Charles Schultz
Peanuts

I find myself in front of a blank page, and filling it is hard, indeed, very hard.

Charles Schultz and his "Peanuts" (in Italian "noccioline", or "little people") were already discussed in 1963 by a certain person named Umberto Eco, and even then he said everything a novice needed to know about the author and his work. Two very simple things: the first is that Charles Schultz "Is a poet"; the second is that "We love unconditionally, fervently, fiercely, intolerantly Charlie M. Schultz, and we do not allow him to be discussed; anyone who says otherwise is either wicked or illiterate".

Yes, moving forward is hard.
I could start telling you about Charlie Brown, who carries the name of his author, has a father (invisible to the reader like all adults in the "Peanuts" world) who is a barber, like Schultz's father, and yet, Schultz maintained to the point of exhaustion that it was not the protagonist of an autobiographical work...
But maybe you already know that.

I could tell you about Snoopy, Charlie Brown's Beagle, who plays at World War II piloting his doghouse biplane hunting the Red Baron in the skies of his imagination. The one with the brother Spike, a drifter desert dweller. The one with a bird friend named Woodstock with whom he goes camping practically just to get lost and eat toasted marshmallows by the fire.
But if you knew who Charlie was, you already know this too.

I could talk about Linus, perhaps the most intelligent child of the entire peanut gang, but also the most neurotic, clinging all day to his security blanket to ward off fears. I could tell you about his mean sister Lucy Van Pelt, always ready to throw a punch if she's not busy depressing poor Charlie Brown. I could talk about Peppermint Patty, certainly the sharpest of them all, but also the one with the most problems fitting into a society dominated by boring rules like studying.
But perhaps you already know this too.

I could tell you about Sally, Carlie's little sister; about Marcie, Patty's nerdy friend; about Pig-Pen and the cloud of dust he drags along with him when he runs; about Charlie's kite, which has spent more time tangled among the branches than floating among the clouds; about Schroeder the pianist, obsessed with Beethoven as much as Lucy is obsessed with him.
But, alas, you also know all this.

And perhaps then the only way to talk about the Peanuts is to do it starting from the end, from the last strip drawn by Charles:
Charlie Brown answers the phone and says, "No, I think he's writing"; Snoopy on top of his doghouse types: "Dear friend..."; In the last panel, Schultz draws a Lucy sitting at her psychiatric booth, Lucy getting hit on the head with a baseball, Charlie Brown victim of a joke always by Lucy, a Peppermint Patty, and a Marcie discussing a class task, a Snoopy literally dragging by the leash a rather astonished Linus, another Snoopy on top of his doghouse with goggles and pilot's helmet; a collage of classic moments.

And below these images the text: Dear friends, I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost fifty years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambitions. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the pace required by a daily comic strip. My family does not want the Peanuts to be continued by anyone else, and so I must announce my retirement. I have always been grateful over the years for the loyalty and support of our editorial supervisors and for the wonderful support and love that comic readers have shown me. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy...how could I ever forget them...

Charles Schultz.

With that strip that closes a monumental page of illustrated literature, Charles Schultz gets comfortable and lies down on his bed.
He will never get up again.

To exude poetry even in death is worth the tear of a mortal.
And I am only a mortal, I love Schultz, I love Charlie Brown, I love Linus, I love Peppermint Patty and I love all the others; and I cry, always, when I think about how they left us.
Even now.

Merry Christmas deb.