L-Arja Xitwija
By Alfred Massa
Published by Horizons, 2023
It is a known fact that novels are the most popular sort of literature everywhere, and Malta is no exception. I can still remember the days of yore when Maltese novels in the grand style were printed in the familiar faxxikli eventually turned into thick tomes, and then ready for a good read by those who could read and, very often, then enjoyably transferred to the ears of those who (then) couldn’t.
Other novels evolved as the years passed, highly influenced by foreign literary influences; the romantic aura in the novels persistently retained for the delectable pleasure of the majority of Maltese readers.
Many Maltese writers sought this style of literature, influences of time and social changes adding colour to the narrative stressing, particularly when the author is also a poet, a more intense romp into the fields of morality, with bittersweet reality as an often sinister backdrop.
Alfred Massa is one such author, who for years now, has been prolifically enhancing Maltese literature with a long line of beautiful, very readable novels, all touched with the vibrant tinges of himself and his life as a poet. And here is yet another very touching and highly gripping story, another drama of life brought about by Massa’s own feelings and his experiences of life itself.
L-Arja Xitwija is a classic story, replete with human emotions at their best and their worst
L-Arja Xitwija is, once again, a classic story, replete with human emotions at their best and their worst. Marjanna and her sister Rakel, abandoned by their father when their mother died in their childhood, sadly face a difficult life. Rakel is raised by her grandmother, while Marjanna is eventually sent away to an orphanage, haply much loved by the nuns.
But here, the girl suffers a nightmarish trauma which continues to haunt her even after her marriage to Sandro. Meanwhile, Rakel has married Alex, Sandro’s brother. Sandro and Alex were the sons of Victoria, widow of Tonio... Then enters Antonella, Victoria’s family maid, and the drama gradually intensifies, and rises to a breathtaking climax; and the curtain drops with a tremendous thud on another pathetic scenario of human frailty and shortcomings.
In this his latest novel, Massa has surpassed himself. Here his colours are more intense, very often deep purple, slightly tinged with gold, vivid, relentless and sometimes painfully heart-rending.
Neatly and elegantly printed by Horizons, this is a novel which no aficionado of this sort of literature should miss. Surely enough, another novel to collect with the many other novels Massa has written to date which, undoubtedly, have left Maltese literature richer thereby, in quality, beauty and style.