Adrian Grima

Impenji / Events

2003

Tarżan u l-Udjenza Tiegħu f'"Il-Ġnien" ta' Henry Holland (Novembru)

Conference Paper (September):

"Forging an Identity: The Contested Spaces of Cultural Identity in Maltese Literature"

Seminar Pubbliku, It-Trankwillità Qarrieqa tat-Test: Perspettivi Oħra tal-Letteratura Maltija, organizzat mid-Dipartiment tal-Malti tal-Kulleġġ Ġan Franġisk Abela ta’ l-Università ta’ Malta. Fit-Teatru tal-Kavallier ta' San Ġakbu, Is-Sibt, 29 ta’ Novembru, 2003 , 9.00 am - 4.00 pm
Go to English version

Tarżan u l-Udjenza Tiegħu f'"Il-Ġnien" ta' Henry Holland

Adrian Grima

Ħafna mill-analiżi li ssir tal-letteratura Maltija għadha maħkuma mill-idea li t-test kif jidher fuq il-paġna huwa “innoċenti” u meta taqrah m’għandekx “iddaħħal” jew tqis elementi li bħallikieku huma “mdendlin” miegħu, bħall-istorja jew l-ideoloġija tal-persuna li kitbitu, jew l-esperjenza ġdida li jġibu magħhom il-qarrejja meta jiltaqgħu mat-test. F’dan il-qari tal-poeżija “Il-Ġnien” ta’ Henry Holland, li dehret għall-ewwel darba fl-1998, se tingħata attenzjoni lil dawn ir-realtajiet li fil-fatt jinsabu fil-qalba tat-test, u lis-sehem determinanti tal-qarrejja fil-kreazzjoni u r-rikreazzjoni kontinwa tat-test. Minħabba r-rikkezza tematika, allużiva, storika u lingwistika tagħha, il-poeżija straordinarja “Il-Ġnien” ta’ Henry Holland hija partikolarment addattata għal qari mnebbaħ mill-femminiżmu u l-kritika post-kolonjali. Barra minn hekk, hija poeżija li għandha l-ħila tiftaħ diskors ġdid dwar il-kitba u l-qari tal-letteratura u dwar il-kxif tal-forzi differenti li jinsabu f’kull xogħol letterarju.

Ara wkoll il-paġna dwar is-seminar fuq l-internet.

Public Seminar, "The Devious Tranquillity of the Text - Other Perspectives on Maltese Literature" The Department of Maltese at the UOM Junior College is holding a one-day public seminar on literature in the Theatre of the St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity on Saturday, 29 November, 2003.

The last speaker at the seminar will be Dr. Adrian Grima who will discuss “Tarżan u l-Udjenza tiegħu fil-poeżija Il-Ġnien ta’ Henry Holland.” Much of Maltese literary analysis is still held to ransom by the illusion that the text is “innocent” and that the reader must not “introduce” elements, such as the history or ideology of the writer, or any new experience which the readers might feel on reading the text. Because of its thematic, allusive, linguistic and ideological richness, Henry Holland’s extraordinary poem Il-Ġnien (1998) lends itself well to both feminist and post-colonial readings that debunk the myth of the “innocent” text. Dr. Adrian Grima wrote his doctoral thesis about the metaphors that have constructed the national imaginary in Maltese literature. He has read papers at various conferences in Malta and abroad. He is also the coordinator of the Mediterranean cultural initiative Inizjamed.

See also the Seminar webpage.

Places and Spaces: Culture, Memory and Identity. The 6th British Council Symposium on English Studies in Europe. European Cultural Centre Delphi, Greece. 7 - 13 September 2003

Forging an Identity: The Contested Spaces of Cultural Identity in Maltese Literature

Adrian Grima

At the end of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce acknowledges that the “conscience” of a “race” is constructed and that the writer is in a position to create or invent it. His use of the verb “forge” is particularly interesting because it suggests both the act of building and formation and the act of forgery and falsification. In this sense, like metaphor and resemblance, the forging of a cultural identity is made up of a tension between identity and difference, between “being” and “being like,” that is, “not being.”

The importance of the verb “forge” lies also in the fact that it uncovers the creative act that constructs the national imaginary. In the case of a relatively new metaphor constructing identity, the figure calls attention to itself, thus showing its hand, but conventional conceptual metaphors do not normally draw attention to themselves and therefore they can easily be mistaken for some kind of essential “reality.” An analysis of both novel and conventional conceptual metaphors confirms that a race’s “conscience” is culturally constructed and that discourse, especially through metaphor, plays a significant role in this “totally discursive being,” as Kristeva describes the (French) nation.

In the run-up to the referendum (and the subsequent general election held on April 12, 2003) that was meant to decide whether the central Mediterranean island state of Malta would join the EU, discourse played a leading role in the debate on the loss or strengthening or indeed the very existence of the Maltese identity. Much of this literary and/or political discourse relies on the underlying conventional metaphors of the nation-as-village, the nation mother and the nation-as-traveller which abound in Maltese literature.

Go to the conference website

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