The book Ir-Ruħ Tqell bil-Poeżija – Louis Briffa: Il-Ħsieb Inċanat by Charles Briffa explores some aspects of Maltese contemporary poetry through the practice of literary criticism. It is intended to help readers immerse themselves more fully into the poetic works of Louis Briffa.
“Literary works have their existence in a continual stream of analytical criticism about them in an academic context,” says the author.
“The studies presented in this book, Ir-Ruħ Tqell bil-Poeżija, contribute new insights into our understanding of readers’ experiences of a contemporary Maltese poet from a stylistic perspective.”
The book considers readers’ empathy as a psychological process involved in engagement between readers and poems. As an area of research, the book is a project that explores the relationship between language and cultural conceptualisations. It elaborates, among other things, on its key analytical notions of treating women in literature.
The book compares analytically Louis Briffa’s handling of women in his poems with that of other Maltese authors. It encapsulates a detailed comparative study of Mario Azzopardi and Louis Briffa on the subject of the voices of women in our culture.
This dimension leads to the question of whether literature that deals with sex is pornography or art.
It elaborates, among other things, on its key analytical notions of treating women in literature
“As an exercise in academic criticism, the project led, understandably, to comparison and cross reference,” says Briffa.
“The arrangement of the contents of the book will enable readers to acquaint themselves with a basic map of the poet’s mental style and (hopefully) to encourage other critics to pursue further investigation into the present author.”
The material discussed is relevant to literature in general. It offers literary critics and students of literature ideas that warrant serious consideration, but the main aim of the book is to present the poet in a cultural habitat of the literary intellectual. The author says that, therefore, Ir-Ruħ Tqell bil-Poeżija has to be seen as a relevant vehicle for the values of the literary imagination.
The book (which has a section in English) is part of Briffa’s project on Maltese authors. He has written books on the following writers: Trevor Zahra, Michael Buttigieg, Anton Manwel Caruana, Joseph Vella Bondin, Mario Azzopardi, Oliver Friggieri, Frans Sammut, Achille Mizzi, Victor Fenech, Paul P.Borg, Charles Casha, Dun Karm, Louis Camilleri, and now Louis Briffa.
With this project, the author wishes to examine the essential (even if complex) principles governing the Maltese literary movements of the past decades.
Prof. Charles Briffa is a lecturer of Maltese literary and literary criticism at the University of Malta and also lectures in the theory and practice of translation. He is a literary critic and researcher as well as a translator. His latest publication, Ir-Ruħ Tqell bil-Poeżija – Louis Briffa: Il-Ħsieb Inċanat, was published by Horizons publishers and is available from all leading book shops.