Emilio Salgari

Emilio Salgari (born Verona, August 21 1862, died Torino, April 25 1911), was a writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction in Italy.

Related Topics:
Verona - August 21 - 1862 - Torino - April 25 - 1911 - Italy

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After a failed attempt to become a naval officer he turned his passion for exploration and discovery to writing. He wrote more than two hundred adventure stories and novels, setting his tales in exotic locations, with heroes from a wide variety of cultures.

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While extremely popular in Italy and Spanish speaking countries (known as the Italian Jules Verne, although his works were usually more about cliffhanger adventures than speculative or scientific fiction), he remains less known in the rest of the world.

Related Topics:
Italy - Spanish - Jules Verne

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Sandokan: The Tigers of Mompracem is at present the only title available in English. The deeds of the fictious Sandokan seem to be loosely based on the exploits of Libau, a Dayak chieftain resisting James Brooke from his hideout at Mount Sandok in Sarawak.

Related Topics:
English - Libau - Dayak - James Brooke - Mount Sandok - Sarawak

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Though his characters achieved an almost immortal fame, and Mr. Salgari had millions of readers, he never attained the financial success and stability he deserved. His publishers, taking advantage of his poor business skills, left him almost destitute. Overwhelmed by creditors and family misfortunes, he committed suicide in Turin, on April 25, 1911. In one last act, drawn from his vast research and imagination, he slit his throat and stomach, in the ceremonial suicide of the Japanese samurai.

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But though the dreamer was gone, his books continued to sell and many owe their love of adventure, reading and writing to the characters and stories he created. Composers Pietro Mascagni and Giacomo Puccini were contemporary fans; later Umberto Eco and Federico Fellini would read Salgari to explore the world. Sergio Leone, one of the fathers of the spaghetti western, got his first glimpse of the outlaw hero in the pages of Mr. Salgari's books.

Related Topics:
Pietro Mascagni - Giacomo Puccini - Umberto Eco - Federico Fellini - Sergio Leone

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Mr. Salgari is particularly popular in Latin America. Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Luis Sepulveda, Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes all devoured his works in their youth. Che Guevara first read of boarding raids, jungle warfare and battles against injustice in Mr. Salgari's adventure novels. Guevara read 62 of Mr. Salgari's books causing his biographer Paco Ignacio Taibo II to remark that one could see that Che's anti-imperialism was "salgariano in origin."

Related Topics:
Isabel Allende - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Pablo Neruda - Luis Sepulveda - Octavio Paz - Carlos Fuentes - Che Guevara - Paco Ignacio Taibo II

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Several of Mr. Salgari's novels were adapted for the big screen, Vitale De Stefano being the first to direct some of Salgari's pirates in the early 1920s. Lex Barker appeared as the tiger hunter Tremal-Naik in the 1955 B-movie The Mystery of The Black Jungle, while Sandokan was played by muscle man and [[Hercules star Steve Reeves in Sandokan the Great and The Pirates of The Seven Seas. Ray Danton took his turn playing the pirate in Luigi Capuano's Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak (aka Throne of Vengeance.) and later reprised the role along with most of the original cast in Sandokan Fights Back (aka The Conqueror and the Empress).

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It wasn't until 1976 that the quintessential Sandokan was cast, Kabir Bedi played the Tiger of Malaysia and took Europe by storm. He later reprised the role in the late 90s in a series of sequels.

Related Topics:
1976 - Sandokan - Kabir Bedi

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Though popular with the masses, Emilio Salgari was shunned by critics throughout his life and for most of the 20th century. It wsn't until the late 1990s that his writings began to be revisited and new translations appeared in print.

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