Bedtime stories of the sea

‘I’ve finished reading it. Lovely. It made me think: a touch of sadness, a touch of serenity…’, I write to Alberto Coretti, author of this little book (so called because it’s small in size and we tend to refer to it affectionately as such). He calls me back shortly afterwards. He’s sorry about that touch of sadness. In his view, “reading a story about the sea makes you feel good”, so he’s worried he hasn’t managed to make me feel good. I reassure him: the sadness – or rather, melancholy – is that of regret at no longer being able to do certain things because time or strength have inexorably waned. But then comes the serenity that stems precisely from those memories. Just as it did for Matisse. Now in his eighties, “he had begun cutting out curved shapes from blue-painted card: starfish, a little dolphin, seaweed, female figures diving… Matisse was once again immersed in that aquatic world… On his skin he could feel the damp sensations of the sea: the saltiness, the lightness that defies gravity, the transparency that makes the water almost invisible. And then there was the mystery of the deep blue – you can see it, but you cannot grasp it.”

Even more heart-warming is the story of Mike Doyle and Joey Cabell, “who knew how to surf, paddle, row and swim. They were two watermen, guardians of the secrets of the big waves”. Yes, theirs is a story that makes one long for the days of Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums”, but their mantra, “We’ll keep it real simple”, defines an approach to life that you really need when you set out along the path of old age. It is comforting, and in a sense, preparatory. This maritime compendium is made up of eighteen such snippets of life. You’ll meet captains, swimmers and surfers, but also artists, writers and musicians. Some are well-known, others less so, and some are unexpected. Take Oriana Fallaci on Caprera: we see her in her austerity, in her rigour, but also in an intimate and unexpected light: ‘she would settle in the shade of a block of stone, write, fish with a rudimentary rod and dive into a sea all her own, almost private’. Yet another reason to love her.

All these stories are told by Alberto Coretti, a journalist who, with the support of his wife Floriana, has staked everything on a splendid maritime magazine: ‘Sirene’ (now also a publishing house). And it is precisely whilst putting together the issues of Sirene over the last eleven years that Floriana (much of the credit goes to her) and Alberto have come across such characters and stories. In their view, the ideal time to read them is in the hours before sleep, as you set sail for the world of dreams. Indeed, they serve as a guide for a peaceful journey through your subconscious. They help you conjure up fond memories and offer a resolution for the following day. Who knows, it might just be the day you create your own little maritime tale.

Alberto Coretti

Sirene Edizioni, 180 pp., 20 euros