Three new books by Joe Friggieri, dealing with three different characters, two historical and one fictional, have just rolled out of the press and are now available at leading booksellers.

Caravaggio: l-inkjesta, published by Klabb Kotba Maltin, contains the full text of the play recently performed at the Manoel Theatre. The production was sponsored and presented by Heritage Malta to mark the fourth centenary of Caravaggio’s Maltese experience.

Described by art historian Keith Sciberras as “a brilliant analysis of Caravaggio’s life and art”, the play “brings back to life major characters from Caravaggio’s days and places them in a contemporary Maltese setting in order to portray the image of a turbulent man whose fiery nature stirred his artistic vigour. Spiced with irony and wit and intertwined with a story of contemporary political wrangling, the play moves in masterly fashion between the realms of history and the imagination”.

In-Nisga tal-Hsieb, Vol. 2, published by Media Centre Ltd, covers the history of philosophy from Descartes to Kant. In Professor Peter Serracino Inglott’s words, “anybody who is at all interested in philosophy, even if only as background knowledge for other interests, will enjoy the clarity and occasional wit of Friggieri’s exposition. The reader of this book will find in it not only first-rate reporting of what the great philosophers of the baroque and neo-classical age said, but a discussion of the great and perhaps eternal problems that human beings have discussed about the meaningfulness or otherwise of their existence”.

Aktar Stejjer tar-Ronnie, also published by Media Centre Ltd, is a new collection of humorous short stories featuring “ir-Ronnie”, that lovable Maltese anti-hero struggling to survive in a harsh and hostile environment. The book is beautifully illustrated by Steven Bonello.