barriers. Nowadays, the harbour is also used as a point of reference in the various technological terms especially in relation to the internet, where the ‘port’ or 8 Yan Arthus-Betrand Mediteranee notre mer a taus (France 2, 2014)
www.yannarthusbertrand.org/ en/films-tv/–mediterranee-notre-mer-a-tous (accessed February,
2014)
13
‘portal’ refers to a point of entry and thus we perceive the main purpose of the harbour as being the first point of entry as is in the context of infonnation technology. The concept of core and periphery has deeply changed in the world of Internet and technology, as the concept of core and periphery almost disappeared. Similarly, the Mediterranean’s core and pe1iphery have always been in a way different from what is considered to be the nonn. Geographically, the core could be seen as the central area, the place where things happen, whereas in the Mediterranean, the periphery acquires almost the function of the core. The harbour is the geographical periphery; neve1iheless, it acquires the function of the core. The islands for example are usually centres, whereas in the Mediterranean they are crossroads rather than real centres of power. In nonnal circumstances the relation between core and periphery is something that denotes not only the geographical location of a place but it usually also refers to economical, social and cultural advancement. Therefore, in the Mediterranean region the concept of geographical centre and economical and social centres are different from their usual intended meaning.
The Mediterranean imaginary has developed in such a way that it
purposely distorted the concepts such as the standard core and periphery or the usual relationship between men and nature or between men and the various borders. In the Mediterranean imaginary, which as we have mentioned is being fed by various authors and popular discourse, has the ability to remain imprinted in our own thoughts and thus has the ability to reinterpret the region itself; we find 14 that the usual conceptions change because they suit not only the region but the author that is writing about the region. The way in which the various authors and artists who describe the Mediterranean are faced with the ongoing challenges presented by the region shows how in essence each and every author has their own personal approach to the region. Their works are essentially a personal project which lead to the enriclunent of the region’s imaginary. The differences between each and every author makes the ‘imaginary’ and the accounts about the Mediterranean much more interesting and ersonalized. 
Consolo9 and Izzo10 have different ways of perceiving the region and
although they both aim to create an ‘imaginary’ that may recall similar features, it is undeniable that there are substantial differences in their approach. Consolo on the one hand focuses a lot on the image of Ulysses as a figure that represents him in his voyage in search of the self. Ulysses for Consolo is a figure that manages to preserve a meaning even in the modem era, a figure that is able to travel through time all the while reinventing the Mediterranean. Izzo as well feels that the figure of Ulysses is imperative to the study of the Mediterranean, but he mostly focuses on the impact of the present experience of the region on the conception of a Mediterranean ‘imaginary’ rather than focusing on the past as a representation of the present situation. 9 Vincenzo Consolo Il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori: 2012) 10 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) 15
1.4 Conclusion
The Mediterranean has been seen as a region full of inconsistencies,
contradictions and conflicts, based mainly on the divergent ideas and cultures residing in the same area. The Mediterranean imaginary does not exclude the conflicts that are present in the region and does not aim to unify the region, and in doing so it aims to give voice to the region. For the various authors and thinkers that are mentioned in the thesis, the Mediterranean has transmitted an emotion or has been able to create the right environment to express ideas and fonn thoughts. The relevance of each and every author within the framework of this thesis shows that without analyzing the single expression about the region, through the various works, one cannot fonn an imaginary of the Mediterranean region. The various concepts of borders, thresholds, conflicts and cultural clashes manage to mingle with each other in everyday life in the Mediterranean – greater ideas and fundamental questions find resonance and meaning in simple everyday interaction between a common sailor and a woman at a bar. The Mediterranean in essence is the voyage between the search for deep roots and the analysis of the clashes that result from this search for roots. The study of the Mediterranean is the constant evaluation of boundaries and the search for the ‘self’ through a wholly subjective analysis of the ‘other’. The imaginary plays a fundamental role in bringing near the ‘roots’ and the ‘present’, and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’.
16
2 The Harbour as Threshold The Mediterranean harbour for many authors and thinkers is a starting point as well as a dying point of the so called ‘Mediterranean culture’. In fact many sustain that the ‘MediteITanean culture’ takes place and transfonns itself in its harbours. This concept does not have to confuse us in assuming that a ‘Mediterranean culture’ in its wholesomeness really does exist. There are elements and features that seem to tie us; that the sea so generously brought ashore. On the other hand the same sea has been keeping things well defined and separate. The harbour as the first encounter with land has always maintained an important role in the formation of ideas and collective imagination. The harbour is not selective in who can or cannot approach it and so the fonnation of this collective imagination is a vast one. It is also important to state that the harbour in itself is a place of contradictions, a place where everything and nothing meet. The contrasting elements and the contradictions that reside in Mediterranean ports are of inspiration to the various authors and thinkers who study the Mediterranean. In this sense they have contributed in the formation of this Mediterranean imagination. Literature is an important factor that contributes to a fonnation of a collective imagination; it would be otherwise difficult to analyze the Mediterranean without the help of literature, as the fonnation of a collective imagination was always fed through literature and cultural expedients.
17
The Mediterranean region, as we shall see, is an area that is somehow
constructed; a person in France may not be aware of what a person in Morocco or in Turkey is doing. The concept of a constructed Mediterranean may be tied to the anthropological study conducted by Benedict Anderson 11 where he states that the ‘nation’ is a constructed concept and may serve as a political and somehow economic pretext. The sea is navigated by both tragic boat people and luxurious cruise liners, and these contradictions seem to be legitimized in the Mediterranean region. To give two recent examples we can observe on a political sphere, the European Union’s decision to fonn a Task Force for the Mediterranean (TFM) whose aims are to enhance the security of its shores and to drastically reduce deaths at sea. The TFM is a recent initiative that follows a number of proposals at a political level that have the Mediterranean security at heart. 12 This idea was triggered by a particular event that saw the death of 500 migrants off Lampedusa. It clearly poses a question whether the Mediterranean is a safe place or not, and whether it remains in this sense appealing to touristic and economic investment. The TFM probably reinforces the idea that the Mediterranean is a problematic region and thus requires ongoing ‘security’. To reconnect to the main idea, the TFM reinforces the notion that the Mediterranean is a constructed idea where access from one shore to another is denied and where one shore is treated as a security threat whereas the other shore is treated as an area to be protected or an 11 Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities (Verso, 1996)
12 Brussels, 4.12.2013 COM (2013) 869 Communicationjiwn the commission to the European Parliament and the council on the work of the Task Force Mediterranean 18 area that is unreachable. The contradictions keep on adding up when we see the way the Mediterranean is portrayed for economic and touristic purposes. One example is the ‘Mediterranean port association’ that helps the promotion of cruising in the Mediterranean region providing assistance to tourists who would like to travel in the region. In this context the Mediterranean is used in a positive way in relation to the touristic appeal it may have. The construction of a Mediterranean idea is by no means restricted to an economical or a political discourse; it has deeper roots and meanings that have fonned through a history of relations between countries and of fonnations of literary expedients. For Franco Cassano13, the Mediterranean is a region that in essence is made of differences, it would be otherwise difficult to justify the clashes that have characterized the Mediterranean history, if it was not for the fact that we are all aware that it is a region made up of dissimilarities On the other hand it is due to these dissimilarities that the Mediterranean is an appealing region both for authors and for travelers alike.
13 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano:Feltrinelli, 2007)
19
2.1 Natural Landscape and the Development of Literature Nature and literature are two elements that intertwine and thus create a collective imagination around the concept of the Mediterranean harbour. In fact, the dialectic between natural landscape and poetic expression was always a matter of great relevance as nature constantly managed to aid the development of poetic expression. The natural landscape helps the fonnation of existential thoughts, such as life, death and the existence of men – thoughts that are always reinterpreted and reinvented through literature. This relation between men and nature was always important in configuring spaces and detennining them according to a common understanding. 14 In the poem of Giacomo Leopardi Dialogo delta Natura e di un Islandese, Nature is personified, and although the indifference and coldness of nature is palpable, we sense that the poet is being aided by nature in fanning his ideas about life itself. Through time and especially through globalization, the world is being interpreted in terms of geographical maps and technology is subsequently narrowing our concept of space and enlarging our concept of life. In the new modem dimension, where the concept of space has acquired an abstract meaning, literature leaves the possibility of dialectic relationship between men and nature, thus enabling men to perceive the places they inhabit as a significant part of their self-construction process. This concept takes us to the perception created around the Mediterranean region and especially the way people look at 14 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo de/la contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Quest: 2009) pp.358-372
20
figures such as the sea, the ports and the shores. In Giambattista Vico’s15 poetic geography we understand that the representation of geography through poetic expression is something that dates back in time, through a cosmic representation of senses and feelings. In this regard, Montale and Saba both express in a relatively modem tone the deep representation of the Mediterranean through a mixture of contrasting feelings and ideas. The image of the harbor and any other images in the Mediterranean are deeply felt and analyzed, through the eyes of the poets that live in the region. Montale uses the dialectic of memory to explain his relationship with the Mediterranean, a region locked in its golden age that lives through the memory of poets and authors. He refers to the Mediterranean as ‘Antico ‘ emphasizing the fact that it is an old region. The word ‘Antico ‘ does not merely refer to oldness, but to oldness combined with prestige. The memory characterizes the Mediterranean for Montale, the image of the sea for instance is an archaic image that notwithstanding holds a modem and yet spiritual meaning as it expresses a sense of purification. The sea with its movement brings ashore all the useless and unwanted elements. On the other hand the sea may be seen as a fatherly figure that becomes severe in its actions and makes the poet feel insignificant and intimidated. Montale’s aim was to overcome the threshold between artistic expression and natural landscape through a dialogue with the Mediterranean Sea. This aim was not fulfilled. Montale tried hard to express artistically what the Mediterranean Sea meant but ended his poem humbly putting himself at a lower stage in comparison to the greatness of the Sea. Montale fills 15Massimo Lollini Il Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009)
21 his poetry with a mixture of humility and paradoxes; two elements that keep on repeating themselves in the poetry concerning the MeditelTanean.
Furthennore, in Umberto Saba’s ‘Medite1Taneet16 we encounter the same
contrasts and paradoxes used by Montale to develop the figure of the
MeditetTanean Sea. Saba uses the microcosm of Trieste to explain a larger
macrocosm: The MeditetTanean. This technique renders his work more personal and gives it a deeper meaning. Saba and Montale both rely on the memory to express a feeling of deep ties with the element of the sea and the life of the MeditelTanean harbour. Saba’s MeditelTanean resides in his microcosm, personal encounters and experiences fonn his ideas about the region; a region he perceives as being full of fascinating contradictions.

‘Ebbri canti si levano e bestemmie
nell’Osteria suburbana. Qui pure
-penso- e Mediterraneo. E il mio pensiero
all’azzulTo s’inebbria di quel nome.’ 17
‘Drunken songs and curses rise up
in the suburban tavern. Here, too,
I think, is the Mediterranean. And my mind is
drunk with the azure of that name.’ 18
16 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
\V\V\V. worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/songbook excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
17 Massimo Lollini fl Mediterraneo della contingenza metafisica di montale all’apertura etica di Saba (Presses Universitaires Paris Ouest: 2009) pp.358-372
22
Saba mingles his personal classicist fonnation expressed in the ‘all’azzurro’
with the poorest part of the Mediterranean harbour ‘l’osteria’. Both factors are intertwining, and so, the Mediterranean for Saba is the combination of both the richness of classicist thoughts that fonned in the Mediterranean as well as the meager elements that fonned in its po1is; yet they embellish and enrich the concept of the Mediterranean. Saba is searching for his personal identity through the search for a definition to the Mediterranean. In his art he attempts to portray the very heart of the MediteITanean which is found in his abyss of culture and knowledge with the everyday simple life of the harbours. 2.2 Instability vs. Stability in the Mediterranean Harbour In Saba and Montale’s works, the fascinating inconsistencies in the Mediterranean seem to find a suitable place in the ports and in the minds of each and every author and thinker who encounters it. The notion of stability and instability finds its apex in the port. The sea is the synonym of instability, especially in the Mediterranean, being depicted as dangerous and unpredictable. As in the recounts of the Odyssey, the sea, and the Mediterranean as a whole, is a synonym of instability and thus prone to natural catastrophes. The Homeric recounts of Ulysses’ journey explore the Mediterranean that was previously an unknown place. Although the places mentioned by Homer are fictitious, they now 18 Umberto Saba, translated by George Hochfield: Song book the selected poems of Umberto Saba
www.worldrepublicofletters.com/excerpts/song:book _excerpt.pdf (accessed, July 2014)
23
have a general consensus over the definition of the actual places. As time went by historians and authors went on confinning what Homer had depicted in his Odyssey – a Mediterranean that constantly poses a challenge, danger and fascination at the same time. Femand Braudel in his ‘Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip the II’ 19 sustains the view of a difficult Mediterranean, of a succession of events that have helped the success of the Mediterranean for a period of time. Its instability and complication have not aided the area in maintaining its ‘golden age’. This discourse was reinvented by Horden and Purcell in ‘The Corrupting Sea’20 where the Mediterranean meets geographically, historically and anthropologically. In ‘The Corrupting Sea’ the view of Femand Braudel is expanded into what the Mediterranean meant
geographically and historically, therefore Horden and Purcell explain that the inconsistencies and natural features in the Mediterranean really contributed to bring the ‘golden age’ to an end, but they were the same features that brought on the rich culture around the Mediterranean countries in the first place. Where literature is concerned, the inconsistencies and natural features served as an inspiration to various authors who went on fonning the collective imagination around the Mediterranean. Therefore, it could be argued that the geographical
complexity of the region is in fact the tying point to the ‘Mediterranean’ itself that resides in the unconscious and that otherwise would have died with its economical shift towards other areas of interest. The problematic identity and the challenging 19 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986)
20 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing: 2011)
24
natural enviromnent brought by an ongomg sense of curiosity and attraction towards the Mediterranean region. The port is the first encounter with stability after a journey that is characterized by instability, at the surprise of the inexperienced traveler. However, the port does not always covey immovability. The p01i gives a sense of limbo to the traveller that has just arrived. It is a safe place on the one hand but on the other hand due to its vicinity to the sea, it is as unpredictable as the sea itself The sailor is a frequent traveler who knows and embraces the sea. He chose or has been forced to love the sea, to accept the sea as his second home. The sailor is in fact the figure that can help us understand the fascination around the Mediterranean and its ports. It is not an unknown factor that sailors and their voyages have captured the attention of many authors that tried extensively to understand the affinity sailors have to the sea. The sailor21 is a man defined by his relation with the sea and is a recurrent figure in a number of literature works all over Europe and the rest of the world. The sailor is the incarnation of the concept of human marginality, he lives in the margin of life and he embraces the marginality of the harbour with the different aspects of the port. The thresholds present in the port are represented by the sailor; a figure that lives between the sea and land, between betrayal and pure love,
between truth and lie. Like the portrayal of Odysseus, the concept of a sailor has 21 Nora Moll Marinai Ignoti,perduti (e nascosti). fl Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Lare} (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
25
infidelic properties. He carnally betrays his loved one, but he is psychologically anchored to one women for his whole life; a women who is always present in various thoughts but at the same time she is always physically distant. As we will see in various works, the sailor is in constant search of knowledge – the very same knowledge that brought him to love and embrace the sea. The knowledge that is conveyed through the action of travelling itself is another question that would require a deep analysis, but for the sake of our study the fact that knowledge is transmitted through the depth of the sea is enough to make a com1ection with the purpose by which the sailor travels. The sailor fluctuates between sea and land, between danger and security, between knowledge and inexperience. The thresholds are constantly overcome by the curious and free spirited sailor that embarks in this voyage to the discovery of his inner-self. The literary voyage of the sailor in the Mediterranean takes a circular route while it goes deep in ancient history and ties it to modem ideas. Since the sailor is not a new character but a recurring one in literature and culture it has the ability to transfonn and create ideas giving new life to the Mediterranean harbours. While the seamen are the link between the high literature and the popular culture, the sailor does not have a specific theme in literature but the archetype of ‘the sailor’ has a deep resonance in many literary themes. As Nora Moll states in one of her studies about the image of the sailor, she puts forward a list of common themes associated with the image of the sailor:
26
‘Tra i complessi tematici, a cm m parte ho gia accem1ato,si
annoverano l’avventura, il viaggio, l’eros, l’adulterio, il ritorno, il
superamento di limiti (interiori) e di sfide ( esterne ), la liberta, la vita
come “navigatio” e come intrigo conflittuale di esperienze. ’22
‘Amongst the complex themes, which I partly already mentioned, we
find adventure, travel, Eros, adultery, the return, the overcoming of
limits (interior) and challenges (exterior), freedom, life as “navigatio”
and as a conflictual intrigue (or scheme) of experiences.’
2.3 The Prototypical Sailor The interesting fact about the study conducted by Nora Moll is that the sailor in her vision is not merely a figure tied to a specific social class, but as we can see the themes listed are themes that can be tied also to the figure of Ulysses. It is difficult to say that Ulysses or the image of the sailor own a predestined set of themes, and in fact they do not necessarily do so. Ulysses is a character that comprehends certain themes, but these change and shift in accordance to space, time and circumstances. What does not change is the thresholds that are always present in the life of a sailor, the limits that are constantly there to be overcome and the external challenges that need to be confronted. The harbour conveys a 22 Nora Moll Marinai Jgnoti,perduti (e nascosti). I! Mediterraneo di Vincenzo Consolo, JeanClaude Izzo e Waciny Larej (Roma: Bulzoni 2008) pp.94-95
27
number of thresholds; as we have seen these are embodied in the figure of the manner. Jean Claude Izzo in his Les Marins Perdus23 wrote about the discomfort of sailors having to forcedly stay on land and their relationship with the harbor, a passing place that has a special meaning. The harbor is in fact a special place for the mariner, as it is the only place where they can have human contact beyond that of the crew. The mariner in Jean Clause Izzo does not feel that he belongs to any nation or country. He belongs to the sea; a sea that managed to give meaning to his life but at the same time managed to destroy it. Jean Claude Izzo uses strong images of the port to describe the tie the sailor has to the harbour itself, he uses sexual and erotic images and ties them to legends and popular culture expedients. The story is interesting because of the way Jean Claude Izzo reverses the way sailors live. In fact he recreates a story where the sailor is trapped in the harbour and so he is forced to view the sea from land and not the other way round as he usually does. The psychological discomfort that Jean Claude Izzo creates portrays the Mediterranean archetypes and the life in the ports from a reverse point of view. Everyday life in the harbour is analyzed through a succession of tragedies that on one hand recall the classicist view of the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, due to references to everyday life elements, may be easily connected to the modem conception of the Mediterranean port. The links created by Jean Claude Izzo are made on purpose to create an ongoing bond between the classic Homeric 23 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
28
Mediterranean and the modem Mediterranean. In fact, Diamantis -the mam character of the novel- is portrayed as a modem Ulysses trying to cope with ongoing temptations and with the constant drive for knowledge. The Odyssey is for Diamantis a point of anchorage. He reads the Odyssey while attempting to define himself: ‘In effetti l’Odissea non ha mai smesso di essere raccontata, da una taverna all’altra,di bar in bar: … e Ulisse e sempre fra noi. La sua eterna giovinezza e nelle storie che continuiamo a raccontarci anche oggi se abbiamo ancora un avvenire nel Mediterraneo e di sicuro li. [ … ]I porti del Mediterraneo … sono delle strade. ’24 ‘Yes … In fact, the Odyssey has constantly been retold, in every tavern
or bar … And Odysseus is still alive among us. Eternally young, in the
stories we tell, even now. If we have a future in the Mediterranean,
that’s where it lies.” [ … ] “The Mediterranean means … routes. Sea
routes and land routes. All joined together. Connecting cities. Large
and small. Cities holding each other by the hand.’ In this quote we see the continuous threshold between space and time being overcome, that serves to keep alive the Mediterranean itself. It is clear that the classic Homeric recount is always reinterpreted and reinvented. The Odyssey
is not the only point of reflection for Diamantis. In fact the protagonist is seen as a 24 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.238
29
deep character that reflects on the various incidents in his life and it could be argued that Diamantis is the expression of Jean Claude Izzo’s thoughts. The sailors in Jean Claude Izzo’s novel chose to be Mediterranean; naval commerce exists beyond the enclosed sea, but these men chose to sail with inadequate ships in a region where geographical beauty and historical richness meet. The port for Izzo, has multiple meanings and he defines the Mediterranean harbours as differing from other harbours, because of the way they are accessed. Izzo uses the image of the harbour as a representation of love: ‘Vedi, e’ il modo in cui puo essere avvicinato a detenninare la natura di un porto. A detenninarlo veramente [ … ] Il Mediterraneo e’ un mare di prossimita’. ’25
‘You see, it’s the way it can be approached that detennines the nature of
a port. Really detennines it. [ … ] The Mediterranean, a sea of closeness.’
This passage shows the influence of thought, Izzo inherited from
Matvej evic. In fact the approach used to describe the harbour and to depict the nature is very similar to the one used by Matvejevic in his ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’. 26 We perceive that the harbour is substantially a vehicle of devotion, love, passion and Eros, though we may also observe the threshold between the love and passion found in the port and the insecurity and natural brutality that the sea may convey. In this novel, the port is transfonned in a secure 25 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) ppl22 26 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010)
30
place whilst the sea is a synonym of tragedy. At the same time the port is seen as a filthy and conupt place. While for Izzo the past is used as a background to tie with the present and moreover to show a link with the future, Consolo uses a different technique. He goes deep in one focal historical point to highlight certain Mediterranean features and problematic issues. Consolo uses the period of time where Sicily was undergoing various political changes. He describes the revolution and the Italian unification, and portrays real events and characters tied to Sicilian history. In Vincenzo Consolo, the image of the sailor is used as a metaphor through the work of Antonello ‘il Sorriso dell’Ignoto Marinaio’.27 The title itself gives us a hint of the tie between art and everyday life. The voices that intertwine and form the discourse around the Mediterranean are hard to distinguish as they have fanned the discourse itself to a point where a voice or an echo is part of another. The work of Consolo28 goes through a particular historical period in Sicily to describe present situations and ongoing paradoxes in the Mediterranean region. It is difficult to resume and give a name and specific allocation to the works on the Mediterranean as the multiple faces and voices have consequently fanned a variety of literature and artistic works. The beauty behind works on the Mediterranean is that archetypes such as the concept of a ‘sailor’ or the ‘harbour’ are revisited and reinterpreted, thus acquiring a deeper meaning and at the same time enriching the meaning of ‘the Mediterranean’ itself.
27 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
28 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’lgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012)
31
Consolo focuses on the microcosm of Sicily and he portrays a fluctuation
between sea and land. He locates Sicily in an ideal sphere where the thresholds are nonexistent: ‘La Sicilia! La Sicilia! Pareva qualcosa di vaporoso laggiù nell’azzurro tra mare e cielo, me era l’isola santa! ’29 ‘Sicily! Sicily! It seemed something vaporous down there in the blue between sea and sky, but it was the holy island!’ Sicily is placed in an ideal sphere where beautiful natural elements coexist with famine, degradation and war. The imagery created around the island of Sicily may be comparable to the imagery around the Mediterranean region. As for the harbour it is described by Consolo as a place of contradictions, comparable to the ones found in the whole Mediterranean. The detail given to the life in the port is extremely in depth and the type of sentences used expresses the frenetic lifestyle of the port itself: ‘Il San Cristofaro entrava dentro il porto mentre ne uscivano le barche, caicchi e gozzi, coi pescatori ai rami alle corde vele reti lampe sego stoppa feccia, trafficanti con voce urale e con richiami, dentro la barca, tra barca e barca, tra barca e la banchina, affollata di vecchi, di donne e di bambini, urlanti parimenti e agitati [ … ].’30 29 Vincenzo Consolo fl sorriso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:56
30 Vincenzo Consolo fl so1-riso dell’Jgnoto Marinaio (Oscar Mondadori:2012) pp:29
32
‘The San Cristoforo sailed into the harbour whilst the boats, caiques
and other fishing boats, sailed out with the fishennen holding the
ropes sails nets tallow oakum lee, traffickers beckoning with an ural
voice, inside the boat, from one boat to another, from one boat to the
quay, crowded with the elderly, women and children, screaming
equally and agitated’ [ … ] The tension around the port is well transmitted in the explanation given by Consolo, there seems to be a point of nothingness and a point of departure at the same time. We perceive that there is plenty of life in the port but at the same time confusion reigns, therefore we could argue that people in ports are not really conscious of life and that they are letting things turn. Nevertheless, the port is the starting point of life that develops either in the sea or inland. Both by Consolo and in Izzo we are made aware of the importance of life at the ‘starting point’, therefore the port in the works of both authors acquires the title of a ‘threshold’ between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, love and hatred, nature and artifice, aridity and fertility. In the microcosm described by Consolo, the Sicilian nature and its contradictions seem to recall the ones in the rest of the region. For example, the painting ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ is described as a contradictory painting. In fact, the sailor is seen as an ironic figure that smiles notwithstanding the tragedies he has encountered. The ‘Ignoto Marinaio’ has seen the culture and history of the Mediterranean unveil, he has therefore a strange smile that 33 expresses the deep knowledge acquired through his experience and a deep look that convey all the suffering he has come upon. In the novel by Consolo, the painting serves as a point of reference and in fact, the ‘Ignoto Marinio’ resembles another important character in the novel; Intemodato. Both figures share the ironic and poignant smile and the profound look. Intemodato is seen as a typical Sicilian revolutionary who embraces the sea but at the same time is not psychologically unattached to the situations that happened on land. He is part of the revolution and integral part of the Sicilian history.
2.4 The Harbour as a Metaphorical Door Consolo and Izzo with their accounts of sailors and the life in Mediterranean harbours brought us to the interpretation of the harbour as a metaphorical door. As in the seminal work of Predrag Matvejevic ‘Breviario Mediterraneo’,31 the harbour is tied to the concept of a metaphorical door. In Latin both ‘porto’ and ‘porta’ have the same root and etymological derivation. A harbour in fact is a metaphorical and physical entryway to a country. In the Roman period, the god Portunos was the deity of the harbour who facilitated the marine commerce and the life in the port in general. The various deities related to the sea in the Roman 31 Predrag Matvejevic II Mediterraneo e I ‘Europa, lezioni al college de France e altri saggi (Garzanti elefanti:2008)
34
and Greek traditions are an indication of a deep relation between the figure of the harbour and the physical and geographical figure of the door or entryway. The door may have many different shapes and may divide different spaces but it always signifies a threshold from one point to another. In literature the harbour signifies a metaphorical door between fantasy and reality, history and fiction, love and hatred, war and peace, safety and danger. The image of the door is concretized through the various border controls, visas and migration issues and in this regard the entryway becomes a question of membership. A piece of paper in this case detennines the access through that doorway, but from a cultural and
identity point of view the Mediterranean threshold is overcome through the encounter with history and fiction. Thierry Fabre in his contribution to the book series ‘Rappresentare ii Mediterraneo’; 32 in relation to the Mediterranean identity he states; ” … Non si situa forse proprio nel punto di incorcio tra la storia vera e i testi letterari che danno origine all’immaginario Mediterraneo?”33 ‘ Isn’t perhaps situated exactly at the meeting point between the real stories and the literature texts that give birth to the Mediterranean imagination?’ Fabre is conscious of the fact that the discourse about the Mediterranean limits itself to a constructed imaginary, the poet or artist in general that enters this metaphorical door is expected to conceive the Mediterranean imaginary; blending reality with fiction. The door is not always a static figure but is sometimes blurred and does not 32 Jean Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, lo sguardo fiwicese (Mesogea: 2000) 33 Ibid (Mesogea: 2000) pp.25
35
clearly divide and distinguish. The Mediterranean itself is a region of unclear lines the fonnation of a port and of a nation itself is sometimes not that clear. In Matvejevic’s ‘Il Mediterraneao e l’Europa’34 literature blends with facts and culture so does the geography around the Mediterranean region: ‘Tra terra e mare, in molti luoghi vi sono dei limiti: un inizio o una
fine, l’immagine o 1 ‘idea che li uniscono o li separano. Numerosi sono
i tratti in cui la terra e il mare s’incontrano senza irregolarita ne rotture,
al punto che non si puo detenninare dove comincia uno o finisce
l’altro.Queste relazioni multiple e reversibili, danno fonna alla costa. ’35 
‘Between land and sea, there are limits in many places: a start or a
finish, the image or the idea that joins or separates them. The places
where sea meets land without any irregularities or breaks are
numerous, to the extent that it’s not possible to detennine where one
starts or the other finishes. These multiple and reversible links that
give shape to the coast.’ The coast in this sense is made up of a set of relations between figures and fonns that meet without touching each other, the door is not always present; it sometimes disappears to give room to imagination and the fonnation of literature.
34 Predrag Matvejevic Il Mediterraneo e !’Europa, Lezioni al College de France e Altri Saggi
(Garzanti elefanti: 2008)
35 Ibid (Garzanti: 2008) pp.53
36
The concept of literature allows the analysis of culture and the way it 1s
envisioned and spread through Mediterranean harbours. The fluctuations of varied thoughts that have shaped the Mediterranean imagery through its harbours have no ties with everyday life, if not by the transmission of culture and the means of popular culture that served as a point of anchorage and sometimes as a point of departure for the fonnation of a deeply rooted but also enriching and contested collective imagination.
37
3 The Port as a Cultural Lighthouse The harbour for many centuries has been an anchorage point and a safe place for sailors and travellers that navigate the Mediterranean. We perceive the safety of the harbour as something that is sometimes naturally part of its very makeup, as on such occasions where we encounter natural harbours. In other cases, to suit their needs, people have built around the shores and transfonned paii of the land into an artificial harbour which is able to welcome the foreigner and trade and at the same time to defend if needed the inland. Femand Braudel36 in his The Afediterranean and the Mediterranean World in thP AgP nf Philip TT <liscusse<l the importance of the Mediterranean shores for the traveller in an age when people were already able to explore the outer sea, but yet found it reassuring to travel in a sea where the shore was always in sight. The Mediterranean Sea has always instilled a sense of uncertainty in the traveller, because of its natural instability. Nevertheless, the fact that the shores and ts are always in the vicinity, the Mediterranean traveller is reassured that he can seek refuge whenever needed. The fascinating thing is that the ports in the age delineated by Femand Braudel were not only a means of safety but most of all of communication – a type of economic and cultural c01mnunication that went beyond 36 Fernand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 19 8 6)

38
the simple purpose of the port itself. The same simple modes of communications that Braudel describes may seem irrelevant when studying the Mediterranean history in its entirety, but we get to understand that they are actually the building blocks of the Mediterranean itself:
‘This is more that the picturesque sideshow of a highly coloured
history. It is the underlying reality. We are too inclined to pay attention only to the vital communications; they may be interrupted or
restored; all is not necessarily lost or saved. ‘ 37 The primordial modes of communication, the essential trade and the mixture of language and culture all have contributed to the creation of what we now sometimes romantically call the Mediterranean. The truth lies in the fact that
the harbour has always been prone to receiving and giving back; it has been a passing place of objects, customs and of words. We surely cannot deny the fact that trade has shifted not only by moving from different areas of interest but it also shifted into different forms changing the harbour’s initial function. This basic fonn of communication has contributed highly to the formation of a Mediterranean imaginary and a mixture of cultures that have left a deep resonance in language, literature and cultural expression as a whole.
37 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) pp.I 08
39
The risk and insecurity delivered by the sea have contributed to the
fonnation of various symbols that from their end contribute to the fonnation of an imaginary concerning the Mediterranean harbour. Amidst the uncertainties and hazards at sea, the light of the lighthouse that shows the surest path and warns the person travelling of the possible dangers, reassures the traveller while leading the way. The symbol of the lighthouse is tied to the representation of light and thus knowledge. Finding light in the middle of the sea gives the traveller the necessary means to have greater awareness of what is approaching. The geographical position and the architecture of the lighthouse are all an indication of their meaning beyond their primary objective. During the Roman period for example, the lighthouse was primarily an important source of safekeeping,38 but at the same time it represented a high expression of architectural and engineering knowledge. One example is the ancient roman lighthouse in Messina. Studies show that the architecture used was very functional, but at the same time it portrayed Neptune, thus mingling popular beliefs and superstitions. On the other hand, it was also a powerful way of delineating borders between Sicily and the Italian peninsula. Today the lighthouse in Messina has been replaced by fort San Remo and the architecture of the lighthouse has changed to a more functional one. Another powerful example is the ancient lighthouse in Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos where it stood alone as if wanting to replace the harbour itself. In Alexandria it is Poseidon who guards
the harbour, and the myth blends with the social and geographical importance of the lighthouse. Originally, the lighthouse in Alexandria was simply a landmark, but 38 Turismo La Coruna, Roman Lighthouses in the Mediterranean (2009) www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?s=79&l=en (accessed September, 2014)
40
eventually during the Roman Empire, it developed into a functional lighthouse. In the case of the old lighthouse built during the Roman period at the far eastern end of Spain, its dimension and position reflect the way Romans saw the world and how they believed Spain marked the far end of the world. What these lighthouses had in common was the fact that they were not just there to aid and support the traveller in his voyage but to define a border and to give spiritual assistance to the lost passenger. The symbol of the lighthouse is somehow deeply tied to a spiritual experience. In Messina where Neptune guarded the sea, and in many other places and different eras, the lighthouse was positioned in such way that it attracted a spiritual resonance and the light that emanated from the lighthouse may be compared to a spiritual guide. Matvejevic in his Breviario Mediterraneo39 compares lighthouses to sanctuaries and the lighthouse guardian to a spiritual hennit. He also adds that the crews responsible for the running of the lighthouse resemble a group of 1ponks, rather than sailors: ‘Gli equipaggi dei fari, cioe personale che somiglia piuttosto ai monaci dei conventi di un tempo che non ai marinai’ .40 ‘The crews of the lighthouses, that is staff that resembles more the convent’s monks of yore rather than the sailors’. The comparison is by no means striking, considering the mystical importance of the lighthouse. The lighthouse and its crew are seen and respected by the traveller, as they are their first encounter with land, safety and refuge. The link with spirituality is something that comes 39 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.55-56 40 Predrag Matvejevic Breviario Mediterraneo (Garzanti:2010) pp.56 41
naturally. The lighthouse crew for example is in some cases part of the ex-voto paintings found in the monasteries and convents. This illustrates the deep c01mection with the spiritual aspect. The question sometimes is to detennine whether the harbour and the lighthouse need to be two distinct features in the same space or whether they are part of the same geographical, social and cultural space. The answer may vary according to the way one perceives it. The lighthouse is the first encounter with land, but it is almost a feeling that precedes the real encounter with land, whilst the harbour is the first physical contact with land. The two elements may be taken into account separately, but for the purpose of this study they need to be taken in conjunction. The cultural value of both these elements goes beyond their physical value. In fact, both the lighthouse and the harbour share a common proximity to the sea, and receive cultural and social contributions from every traveller. The lighthouse and the harbour do not distinguish between different types of travellers -they accept everyone and their main gift for this act of pure love is the enrichment of culture, customs, language and food. The different elements intertwine and create a beautiful atmosphere that mixes sounds and tastes from various countries. This is not always distinguishable and it may not in all cases recreate the same atmosphere
in more than one country. What is sure is that the elements present in the harbours are of great relevance to what is portrayed on a higher artistic and cultural level. In this regard the harbour acts as a lighthouse for the country and sometimes for the region too, this time not to alann the traveller but to guide him spiritually and 42 artistically. The harbour was and still is a meeting place, where artists and thinkers stop and reflect. What comes out of these reflections sets deep roots in the cultural knit of the harbour and expands and grows until all the roots intertwine and create such a beautifully varied cultural atmosphere. Although the process may seem an easy and flowing one, we must not forget that the mixture of cultures and the setting up of such a variegated cultural atmosphere was not always flowing and peaceful. 3.1 Religious Cultural Mobility
The way the Mediterranean is geographically set up, contributed to an
expansion of religious pilgrimages that intertwined with marine commerce and
cultural richness. The image of the lighthouse and the harbour instil a sense of
spiritual refuge, and the large number of harbours and lighthouses in the
Mediterranean contribute to the mysticism of the region. Religious pilgrimage
throughout the Mediterranean is something that belongs to an older era and that
could have possibly started very early in the Greek empire, where Gods were
adored and ports and lighthouses had deep ties with different deities. As
Christianity started spreading in the Mediterranean, the Greek and Roman gods
were joined by saints and shrines for adoration.41 The coexistence of both pagan
and monotheistic religious expressions confinned a cultural motif related to
41 Peregring Horden, Nicholas Purcell The Corrupting sea, a study of the Mediterranean histmy (Blackwell publishing:2011)
43
divinity that has been a constant throughout Mediterranean history. In the Middle Ages the phenomena of the religious pilgrimage and the movement of saints’ relics gave to the Mediterranean voyage a different dimension. As noted in Borden and Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea, this age of pilgrimage and movement for religious purposes was brought about by a new discovery of sea routes in the Mediterranean and a different conception of religion as a c01mnodity. ‘Through the translation of his remains the saint himself, like the images of pre-Christian deities before him, in a very intense expression of the link between religion and redistribution, became a commodity’ .42 The redistribution of relics brought a new type of secular economy that involved bargaining and bartering. The movement of relics not only created a new wave of economic activity around the Mediterranean but also a movement of tales and accounts that pictured saints and voyages at sea, ‘Tales which echo real webs of communication, such as that of the arrival of St. Restitua from Carthage to Ischia’ .43 The stories seem to recall older stories from Greek culture, but are adapted to a newer setting.
The parallelism between good and bad, projected on the perilous voyage in
the Mediterranean, was always part of the account of a voyage itself, as we can
also recall in the various episodes of Ulysses’ journey. We are thus able to see that
in the voyages of pilgrims, the relationship between good and bad is often
projected onto the hard and extreme weather conditions in the Mediterranean.
42 Ibid pp.443
43 Ibid pp.443
44
Religious travellers had their own way of reading the map of the Mediterranean,
interpreting every danger and threat through religious imagery. From a cultural point of view, the accounts and echoes of religious travellers shaped the Mediterranean Sea itself and gave new life to the ports they anchored in. Apart from the movement of relics, another testimony of the great communication and cultural heritage -as we have previously mentioned- is the exvoto in the Mediterranean shores which gives witness to the cultural interaction and
customs based on faith. In many instances the objects collected for the ex-voto
have been taken up over time and placed in marine museums where cultural
interaction and exchange takes place. One example could be the ex-voto in
Marseille,44 where nowadays the objects collected are part of a collective cultural memory. In France, during the late seventies and the early eighties we have seen a great rediscovery of the ex-voto heritage that led to a deep cultural resonance in the area. The discovery of the ex-voto brought by a new inquiry of religious and harbour customs that were probably ignored previously. The paintings and objects dedicated to the saints and most of the time to the Virgin Mary represented the everyday life of sailors and travellers, the dangers at sea and most of all the miracles encountered during the arduous voyages. In the various exhibitions about ex-voto in France the concept of a Mediterranean ex-voto emerged and we are aware that at the time when the ex-voto was practiced in the majority of cases the 44 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 45
voyage routes were sole1m1ly around the Mediterranean and the fact that marine exhibitions concerning the ex-voto claim a Mediterranean heritage calls for a collective cultural expe1ience. It is difficult though to distinguish between a
personal encounter with the harbour and a Mediterranean experience; one may
intertwine with the other. In this case, the Mediterranean reference is imposed and not implied, and one might therefore wonder if there are elements that are c01mnon in the region and thus justify the use of the word Mediterranean. In the case of the ex-voto, it has been noted that certain elements are common to the whole region.
It is interesting to note the areas of interest and the social groups to whom
the ex-voto applies. This may give a clearer idea of the criteria and the cultural
sphere that surrounded the practice of the ex-voto. In the majority of cases the exvoto represented the medium bourgeoisie and the lower classes, the setting mostly represented small nuclear families. In most of the ex-voto paintings, one can see that the terrestrial elements intertwine with celestial elements ‘Dans sa structure, un ex-voto presente deux espaces, celeste et terrestre’ .45 The anthropological and cultural importance of the ex-voto emerges through the various figures that appear especially in the paintings dedicated to the saints and the Virgin Mary. These figures have a particular placement in these paintings that reveals a deep connection with the cult of miracles and devotion.
In Malta, as in France, the ex-voto was a widespread custom that left a
great cultural heritage. The paintings and objects donated to the ex-voto, especially 45 Jacques Bouillon ‘Ex-voto du terroir marsellais’ Revue d’histoire modern et contemporaine (1954) pp.342-344 46
in connection to the sea, reveal a number of historical events and geographical
catastrophes that are tied with the Mediterranean region. The fact that the sea is
unpredictable makes the practice of the ex-voto much more relevant in an era
where the only means of transportation in the Mediterranean was by ways of sea. In the Maltese language there is a saying ‘il-bahar iaqqu ratba u rasu iebsa ‘ which literally translates to ‘the sea has a soft stomach but it is hard headed’. This saying is very significant as it shows the profound awareness of the Maltese community of the dangers at sea. The sea is unpredictable and therefore only through divine intercession can the traveller find peace and courage to overcome any dangerous situation. The different types of paintings that were donated portray different types of vessels and so indicate a precise period in history. At the Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille, one finds a number of models of different vessels from various historical periods. We also encounter very recent models of boats. This confirms that in a way the ex-voto is still present nowadays. Even in Malta, the practice of the ex-voto is still relatively present, although one may notice that the advance in technology and the new fonns of transport through the Mediterranean aided the voyage itself and therefore diminished the threats and deaths at sea. The types of vessels used in the paintings also shows the different modes of economic trading voyages in the Mediterranean. For example, in Malta during the nineteenth century, a great number of merchants were travellmg across the Mediterranean. This resulted in a number of ex-voto paintings that pictured merchants’ vessels and one could be made aware of their provenance. Various details in the ex-voto 47
paintings show many important aspects of the Mediterranean history as a whole
and of the connectivity in the region that went on building through time.
One interesting fact common to almost all the ex-voto paintings is the
acronyms V.F.G.A (votum facit et gratiam accepit) and sometimes P.G.R (Per
Grazia Ricevuta) that categorizes certain paintings into the ex-voto sphere. The
acronyms literally mean that we made a vow and we received grace and P.G.R
stands for the grace received. The acronyms are in Latin, for a long period of time which was the official language of Christianity. These acronyms, which may have indicated the tie of high literature -through the knowledge of Latin- and popular culture -through the concept of the ex-voto, usually associated to a medium to lower class- demonstrate that the use of language may tie the various social classes. Although everyone understood the acronyms, it doesn’t mean that Latin was fully understood amongst sailors and merchants of the sea. Language was a barrier to merchants, traders and seamen most of the time. The Mediterranean has a variety of languages coexist in the region; Semitic languages at its south and Romance languages at its north. The lines of intersection and influence of languages are not at all clear and the geography of the Mediterranean region forced its people to move and shift from one place to another for commerce or for other reasons which brought by a deep need for modes of communication.
48
3.2 The Lingua Franca Mediterranea as a Mode of Communication
The communication barrier between people in the Mediterranean coupled
with the profound need for interaction brought by a deep need of a common
language or at least common signals which would be understood by everyone. In
the case of the ex-voto, language or at least a reference made to a certain language, gives the possibility for people from different countries to understand the underlying message. In the Mediterranean harbours where interaction between people from different lands was the order of the day, the need for common signals and language was always deeply felt. Languages in the Mediterranean region contain linguistic elements that throughout history have been absorbed from other languages. In the Mediterranean region especially during the fifteenth century, the great need for communication resulted in the creation of a so-called Lingua fiw1ca, a spoken language that allowed people to communicate more freely within Mediterranean ports. One such language was known as ‘Sabir’, with words mainly from Italian and Spanish, but also words from Arabic and Greek. The interesting fact about Sabir was that the amount of words coming from different languages around the Mediterranean was an indication of the type of c01mnerce that was taking place at the time. Therefore, if at a given moment in time the amount of words from the Italian language was higher than that from the Spanish language, it meant that commerce originating and involving from Italy predominated. As Eva Martinez Diaz explains in her study about the Lingua ji-anca Mediterranea:
49
‘They created a new language from a mixture whose lexical and
morphological base – the base of pidgin – is the Romance component,
exactly the language of the most powerful group in these relations and
which varies according to historical period. ’46 During the 16th Century, for example, the Lingua franca Mediterranea acquired more Spanish vocabulary, due to certain historical events that shifted maritime commerce. This was also an indication of certain political events that shaped Mediterranean history. When a country invaded or colonialized another, as happened in Algeria after the French colonization, linguistic repercussions were observed. This mostly affected everyday language communication, especially with the simpler and more functional mixture of words and phrases from different languages in ports and the areas around them rather than at a political level. In Mediterranean ports, the need among sea people and traders to communicatee led to the creation of a variety like Sabir. Sabir comes from the Spanish word saber (to know), although, it is mostly noticeable that Italian fonned it in its prevalence.47 Sabir is known to be a pidgin language. A pidgin is a language used between two or more groups of people that 46 Eva Martinez Diaz ‘An approach to the lingua franca of the Mediterranean’ Quaderns de la Mediteranea, universidad de Barcelona pp: 224
47 Riccardi Contini, ‘Lingua franca in the Mediterranean by John Wansbrough’ Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Litermy Innovation in Modern Arabic Literature. Schools and Journals. Vol. 18 (2000) (pp. 245-247)
50
speak a different language but need to have a business relation, and so, need to find a common language or mode of communication. The word ‘pidgin’ is said to come from the Chinese pronunciation of the word ‘business’. The Lingua fi’anca
Mediterranea was a language that started fonning in the Mediterranean throughout the 15th century and continued to shape and change itself depending on where the political and commercial hub lay; Sabir, specifically as an offshoot of the lingua fiw1ca mediterranea, fonned after the 17th century. The first time that reference was made to sabir was in 1852, in the newspaper ‘L ‘Algerien’ in an article entitled ‘la langue sabir. Apart from a few references made to the language, it is quite rare to find sabir in writing because it was mostly used for colloquial purposes, but in some cases it may be found in marine records. When it was actually written down, the lingua franca mediterranea used the Latin alphabet, and the sentence structure and grammar were very straightforward. In Sabir the verb was always in the infinitive, as, for example, in ‘Quand moi gagner drahem, moi achetir moukere’48, that means ‘when I will have enough money, I will buy a wife’. The use of the infinitive indicated a less complex grammar that made it more functional to the user, as it was a secondary language mostly used for commerce. Although Sabir was in most cases referred to as a variety of the lingua franca mediterranea, we perceive that in the popular culture sphere the word Sabir is mostly used to refer to the common and functional language used in MeditelTanean harbours for communication. It is deceiving in fact, because the 48 Guido Cifoletti ‘Aggiomamenti sulla lingua franca Mediterranea’ Universita di Udine pp: 146
51
lingua fi’anca mediterranea, is the appropriate reference that needs to be made
when talking in general about the language used in harbours around the
Mediterranean. On the other hand, if we want to refer to Sabir we are reducing the
lingua fi’anca mediterranea to a definite period of time and almost a defined
territory association. Nevertheless, both Sabir and lingua fiw1ca mediterranea are two different words that express almost the same thing, it is thus important to establish the minimal difference between the two tenns. In arguing that the lingua franca mediterranea refers to a more general language used in the Mediterranean harbours during the Middle Ages and that went on changing and fonning and changing-assuming different fonns according to the harbour and place where it was spoken- we are looking at the language in a broader way. It is undeniable though that Sabir as a reference to a specific language that fonned in Algeria during the 17th century, is most of the time more appropriate to address specific arguments, especially when it comes to popular culture expedients. Popular culture and literature have expressed their interest in the language through expressions such as poems and songs recalling Sabir as a language that managed to mingle more words of different derivation into single cultural spaces. Nowadays, Sabir is no longer used; in fact we notice that English and Chinese are developing into new pidgin languages, understood almost by everyone, especially when it comes to trade and busmess.
In the Mediterranean we have encountered the rediscovery of Sabir in
culture as a language that has a deep cultural value for Mediterranean countries as 52 a whole. One of the examples of the presence of Sabir in cultural expedients is the famous play by Moliere Le bourgeois gentilhomme49 that was represented for the first time in 1967 at the court of Louis XIV. The story was a satiric expression of the life at court, Moliere was well aware of the life at court and he wanted to show that there was no difference between royals and nonnal people, especially with regards to emotions. Moliere associates the Sabir to the foreign Turks that by means of Sabir they managed to communicate:
‘Se ti sabir,
Ti respondir;
Se non sabir,
Tazir, tazir. ‘ 50
The use of Sabir for Moliere indicated a common language understood both by
French and Turks in this case. The fact that Moliere used Sabir, it meant that
gradually the resonance of Sabir could reach out to a different audience, than it’s
main purpose. In this case the meeting place as the harbour was not present but we may perceive that the mixture of cultures and the need for communication led to the use of Sabir as the common language. 49 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/l 3 l .pdf
50 Moliere, le bourgoise gentilhomme www.writingshome.com/ebook _files/13 l.pdf pp.143
53
Coming to the present day, it is difficult to say that Sabir or the lingua
franca mediterranea own a particular important space in the cultural sphere or in the language per se. We are mostly sure that in the Mediterranean harbours Sabir has no relevance anymore, nevertheless, we find the use of Sabir in popular culture. One example is the aiiist Stefano Saletti,51 who in his songs uses Sabir. Its use was obviously intentional. Saletti looked at the new uprisings in the North African countries and he could recall the same feelings, faces and atmosphere that southern European countries went through thirty years prior. With this in mind, he decided to use a language that had co1mnon elements to all Mediterranean languages, and so he chose Sabir. His albums are inspired by the notion of music and culture as a tie to the whole Mediterranean, being conscious on the other hand of the numerous contradictions and differences in the Mediterranean region. The CD Saletti and the Piccola banda ikona explain what Sabir is and why they chose this language to communicate a c01mnon message through the music: ‘Once upon a time there was a tongue shared by the peoples of the Mediterranean. This was Sabir, a lingua franca which sailors, pirates,
fishennen, merchants, ship-owners used in the ports to communicate
with each other. From Genoa to Tangiers, from Salonika to Istanbul,
from Marseilles to Algiers, from Valencia to Palenno, until the early
decades of the twentieth century this kind of sea-faring “Esperanto”
developed little by little availing of tenns from Spanish, Italian,
51 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
54
French and Arabic. We like this language. We like to mix sounds and
words. We play Sabir. We sing Sabir.’ 52 The importance of Sabir for Saletti shows that the harbour’s cultural value has been transmitted through time. Does the use of Sabir by Saletti indicate a recreation of a language that was used in the harbour as a functional and common means of communication or does it have the pretext to artificially recreate a common language? It is difficult to understand the importance and relevance an old pidgin language used for a specific purpose might hold today. Nevertheless, the use of this specific language in the music of Saletti reveals a profound search for common cultural traits in the Mediterranean region, that in this case aim to opt for cultural and educational approach to unite a region that is fractured in its own
basis. Saletti refers to Sabir as resembling Esperanto; a failed attempt to
linguistically unite a region that cannot be united. Although we may find the same concept in Esperanto and Sabir, we are aware that they differ in the way they came to be. Esperanto was artificially constructed, whereas, Sabir was born and evolved in an almost natural way by a need that went beyond the actual artifice. This is probably the reason why Sabir and the lingua franca mediterranea lasted for a long period of time, while Esperanto was at its birth a failed attempt to create a language for a detennined sector in society. It is a fact that the main difference between the two languages is that one aimed to create a broader understanding based on a functional everyday life need, whereas the other aimed to create a 52 Stefano Saletti www.stefanosaletti.it/schede/ikonaeng.htm (accessed July, 2014)
55
language understood by few. In Saletti’s and Moliere’s works, we perceive the Mediterranean harbour as a point of intersection of cultures and ways of living that left a spill-over of cultural traits in the abovementioned artistic works and in many other works by various authors around the Mediterranean region. It is important to notice that the harbour in the expression of the ex-voto, Sabir, lingua franca mediterranea and various literal and artistic expressions, served almost as a lighthouse, where culture was projected and created, and recreated and changed to fit the ever changing needs of the Mediterranean differing cultures. In Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins Perdus, the language used in the harbour is not mentioned often, although he refers to language
as a barrier that finds its purpose in the basic everyday needs. Jean-Claude Izzo
mentions an important point on language in Les Marins Perdus as he delves in the way the word ‘Mediterranean’ is seen in different languages across the region: ‘Il Mediterraneo e di genere neutro nelle lingue slave e latine. E in
maschile in italiano. Femminile in francese. Maschile e femminile in
spagnolo, dipende. Ha due nomi maschili in arabo. E il greco, nelle
sue molteplici definizioni, gli concede tutti I generi. ‘ 53
‘The Mediterranean is neutral in the Slavonic languages, and in Latin.
It’s masculine in Italian. Feminine in French. Sometimes masculine,
sometimes feminine in Spanish. It has two masculine names in Arabic.
53 Jean-Claude IzzoMarinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010) pp.237
56
And Greek has many names for it, in different genders.’ Jean-Claude Izzo wants to prove that the word ‘Mediterranean’ in language is a sufficient proof of how people around the shores view the region. The gender of the word Mediterranean does in fact show that the languages in the region have
developed their own way of understanding and perceiving the region. Language as we have seen has deep ties to how popular culture and ideas have evolved and
developed. Sabir in its essence has proved that although the region has a myriad of contradictions and differing cultures, the harbour and everyday needs managed to combine the different languages into one. At the same time it is undeniable that the differences in the Mediterranean region make the region itself not only vast but also wonderful and enticing to the traveller and the artist. Literature and culture have fonned and mingled together, yet each maintained its distinct features at the the Mediterranean harbours; the place of various particular encounters. Jean Claude Izzo, Salletti and Moliere all managed to create a powerful work of art that has deep ties to the culture created and recreated over time in the Mediterranean harbours. Sabir and the ex-voto are only two examples of how harbours throughout
the Mediterranean have been a point of anchorage but also a locus of
Mediterranean cultural development. Harbours have been able to unite, divide and create such a diverse and yet common culture.
57
4 The Mediterranean Imaginary of Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo Inspired by the Port The Mediterranean as a discourse has been interpreted and reinterpreted, and idealized and mystified by a myriad of authors, thinkers and artists. In this modem era where globalization of thought is the nonn, the Mediterranean discourse is by far a difficult expression that finds obstacles in the concretization of its own thought. Nevertheless, today the Mediterranean is still capable of producing new artists and new expressions by which the discourse gets richer and deeper. The Mediterranean, as its name suggests, is a sea that is in between two lands, and as Franco Cassano 54 states, has never had the ambition to limit itself to only one of its shores. The Metlitenanean was fm a periotl of time consecutively and simultaneously Arab, Roman and/or Greek; it was everything and nothing at the same time. The Mediterranean never aspired to have a specific identity, and its strength lies in its conflicting identity; it embraces multiple languages and cultures in one sea. Franco Cassano in his L ‘alternativa mediterranea states that borders are always ahead of centres, ‘Il confine e sempre piu avanti di ogni centro’55, and this concept is very relevant when we think about the significance of the harbour, as a place at the border of the country and yet the centre of every interaction.
Cassano goes on explaining how the centre celebrates identity, whereas the border is always facing contradiction, war and suffering. The border cannot deny the suffering by which the conflicting and inhomogeneous Mediterranean identity has 54 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) 55 Franco Cassano, Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.80
58
been built upon. The border is the true expression of the Mediterranean and it is
undeniable here that the most important interactions and historical events in the
region have taken place.
The border is an important concept in the study of the Mediterranean
itself, and as already mentioned, the majority of intersection and cultural
exchanges have taken place in the harbours, which are the borders of a country yet the centre of every interaction. For the concept of a ‘Mediterranean identity’ to arise, the harbour has been a pivotal place economic and religious interactions
which consequently left an undeniable cultural baggage whose strong presence
allowed the Mediterranean shores to benefit from an enriching cultural melange.
Being a sea of proximity, the Mediterranean has always been prone to receive the
‘other’ with all its cultural baggage, and therefore the concept of fusion and
amalgamation of different aspects of every country has always contributed to the
region’s culture. Accounts about the Mediterranean and those set in it have always put at their centre the concept of ‘differences’ and the ‘other’ in contraposition to the conflicts found in the harbours and in its centres. Nevertheless, without expecting the ends to meet to a degree of totality, the Mediterranean has been able to create places where ends do not merely meet but coexist. The coexistence of different races, cultures and languages has been the founding stone of the region.
As Cassano states, an identity that claims to be pure is an identity that is destined
to fail because it is in the essence of a culture that it repels the ‘other’, and
therefore sees the answer to every problem in the elimination of the ‘other’. The
59
Mediterranean, on the other hand has embraced ‘the other’ or on occasion, ‘other’ has forcedly penetrated the Mediterranean, giving birth to a region of different cultures based on a coexistence which is sometimes peaceful but often hard. The Mediterranean nowadays has overcome the complex of Olientalism and moved forward from a vision of an exotic south or border; ‘non e piu una frontiera o una barriera tra il nord e il sud, o tra l’ est e l’ ovest, ma e piuttosto un luogo di incontli e correnti … di transiti continui’ .56 ‘it is not a border or bamer between North and South, or East and West anymore, but it is rather a place of encounters and trends of continuous transits’. The Mediterranean has become a region of transit and a meeting place.
Upon travelling across the Mediterranean, an important thing which makes
itself evident is the imaginary that keeps on building through the interaction
between authors and thinkers, especially through their works that focus on the
importance of stating a discourse about the Mediterranean.
4.1 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Izzo and Consolo
‘Il Mediterraneo none una semplice realta geografica, ma un temtorio
simbolico, un luogo sovraccalico di rappresentazioni. ’57
56 Franco Cassano,Danilo Zolo L ‘alternativa mediterranea (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007) pp.92 57Jean-Claude Izzo,Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese
(Mesogea: 2000) pp.7
60
‘The Mediterranean is not a simple geographical reality, but a
symbolic territory, a place overloaded with representations.’
The Mediterranean is a region full of symbolism and representationswhich
would not exist if it were not supp01ied by the literature and culture that has
fonned on and around its shores. The Mediterranean as a region of imaginaries
built on the integration of different voices and stories has produced a number of
authors and thinkers that left a cultural and artistic patrimony to the discourse
about the Mediterranean. We have already seen how the harbour transmits a sense of insecurity and plays a role of threshold which is testified through the works of Izzo and Consolo. Both authors have not only shown the importance of the harbour but have also contributed arduously to the fonnation of a Mediterranean imaginary. The word imaginary, comprehends a number of images, figures and fonns that are created by the observers to define something -not solemnly by the mere reflection of facts and historical events, but by a personal evaluation- that sometimes goes beyond reality. In this sense, it is undeniable that the Mediterranean has gathered a number of observers who have been able to translate facts and create figures and images that represent a collective in a singular imagination. Consolo and Izzo have transfonned their personal encounter with the Mediterranean into a powerful imaginary.
Jean-Claude Izzo was born and raised in Marseille in a family of Italian
immigrants. His background and geographical position highly influenced his
61
writing. Both Izzo and Consolo shared a deep love for their country of origin
especially for the microcosm surrounding them. Vincenzo Consolo wrote about
his beloved Sicily, while Izzo always mentions Marseille. Both authors transpose
the love for the microcosm into a broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole.
Jean Claude Izzo’s Mediterranean is based on a passionate encounter with the
region and states that his Mediterranean differs from the one found at travel
agencies, where beauty and pleasure are easily found.
‘Cio che avevo scoperto non era il Mediterraneo preconfezionato che
ci vendono i mercanti di viaggi e di sogni facili. Che era propio un
piacere possibile quello che questo mare offriva.’ 58
‘I had discovered a Mediterranean beyond the pre-packaged one
usually sold and publicised by Merchants, as an easy dream. The
Mediterranean offered an achievable pleasure.’
The Mediterranean hides its beauty only to reveal it to anyone who
wants to see it. The Mediterranean for Izzo is a mixture of tragedy and pleasure,
and one element cannot exist without the other. This image of beauty and
happiness shared with tragedy and war is a recurring one in the study of the
Mediterranean. Consolo’s writing is based on the concept of suffering. He
pictures human grief and misery as an integral part of the Mediterranean
58 Jean-Claude Izzo, Thierry Fabre Rappresentare il Mediterraneo, Lo sguardo francese (Mesogea:
2000) pp.17
62
imaginary and he feels that poetry and literature have the responsibility to transmit the human condition. Izzo in his writings not only shows that the Mediterranean imaginary is made up of tragedy, suffering and war but also shows that there is hope in the discourse about the Mediterranean itself. For Izzo, the Mediterranean is part of his future, part of his destiny, embodied in the geography of the region and in the tales and accounts that inhabit every comer of the region. Through his beloved Marseille, Izzo manages to look at the Mediterranean and thus find himself.
The word ‘imaginary’ in the academic sphere is tied to a concept used
for the definition of spaces, a definition that goes beyond the way things seem
externally, a definition that puts much more faith in how an author, thinker or
artist expresses and describes the space. In the case of the Mediterranean, since
the region is not an officially recognized political entity, identity is based on
interpretation more than anywhere else and the concept of an imaginary proves
that there are paths that still lead to thought about the Mediterranean. With this in mind, one cam1ot deny the fact that in the political or social sphere, the concept of Medite1Tanean is still being mentioned; however, one could argue that the Mediterranean that is being mentioned in a political and social sphere is somehow a constructed ‘Mediterranean’. The Mediterranean’s relevance nowadays is found in the hearth of the author and artist that from Tangiers or from Marseille is able to write about a sea that has thought him to be mobile, to travel not only physically but mentally and emotionally from one shore to another. Jean-Claude Izzo’s troubled identity gives us a hint of the way in which the Mediterranean is 63
perceived as a region and the way in which the personal ‘imaginary’ for Izzo was
fonned. Izzo himself was from a family of mixed origins and was raised in a
constant state of travel. Izzo found his Mediterranean identity in the imaginary
other authors had created but also found his roots in the very absence of more
organic roots. Every story and every country may be part of his own identity, and
so, the Mediterranean has the ability to preserve in the depths of its sea the stories and feelings collected from every shore and give a curious traveller the
opportunity to retrieve these treasures and make them his own.
The historical approach to the Mediterranean has been based on a
comparison between south and north, between the Mediterranean and Europe, and it usually focused much more on the contrasting elements than on its conjunctions and similarities. Braudel59 saw the Mediterranean as a static and unchanging region. Today, modem thought has led to a new perception of the Mediterranean, focusing rather on the points of conjunction than on the differences and contrasting elements, yet accepting the fact that the Mediterranean is diverse in its essence. In a paper by Miriam Cooke about the Mediterranean entitled Mediterranean thinking: from Netizen to Metizen60
, she delves into the importance of the juxtaposition between the liquidity of the sea and the immobility of the land in the rethinking process of the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean imaginary, the sea serves as a mirror and as a fluid that is able to connect and remain welldefined.
It is able to give a sense of time that is very different from the one on
59 Femand Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (Fontana press: 1986) 60 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
64
land. As we perceive in Jean-Claude Izzo, time is something that is completely
lost at the border between sea and land and especially in contact with the sea.
Sailors in Les Marins Perdus61 realize the concept of time only when they live in
the harbor and in other words, the sea has been able to preserve the sailor’s spirit in the illusion that time on land was as static as it was at sea. In the study about the Mediterranean region, the sea plays a fundamental role that must not be underestimated. Jean-Claude Izzo and Vincenzo Consolo both refer extensively to the figure of the sea when addressing the Mediterranean imaginary. When pondering on the Mediterranean, Izzo always places himself facing the sea, embracing the liquidity of this region, whereas in his stories, Consolo always uses the sea as the main mode of transportation and giving it a mystical attribute.
The Mediterranean has a different meaning for the two authors, because
it is perceived from two different places and two different conceptions of the
Mediterranean arise. In much of Consolo’ s writing, the Mediterranean is seen
through the image of Odysseus which is an image that holds a special meaning for Consolo and to which he feels deeply tied. For Consolo, The Odyssey is a story
that has no specific ending and this is done on purpose because it is directly tied to the future. The door to the future was kept open with the specific purpose of
letting the figure of Odysseus trespass time. The importance of Ulysses in
Consolo’s discourse extends to a deep and personal search for identity and it is
identity itself and the search for knowledge that led Ulysses to embark on a
61 Jean-Claude Izzo Marinai Perduti (Tascabili e/o: 2010)
65
voyage around the Mediterranean region and afterwards to return to Ithaca. Like
Izzo, Consolo finds the essence of a Mediterranean imaginary in the act of
travelling and sometimes wandering from coast to coast, from harbour to harbour, somehow like a modem Ulysses that aims to find himself and find knowledge through the act of travelling and meandering. Many authors that have focused their attention on the figure of Ulysses have focused on Ulysses’ return to Ithaca in particular and the search for a Mediterranean identity through this return.
Consolo, however, mainly uses the metaphor of travel and wandering, and he
manages to tie them to the question of a Mediterranean imaginary that is being
built upon the various images that the author is faced with through his voyage. For Consolo the voyage and the constant search for knowledge are the founding
stones of a Mediterranean imaginary. This urge to push further and thus reach a
greater level of knowledge has driven the Mediterranean people to practice
violence, and therefore Consolo believes that violence tied to the expression of a
deep search for knowledge is what has constituted the Mediterranean region. In
L ‘Olivo e L ‘Olivastro 62
, Vincenzo Consolo uses Ulysses’ voyage as a metaphor of his own voyage and his personal relation with Sicily; being his homeland it holds
a special place for Consolo especially in his writings. Constant change in the
modern concept of a Mediterranean has left a deep impact on the Mediterranean
imaginary. The wandering Ulysses returns to a changed and metamorphosed
Ithaca, which is a recurring image in the Mediterranean. Consolo finds his home
62 Norma Bouchard, Massimo Lollini, ed, Reading and Writing the Mediterranean, Essays by Vincenzo Consolo (University of Toronto Press, 2006)
66 island ‘Sicily’ deeply changed by industrialization and although it may have
maintained features that recall the past, it has changed greatly. Images of the
harbour and of the Mediterranean itself have deeply changed. Change may be
positive, negative or may hold a nostalgic tone, although change is always a
positive factor that contributes to the fonnation of an ‘imaginary’. The way
Ulysses and authors such as Consolo and Izzo have wandered and fought their
battles in the Mediterranean has contributed to the change that we now perceive in the region. Through the voyage of Ulysses, Consolo gives testimony of the
Mediterranean violence and change to the rest of the world. For Consolo the
imaginary created around the Mediterranean is a mixture of his own reality such
as a modem Sicily devastated by industrialization and modernization, and the
recurring image of Ulysses. In fl Sorriso dell ‘Ignoto Marinaio, Consolo focuses
on the microcosm of Sicily as a metaphor of the larger Mediterranean. His
imaginary is characterized by the concept of conflict – a conflict that keeps on
repeating itself in the Mediterranean and is somehow tied to a general conception of the Mediterranean. The harbour acquires an important space in the novel, being the hub of the whole story. The violence mentioned in the novel is a projection of violence in view of an attempt at unifying two different spheres, in this case the unification of Italy, but in a broader sense the possible unification of a Mediterranean. The attempt is not only a failure but results in a continuous war to establish a dominant culture rather than a possible melange of cultures that manage to keep their personal identities.
67
Izzo on the other hand wrote about the Mediterranean imaginary from
the point of view of sailors, who construct a Mediterranean imaginary based on
the concept of a difficult intercultural relationship and a strange bond with the
Mediterranean harbour. In Les Marins Perdus, the microcosm of Marseille
managed to represent the macrocosm of the Mediterranean, and the figures of the sailors represents a modem Ulysses, with the aim of bringing about a
Mediterranean imaginary that mingled old and traditional conceptions of the
region with new and modem ideas. Jean Claude Izzo’s sailors had different ways
of perceiving the Mediterranean, but they had a similar way of seeing and
identifying the ‘sea’. Izzo’s protagonist, much like Consolo’s protagonist,
develops an interesting habit of collecting old Mediterranean maps. For the sailor, the collection of maps represents in a certain way the concretization of a
Mediterranean and the unification of the geographical conception of the region.
The act of collecting may be considered as an attempt at identifying something
that is common, something that is part of a collective memory.
The works of Consolo and Izzo are the literal expressions of a
Mediterranean imaginary, based on their personal encounter with the region and
on their individual research on the subject. The way in which literal texts shape
our conception and ideas with their powerful imagery proves that the personal
encounter becomes a collective encounter in the translation of facts that each
author perfonns in his writings. However, what is most fascinating is the meeting
of ideas brought about through writing which also share elements with popular
68
culture. In essence, popular culture manages to reach a higher audience but it
often takes inspiration directly from literature and its various expressions. In the
sphere of popular culture one may see that the concept of adve1iising and of
mixing various means of communication to reach a specific goal come into action. 
Popular culture comp1ises various levels of cultural and artistic expression, and is therefore well placed to reach a larger audience and to imprint in the audience
various powerful images related to the subject chosen. In this case, the
Mediterranean has collected a large amount of popular culture expressions that
managed to create a knit of ideas and interpretations that succeed in intertwining and creating ideas through the use of old traditions and seminal literal texts.
4.2 The Mediterranean Imaginary in Popular Culture
The way in which the Mediterranean has been projected in the sphere of
popular culture owes a lot to the dichotomy between sea and land, between a fixed object and a fluid matter. The fascination around the two contrasting elements managed to create an even more fascinating expression of popular culture, thus an idea about the region that is based on the way in which Mediterranean people view the sea and view the stable and immobile element of land. Moreover, the Mediterranean popular culture focuses a lot on the element of the harbour, a place where the two elements of water and land manage to intertwine, meet, discuss ideas and at times fight over who dominates. The conflict between the two elements, projected in the geographical distribution of the region, has deep 69 resonance in the emotional encounter with the region. Thus, the authors, artists and travellers are emotionally part of this dichotomy that is consequently reflected in their artistic expressions.
To talk about the Mediterranean nowadays is to reinvent the idea behind
the region in an innovative and appealing way. Culture and literature are new
means by which we re-conceptualize the region. The Medite1Tanean has been
compared to the Internet, because it is a place where near and far are not too well defined, where space is something fluid and where infonnation and culture are transmitted through a network of connections. In her study, Miriam Cooke63 notes how even the tenninology used on the Internet derives from marine tenninology.
One example could be the ‘port’ or ‘portal’. In relation to the web, it is defined as
a place of entry and usually signifies the first place that people see when entering
the web. Although virtually, the concept of harbour remains the first and most
relevant encounter a person makes when approaching a country or ‘page’ on the
internet. Although air transportation has gained a great deal of importance,
shipping networks used for merchandise are common and still very much in use.
The parallelism between the Mediterranean and the Internet opens a new way of
conceptualizing the Mediterranean as a physical and cybernetic space. Miriam
Cooke explains how the Mediterranean itself, just like the Internet, changes the
traditional concept of core and periphery: 63 Miriam Cooke ‘Mediterranean thinking: From Netizen to Medizen’ Geographical review, vol 89 pp.290-300
70
‘The islands that are geographically centered in the Mediterranean are
rarely centers of power; rather, they are crossroads, sometimes sleepy
but sometimes also dangerous places of mixing, where power is most
visibly contested and where difficult choices must be made.’ 64
The way in which the Mediterranean is seen geographically most of the
time does not appear to be consistent with the actual function and thought of the
place. As in the case of the islands in the Mediterranean, their main function lies
in the fact that they are crossroads rather than real centres. Usually, the
geographical centre of a country is the actual political, social and economic
centre, however, in the Mediterranean, the centre is where ideas are fonned, and
this usually lies in the harbours and in the cities located in close proximity to the
sea. The centre and marginality of a place according to Cooke depends on the
position of the viewer. Therefore, the explained and conceptualized Mediterranean may have different centres and borders depending on who is writing about it. The function of popular culture is to somehow give a view on where the centre is and where the margins lie.
When discussing the Mediterranean in advertisements and in the media
m general, there is a tendency to start from the past, from a presumed
Mediterranean origin that seems to tie the whole region. In this assumption, there is no truth but just a commercial way of proposing the historical elements that 64 Ibid pp.296 71
unite the region, therefore making it appealing at a touristic level. The audience at times does not have a precise idea of the differing elements and cultures residing in the region. To make it more appealing and coherent, especially in advertising, culture seems to be portrayed as a feature that holds similar elements that recur throughout the region. Even tastes and sometimes sounds seem to be homogenized tlu·oughout the region. The French documentary film entitled Mediteranee Notre Mer a Taus produced by Yan Arthus-Bertrand for France 2, aims to give an overview of the Mediterranean by focusing not just on the common features, but most of all on the fascination of the differences. The
documentary film traces how the Mediterranean has transfonned and shifted over time and it aims to show the deep cultural heritage it left in Europe. Rather than an advertisement or promotional video, this is an educational movie that rotates around the Mediterranean to explain each and every place while delineating its features and importance. The interesting fact about the movie is that it is filmed from above, giving almost an overview of the region, and that it talks about a Mediterranean future that ultimately lies in a supposed c01mnon past. When advertising a harbour in the Mediterranean, most of the short clips focus on the multiculturalism of the harbour and the projection of the place within a broader Mediterranean vision.
72
A particular advertising video, promoting Tangier65 as a harbour city
that looks onto the Mediterranean but remains predominantly African, focuses on the emotions that it can deliver and on the particular features that can attract the tourist such as traditional food and music. In everyday life, certain music and
traditional food would have probably disappeared, but in the projection of a place that needs to attract the tourist, the sensational aspect prevails and the tradition needs to be prioritized. In all the movies concerning advertisement of the Mediterranean harbours, what prevails is the conception of the harbours as
crossroads, as places where cultures meet, and obviously leave deep cultural
heritage. The movement of people in these short clips is shown as a movement
that has brought richness and cultural heritage to the country, ignoring the
ongoing debates about migration. These clips tend to ignore the ongoing problems in the Mediterranean and this is obviously done to increase tourism and project a nicer image of the region, succeeding in having a positive impact on the mind of the viewer.
Another peculiarity that is noticeable both in the clips about the
Mediterranean harbours and in many movies and stories is a concept of time
which is very different from reality. In short clips, such as the one portraying
Tangiers or the one promoting Valletta, it is noticeable that time slows down. In
the transposition of the novel Les Marins Perdus into a movie66, the concept of
65 Fabounab,Tangiers, port of Aji-ica and the Mediterranean (uploaded May, 2010) www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IJ3zmxC6g (accessed July, 2014)
66 Les Marins Perdus, Claire Devers (2003)
73 time is a fundamental element, because it drastically slows down. The first scene opens up with the overview of the Aldebaran, the ship on which the story unfolds.
This scene is a very long scene that gives the viewer a hint of approaching trouble, from sea to land. It achieves this in a very calm and slow way. Throughout the movie the sense of time being slower than usual is something that finds its apex in the last minutes of the movie when all the tragedies unfold. The way in which the Mediterranean is described in short clips and in this movie shows a common perception of the Mediterranean people as a people who enjoy life at a slower rhytlnn, although in certain cases it might be true that this assumption lacks accuracy. Although it is undeniable that the juxtaposition between land and sea which we especially perceive in the harbour gives a sense of time as a rather fictitious concept, one may recall the Odyssey, where the voyage in the Mediterranean took an unusually long time. The Odyssey in fact bases on the fact that time almost seemed to have stopped and in fact, the time span that Odysseus spent travelling at sea does not match with the actual time that was passing on land in Ithaca. On the other hand we perceive that time is passing by rather slowly for Penelope who patiently raised her son and safeguarded Ithaca while waiting Odysseus.
What the concept of time in the Mediterranean proves is that the various
images that one finds both in writing and in new popular culture are constantly fed to our conception of the region and through time these various concepts fonn an imaginary. In many cases, when we look at popular culture we find elements that 74 we can reconnect to literature. This proves that the means by which an imaginary is constrncted is based on different elements but usually one may find recmTing elements both in popular culture and literature. In the concept of time we also find a common way of seeing life itself. Time in the Mediterranean seems to be stuck therefore we may argue that literature and popular culture have contributed to the fonnation of our ideas about life per se, whilst obviously not denying that everyday life was of constant inspiration to literature and culture. The way in which both popular culture and everyday life intersect, connect and find common points is something of fundamental importance in the study of the Mediterranean imaginary, as it gives different points of view and visions of the subject and therefore creates an imaginary that manages in a subtle way to unite what seems so distant. Jean-Claude Izzo, Vincenzo Consolo and many other authors, as well as different ‘texts’ of popular culture, create an ethos about the Mediterranean that aims to join what appears separate. The fact that nowadays the Mediterranean is still present in popular culture, as in the case of the previously mentioned film shown by France 2, proves that discourse about the region and the Mediterranean imaginary are still alive and they have a presence in the mind of the receiver.
The imaginary of the Mediterranean harbour is also constrncted by the
way it is advertised. A short, recent videob1 advertising the Maltese harbour
repeatedly used the word ‘Mediterranean’ to highlight the connection between
67 Valletta Waterfront, Valletta Cruise Port Malta- the door to the Mediterranean, (uploaded February, 2012) www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMThbEG95WA (accessed May, 2014)
75
Europe and Africa. The way in which the harbour is projected in the French
movie shows a deep connection to the historical and cultural heritage of the
country but it also aims to show how historically and culturally varied the country is. The advertisement’s aim was to create a sense of uniqueness whilst focusing on the broader vision of the Mediterranean as a whole. On the one hand it focuses on the fact that Malta is part of the European Union, therefore boasting high standards of security and maritime services, and on the other hand it promotes the various hist01 ical influences on Malta and its Grand Harbour and portrays it as the gateway both to the northern and to the southern shore. Being an island in the Mediterranean gave Malta the possibility to create its uniqueness, but also to affiliate itself to both Europe and Africa. In this sense, the sea serves as a unifying factor but at the same time it was always able to maintain the individuality of each place. The discourse about the Mediterranean is rendered possible thanks to the various factors that inhabit the region – factors that may differ from one shore to another, thus making the region a more interesting one to study.
4.3 Conclusion The discourse about the Mediterranean has always revolved around the projection of different images that supposedly recall a common feeling and common grounds. The Mediterranean is a region that is in essence a combination of a myriad of cultures; this factor is very relevant in the discourse on the region 76 as the attempt to unite the region in one cultural sphere is somehow a failed attempt. It is relevant to mention that in the production of literature and culture, these different expressions especially concerning the Mediterranean have produced a knit of sensations and feelings that are now mostly recognized as being ‘Mediterranean’. The harbour in this case has always been the locus of the Mediterranean imaginary because sea and land meet in the harbour, and therefore many cultures meet and interact in the harbours.
Harbours are places that live an ‘in between’ life but that still manage to
mingle the differences in a subtle way that feels almost nonnal and natural. The
harbour has inspired many authors as it has built a sense of awaiting and hope in the person. The Mediterranean port seems to suggest that everything is possible, and that imageries and ideas can unfold in the same harbour.
77
5 Conclusion
The Mediterranean city is a place where two myths come together: the
myth of the city and the myth of the Mediterranean. Both myths have developed
independently because both managed to create symbols and connotations that
have been able to survive till today. The myth of the city in relation to the myth of
the Mediterranean has been for a long time regarded independently and therefore it created a succession of elements that was able to reside in the same place but was in essence two different elements. 68
From antiquity, the ‘city’ has been seen as a symbol of social order – as a
place where reason and civilization reign in contrast with the ignorance of the
outskirts. The concept of a ‘city’ that is able to unify ideals and control society by
maintaining high levels of education and increasing cultural standards has
developed a division between the rural areas and the city itself. In conjunction
with the harbour, the concept of a civilized ‘city’ mingles with the idea of a
cultural mixture that is able to absorb what the sea has to offer.
In the Mediterranean port cities, the cultural emancipation and the centre
of trade and business in a way managed to intenningle with the idea of ‘squalor’,
most of the time being associated to the harbour. Nevertheless, in the
68 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
78
Mediterranean harbour cities, the idea of cultural richness and emancipation was a concept that found concretization in the idealization of the ‘city’ itself by its
inhabitants. The ‘city’ as much as the Mediterranean itself found deep resonance
with the growth of literature. In the case of the ‘city’, various treaties and
literature expedients that promoted it as a centre of cultural riclmess and
architectural rigor helped the ‘city’ itself to find a place in the mind of the person
approaching it. The obvious consequence of this new fonnation of cities as a
symbol of 1igor and proliferation was that a great number of people migrated from the rural areas to the cities. The myth of the harbour cities as being the centre of business and a locus of culture went on cultivating with the accounts about these cities written by various authors. They managed to give life to a succession of images that are now imprints of harbour cities throughout the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean appears unified in anthropological69 discourse in which
assumptions are made about the way ‘Mediterraneaninsm’ is constituted and the
‘Mediterranean way of life’. A group of cultural anthropologists aimed to view
the Mediterranean as a whole for the purpose of identifying elements that
managed to tie the region and gave meaning to the unification itself. On the one
hand they managed to give international relevance to studies about the region
because they constructed what they regarded as common Mediterranean attributes.
On the other hand they were constructing a discourse that said more about their
own vision than about a region that is varied in its essence. In a way they also
69 Georges Duby Gli ideali de! Mediterraneo (Mesogea 2000) pp.83-100
79 rendered the region ‘exotic’. The way in which anthropology managed to create an idea about the Mediterranean is interesting even though a person living in the region might argue that the picture given is incorrect. In this sense the imaginary of the Mediterranean projected by literature does not aspire to give a detailed account of life in the region but rather to actually transmit the feelings and passions that the region has. In this sense, literature was able to transfonn a passion and a detailed account of one’s own perspective about the region into an imaginary that is in its turn able to remain imprinted in the person’s conception of the Mediterranean. Literature and art in the Mediterranean had the ability to prove that there are common feelings in the region but they are distinguishable in their very essence and the harbour with its strategic position was able to give inspiration to the artist that approached it. The creation of an imaginary about the Mediterranean goes beyond the very need of knowing and apprehending facts that may be or may not be common to the whole region. In this sense, the artistic expedients and the literal world managed to relate to the reader and the spectator in a very special way by creating powerful images that construct society.
5.1 The ‘imaginary’ of the Mediterranean
One important definition of the ‘imaginary’ is given by Castoriadis in his
The Imaginary Institution of Society 70 in which he states that the human being
cannot exist without the collective and that the collective is fonned by different
7° Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth(University of Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
80
elements. One of the elements that is of great importance in the fonnation of the
collective is the symbol. The symbol or the collection of symbols is fonned from
reality and from an imaginary. In the composition of the imaginary, whatever
stems from reality and whatever stems from fiction remains in essence a question which is not resolved or which probably does not intend to be resolved. Therefore, the imaginary explained by Castoriadis gives a social meaning to certain questions that are fundamental in the complexity of reality. For example, the symbol of God was created for various reasons but its creation per se does not distinguish between elements that are true in its essence and elements that are imagined. The example given by Castoriadis on the symbol of God leads us to the conception of the Mediterranean region as a region fonned in its imaginary by reality and myth which intertwine and are not distinguishable. The Mediterranean created by the various authors and artists mentioned reinforces the imaginary that has at its basis the aim of giving a picture of the region which is not far from reality but on the other hand which is not that structured. Therefore we can argue that the difference between an anthropologist’s approach to the region and an artist’s approach is based on the difference in their point of focus. This statement one does not deny the importance of the anthropologist’s approach to the region where in fact social
structure appears and thus one can easily understand the way by which society is fonned. To fuiiher the study and understand it in its complexity one cannot deny the importance of literature and culture in the creation of an imaginary.
Castoriadis 71 states that society shares a number of undeniable truths that are
71 Kostantino Kavoulakas Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaiy and truth (University of 81
accepted by everyone. By analyzing the imaginary one manages to go beyond
these undeniable truths and thus manages to extend the life of the imaginary itself.
Therefore, if the Mediterranean exists, it is because it managed to create a number of myths and symbols able to renew themselves. The impo1iance of the imaginary for the region itself is based on the fruits that it gives. The Mediterranean that is being mentioned in the various books and poems is supported by the emotions and passions of each and every author. If the author is not moved by passion for the region it would be difficult to create an imaginary. The Mediterranean region is still present in our mind thanks to the imaginary created by the various authors and thinkers.
The choice of the harbour as the locus of a Mediterranean imaginary
comes almost naturally as the harbours facing the Mediterranean Sea have a great impact on culture in the Mediterranean and the threshold between sea and land is on the one hand the very basis of the Mediterranean life. The harbour and the city as two separate and yet same elements intertwine and are able to create rich and variegated cultures, yet they were also the first spectators of conflicts and wars.
From this point of view, it is undeniable that the harbour in the Mediterranean
holds a special place for the author and may be seen by many authors and thinkers as a place of inspiration where ideas concretize and where the emotions, thoughts and ideas brought by the voyage at sea are still very present in the memory.
Crete, September 2000) pp.202-213
82
Through the image of the harbour we come across the image of the sailor
who to many authors has been a point of reflection for the discourse on the
Mediterranean and has helped the connection between the real, almost “filthy” life of the harbor, and the ideas and concepts that fonn in the city. The various authors that integrated the image of the sailor to the idea of the harbour in the
Mediterranean were able to reinforce the Mediterranean imaginary by joining
different images and by giving them life and purpose in a way that goes beyond
the truth. The sailor in Jean-Claude Izzo’ s imaginary has a deep and developed
curiosity and a great knowledge of The Odyssey. While it is not be a surprise that
a sailor has a passion for literature, the point that Jean-Claude Izzo makes is that
Homer’s Mediterranean has definitely changed, yet it is still alive in the heart of
the ones that live the region in all its essence. Therefore, the sailor who is an
everyday image and thus is able to relate to a greater audience acquires almost
different attributes that do not match reality, but that are in essence part of a
shared Mediterranean imaginary.
The way in which authors and thinkers contribute to the fonnation of the
Mediterranean has been the principal focus of this dissertation. The pattern
created by art and literature all over the Mediterranean highlights the differences in the region but it also portrays the similarities that are able to give birth to a unified Mediterranean. As discussed throughout, the process of finding
similarities and the fonnation of an imaginary that is able to constitute the
83
Mediterranean was not a smooth one. The Mediterranean does not in fact appear
as a place that has a lot of common features. Even though politically and
sometimes socially it has been portrayed as a unified region, the unifying factors
are few. Literature does not aim to give a picture of the Mediterranean as one but
aims rather to give various personal and interpersonal interpretations of the region to fonn an imaginary able to be transported and reinterpreted in different
circumstances. It is important to understand that the word ‘imaginary’ does not
aim to conduct a political or social inquiry about the region and that the word in
itself actually aims to understand the underlying concept of the Mediterranean. It does not aim to state facts about the region but rather to give an account that is
able to connect the historical roots of the region to personal experience.
5.2 The Mediterranean ‘Imaginary’ Beyond the Harbour
Although the harbour was my main focus in identifying the Mediterranean
imaginary, it is definitely not the only point in the Mediterranean that could be
taken into account when studying its imaginary. Other aspects of the
Mediterranean could be of great relevance when expanding the various images of the region. One important aspect in all the literature expedients taken into account was the relationship of every author with their nation and their complex identity.
Therefore, in relation to the study conducted, it would be of great interest to expand the notion of ‘nationhood’ and the fonnation of various and complex
84
identities created in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean nowadays is seen as a region where ‘nationhood’ and identity are created through a complex of knits and relations. The latest ‘citizenship’ programs in all of the northern Mediterranean countries show how the borders and the concept of ‘nationhood’ are deeply changing, most probably opening to further possibilities that range from cultural enrichment to economic advance. When thinking about the Mediterranean JeanClaude Izzo emphasized the fact that he felt that part of himself resided in every harbour and his ‘identity’ was not limited to one place. He makes us realize that the Mediterranean existed before the creation of ‘nations’ and so, each Mediterranean person feels like he can relate to more than one country and more than one culture. The harbour has been the first impact with a deep association to the region, and the person approaching a Mediterranean harbour automatically abandons his roots and is able to relate to what the harbour has to offer. In this sense we have seen how the harbour was vital to the creation of a powerful imaginary. The question of identity and complex relations in the Mediterranean would be a next step in analysing the complexity of the region. The Mediterranean harbour teaches us that all Mediterranean people are prone to the ‘other’ and are open to various cultures, including the exposure to a number of languages and the creation of a lingua .fi’anca to facilitate communication. Therefore, with this exposure promoted by the harbour, the Mediterranean created various identities that sometimes are not distinguishable.
85
Jean-Claude Izzo felt he could relate to almost every country in the
Mediterranean and that part of him resided in every harbour. Nevertheless, he
always saw Marseille as a point of reference and as an anchorage point where his thoughts concretized. Contrarily, the difficult relation of Vincenzo Consolo with the Italian peninsula makes the issue of complex identitites particularly relevant. For a number of years, Consolo worked in northern Italy where he felt like a stranger in his own country. However, with the difference of enviromnent and in a way, a dissimilarity of culture, he was able to contemplate the meaning of the Mediterranean and his native ‘country’, Sicily. The question of a possible or
rather an impossible identity in the Mediterranean does not enrich or denigrate the concept of an ‘imaginary’ but rather enables the person studying the region to understand certain dynamics and the way in which authors and thinkers approach the region. It is rather difficult to paint a clear picture of the Mediterranean through understanding the complexity of ‘identity’, though it would be of great interest to find the way in which each and every Mediterranean person manages to relate to the concept of identity, which is an integral part of his or her social accomplishment. Society instils a deep sense of fulfilment and accomplishment in a person who is able to fully relate to their country of origin, and as Amin Maalouf states in In the Nmne of Identity, 72 identity is something that most of the time may lead to war between countries, and so it is undeniable that it plays a fundamental role in the way we view things.
72 Maalouf Amin, In the name of Identity: violence and the need to belong (Penguin books, 2000)
86
Amin Maalouf is an author of mixed origins. He is Lebanese but has lived
most of his life in France and when asked which of the two countries is his ‘real’
country, he found it difficult to answer as he states that both countries are part of
his identity. Thus identity for Amin Maalouf is something very personal. A person
living in France fonn a number of years has the ability to emich his previous
identity, therefore acquires an added identity to the previous one. The same person cannot deny the previous identity, yet he cannot deny that the present identity plays an important role in his personal fonnation. The Mediterranean as a region has always promoted the mixture of cultures and the voyage itself, therefore contributing to the fonnation of complex and variegated identities. Nowadays, we manage to relate both to a Greek and Roman descent, therefore geographically and historically the Mediterranean has been united in ideas and concepts that are now far from each other but yet undeniable.
The same geography and architectural heritage left by the Greeks and
Romans is still visible in most of the Mediterranean cities and harbours. This is
evident in the lighthouses that were for most of the time a symbol of greatness and architectural splendour, and we encountered a succession of ideas and cultures that mingled with the necessity of the lighthouse. Therefore the lighthouse that was on the one hand a powerful expression of artistic and cultural splendour, managed to create ideas and thoughts that stemmed from the actual need of ‘light’ and guidance. All these elements intertwine in the Mediterranean, rendering the 
87
concept of identity somewhat a complex one. Each person has an identity as
explained by Tarek Abdul Razek in his study about the Mediterranean identity:
‘Each one of us is the depositary of a dual legacy: the first is vertical,
coming from our ancestors, the traditions of our people and religious
c01mnunities; the other is horizontal and derives from our era and
contemporaries. Vertical identity is connected to memory and the past;
it is limited to a given territory within a given area. It usually
corresponds to national identity, the outcome of cultural policy
choices. Instead, horizontal identity extends towards the future,
though it remains open to the contemporary, reaching beyond national
borders, within a social context, in a postmodern approach. Thus,
horizontal identity is a project, a project for the future and not merely
a legacy of the past.’ 73
In relation to the Mediterranean, the horizontal and vertical identity may
be tied to the deep varied history that the Mediterranean holds. If Mediterranean
history is based on the interaction between people and cultures, then each and
everyone’s identity cannot just be based on the value of the nation as it is now.
The horizontal identity that leaves a door open to the future is in this sense very
important and gives substance to the discourse of a Mediterranean imaginary,
73 Abdul Razek ‘Common Mediterranean identity’ The Euro-Mediterranean student research multi-conference EMUNI RES (2009) pp.1-8
88
being the main contributor to the future of the Mediterranean. The imaginary that is the bringing together of both the vertical and horizontal identities manages to give hope to future discourse about the region. The imaginary does not deny the complexity of a possible Mediterranean identity, but merely shows a past where ideas flourished and have now become an integral paii of our own identity. It also proves that the future of a region is not solely made up of geographical, political and social features but is also made of different elements that manage to inte1iwine fanning a knit of images able to reside in the mind of every reader, artist and philosopher.
A search for a common identity is surely not the path to be taken in
understanding the relations in the Mediterranean because a common identity
usually instituted by the idea of a nation instills in the person a set of common
goals and ideals. In the case of the Mediterranean, the various conflicts and wars
show that there is no co1mnon identity tying the region. Therefore, it is quite
difficult to analyze a common identity and it should not be the purpose of a study
itself. It is interesting, however, to delve in the way authors and thinkers that
contributed to the fonnation of an imaginary in the Mediterranean deal with their personal identity, whether it is problematic for a great number of authors or whether authors find that their identity is not limited to their ‘national identity’.
All these factors could be of great interest to the person studying the region in the
sense that if each author writing about the Mediterranean finds the impulse to
write about the region, then he must feel a sense of association to the region,
89 irrespective of his roots or his identity, or the historical elements that he finds
residing in all the Mediterranean. This ‘affiliation’ has an element of identity that
I find interesting in the discourse about the Mediterranean. Jean-Claude Izzo in
his Les Marins Perdus states that every person travelling in the Mediterranean
needs to have a personal reason for it, and this personal reason resides mostly in
the search for an identity. One of the characters in Jean-Claude Izzo’s Les Marins
Perdus was in constant search of an identity; a personal one that could tie him
psychologically and emotionally to a harbour or to a land. The Mediterranean, as
a region, was the place where he could c01mnent, argue and question his own
identity. Whether the search actually resulted in finding his identity is not the
actual point of the novel but the focal point is that the constant search for an
‘affiliation’ and an anchorage point brought out a rich imaginary that is able to be
transported through time.
The Mediterranean imaginary constructed by the various authors and
thinkers created a vision of various concepts such as the sailor, the metaphor of
the harbour, and the thresholds that hold both a geographical and metaphorical
meaning. The imaginary of the region is meant to go beyond the initial sociopolitical meanings that the media tries to portray. The Mediterranean for
anthropologists, authors, politicians and the Mediterranean people themselves has in essence a different meaning for each person, and therefore by analyzing the narration and images about the region, it is possible to understand the relationship between each component of the Mediterranean society to society itself.
90
The aim of analyzing the imaginary in the Mediterranean through the help
of the harbour as a conceptual and geographical area was to focus on the way in
which literature and culture through the help of metaphors and the personal
encounter with the region, manages to leave an imprint on the imaginary of the
region. The region is not only a place where these figures meet, intertwine and are reinvented but it is also a place where politics should be discussed considering the deep historical and geographical ties as well as a place where issues such as ‘migration’ should be viewed with the history of the region in mind. The importance of the Mediterranean does not lie in the accomplishment of a common identity but in realizing that each and every complex identity that resides in and writes about the Mediterranean can contribute to the fonnation of the ‘imaginary’ to which everyone can relate – images and figures with which each Mediterranean person, with their diverse identities, can identify. The imaginary is the result of images, narratives and depictions that from a personal meaning and manage to acquire a deeper and more global meaning. The Mediterranean people would not feel that these common ideas and values are in any way limiting their freedom or restricting their identity, but on the contrary, feel that it is enriching to their personalized and contradictory identity.
91
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