‘The only reality he could find was in his inner self’

Sens ta’ Ħarifa: Esejs

by Kurt Borg

published by Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2024

The intriguing essays of Kurt Borg’s Sens ta’ Ħarifa: Esejs reflect fully the author’s academic background and research interests. A lecturer in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Malta, his interests revolve around the interface between political philosophy, social theory and public interests.

Essays are of their very nature reflective writings that allow the author’s thoughts, feelings and interests to interact in the search for deeper meanings and understandings. It is a polymorphic literary genre, but the constant denominator is the author’s sincerity in his search to understand himself and to make sense of our, alas too short, stay in the world.

Such are the essays that Borg presents in his book, writings that in a way assume a diaristic form that records his intellectual and emotional journey of self-discovery. It is a journey that the committed reader will share and that will undoubtedly leave him all the richer as a human being.

Borg notes that these essays originated during the pandemic that left such a deep scar on all of us, shaking what we thought were certainties. Forced to segregate ourselves from the outside world, we had ample time to cogitate and come to terms with the deep social changes it brought, the effects of which we still experience in one way or another.

The contemporaneous advances of AI have further complicated what we thought was reality. How can we make sense of the world around us as we come to realise more and more that what we see and hear can be just deepfakes?

Borg’s essays are the outcome of this enforced loneliness when the only reality he could find was in his inner self. He questioned what had made him what he was while at the same time daring to think what he will become. These are essays written at the crossroads of one’s existence, outcome of one who speaks to us with a friendly voice, shorn of any self-declared superiority. They explain deep views without forcibly imposing them on us.

A book to take in doses

Borg creates the persona of a friendly patient speaker wishing to share his knowledge and life experiences with the careful listener. He wears his knowledge easily, helping to create a positive relationship with his audience.

Six of the seven essays are presented chronologically to respect when there actually written but they can be read according to the reader’s whim.

Kliem is a short contribution which the author does not include among his essays yet it analyses the magic of the word which, after all according to the gospel, was in the very beginning. Spoken or printed, words convey our thoughts, frivolous or deep. We are asked to react to the author’s choice of words; as long as they exist, unless they dry up like a stream in sun-baked soil, so will he.

Ħars is inspired by the author’s acute sense of observation when he travels abroad. He imagines the story behind the people who happen to meet his eyes from their physiognomy, their gait, their clothes, their actions. But Borg can also cast his deep inward look as his mind races although it is necessary to calm and feel the flame that burns inside.

These are essays written at the crossroads of one’s existence. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Letters, the subject of the next essay, partly reflects upon the nature of happiness. Christopher McCandless, the inspiration of the film Into the Wild, sought happiness in the solitude of the frozen Alaskan wastes only to realise at the very end of his tragic all too young life that happiness can only be found in shared experiences.

Another tragic personality, the poetess Sylvia Plath confessed to her husband Ted Hughes that she was “completely happy being alone”. Letters written to relieve a personal tortured experience often end up under the public gaze.

The point of departure of Ġilda is Plato’s allegory of the chariot pulled by a black and a white horse which the charioteer tries to control to follow the right path. This constant struggle which is a pattern of human life often leads to falls but the charioteer always strives to regain control. And this sets the essayist to ponder on humanity’s vulnerability as it constantly faces the challenges of its existence.

In Raġel Borg touches upon the issue of sex, sexuality and gender identity – an issue that tends to generates strong feelings and must be approached with equanimity and a cool head if one wants to make sense about it.

Borg himself describes the topic he approaches in Innifsi which is “memory, its fragility and transformations”. Looking back helps one understand oneself if one has to move forward.

 Kotba explores the relationship with the written word which so often enriches us with experiences and emotions beyond our immediate ken. It is a pleasant journey we are asked to share of the author’s literary awareness from a young age to his university studies and beyond. It is perhaps the essay one finds it easiest to identify oneself with.

Finally in C we share the experiences of a growing male coming to terms with himself and the world around him, with its good and not so good moments, pranks and infatuations, elation and self-doubt. Like the previous it is a pleasant easy read.

And through it all there is Borg’s pleasant and sure command of the language, the ability to render comprehensible complex and deep ideas. Sens ta’ Ħarifa is a book to take in doses leaving enough time between one dose and another for the thoughts to sink in.