Widnet Il-Baħar U Stejjer Oħra  
by Joe Friggieri, published by Kite Group Malta, 2020

Professor Joe Friggieri’s Widnet Il-Baħar u Stejjer Oħra published by Kite Group is the fourth collection of short stories presented to the public in the last five years, the previous three having become so popular to the point of either being translated into foreign languages or being read to the public on various local stations. Brief, to the point and leaving space for one’s own personal reflection and analysis, Widnet il-Baħar u Stejjer Oħra is a lovely collection of stories that can be enjoyed by readers of different backgrounds.

Friggieri takes his inspiration from various sources; from Holy Scripture to art, from Maltese literature to European, from the local cultural scenario to the great cities of Europe. The stories have an international appeal about them.

The author – being both an accomplished philosopher and seasoned writer – renders his stories all the more colourful due to the rich academic background and wide-ranging travelling experience that become evident in the way he narrates his stories and keeps the reader glued to his seat.  His command of the Maltese language, his easy flow of words together with the occasional implicit snippets of humour will certainly go down well with the readers, besides affirming the author’s status as one of Malta’s most sought-after writers.

If there is one thing that is in common among the fifty stories that constitute the book, it is certainly the air of spontaneity and unpredictability that has by now become synonymous with Friggieri, the popular storyteller.

The author renders his stories all the more colourful due to the rich academic background

Having been a lecturer in philosophy as well as a philosophical writer for the greatest part of his life, it is to be expected that some of Friggieri’s stories bear a philosophical strain. The innate natural need of humanity to answer some of the basic existential questions about life and death and the logic behind fundamental truths that we tend to take for granted are only a few of the intriguing themes that are reflected in these stories.

I found the story about the man with the three different spectacles quite fascinating and I perceive it as a sound reflection of man’s utilitarian attitude in today’s world. In various stories in the anthology, subtlety plays its part in conveying a message that is not automatically clear to one and all.

Friggieri’s Widnet Il-Baħar u Stejjer Oħra is a collection of short original stories beautifully narrated, proving that while human experience reveals that we are far more alike than we are different, it has many faces and what is common among them is that they are all different from each other.

I recommend the book to all those who like to read good literature in Maltese. For those of you who will be reading Friggieri for the first time, I suggest you should obtain a copy of his previous three anthologies of stories.

Meeting Malta’s main philosophical guru through his ‘novelli’ is rewarding indeed.

Carpe diem!

Widnet Il-Baħar u Stejjer Oħra is available from all leading bookstores and www.kitegroup.com.mt.

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