Pranzu statali: Meta Valletta Eighteen qajmet il-Mejtin
Joseph W. Psaila, 2018
ISBN 978-99957-1-416-1; 219pp
Author of the impressive 'Il-Purgatorju 360º (2014), a clever imitation in Maltese terza rima of 'Dante's 'Purgatorio' in which the characters are not Dante's but an array of Maltese personalities, political or not, Joseph W. Psaila has now produced a second lengthy narrative/descriptive, and a number of times satirical, work in verse. The occasion that stimulated him was last year's elaborate celebration of Valletta's being European Cultural Capital during the same year. This time he wisely does not limit himself to terza rima but uses verse in a variety of lengths, sometimes rhyming others not, mostly showing his considerable ability to compose Maltese verse that flows, that rarely limps. I believe he is one of the very few versifiers in this country (Alfred Palma is another who comes to mind but he is a translator) who have created original works of this length that are readable.
Divided into 20 books or sections, the work purports to narrate what was said and done at the various tables at a state banquet occupied by the many guests, these being apart from Ulysses and Calypso (fictitious characters, of course) in the first book, historical characters ranging from Cicero, Count Roger the Norman or a whole series of Grandmasters to the politicians of the last century and this, including a few living ones. In fact, Psaila brings in with much praise the not overpopular Jason Micallef chairman of the Valletta 18 celebrations, not an obvious figure of narrative poetry, and most surprisingly of all brings in Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Mrs Muscat in the last book sitting at table no less than with Napoleon and the Empress Josephine, ending the whole work with his delivery of a long speech lauding his own political achievements and sending up the accusations received of corruption. Has Psaila perhaps assumed the post of Poet Laureate for the present government?
Even those readers who might find this somewhat disappointing, however, will probably agree that Psaila mostly succeeds in giving an often lively picture of the history of the Maltese Isalnds. This he does by seeing that the guests at each of the twenty tables are generally people who lived in more or less the same historical period with similar or confliciting opinions. Their conversation, seemingly moderated by a Head Waiter figure (perhaps Psaila himself) brings out the conflicts and events featuring that period. Thus the medieval Arab chroniclers/geographers Himyari and Al-Idrisi are brought in to give conflicting views regarding Maltese population in the first century or two after the 870 Arab conquest of Malta, while M.A. Vassalli and Dun Mikiel Scerri are allowed to illuminate the views of Malta's opposed Francophiles and Francophobes respectively during the French episode of 1798-1800. In book 9, after criticising Count Roger and the Order for having done little for Gozo (Psaila is a Gozitan), he uses a flash-forward to give a good Maltese version of King George VI's letter when he awarded Malta the George Cross for its heroism during WWII, thus hinting that the author may be a bit of an Anglophile.
The author has undoubtedly read widely and wisely in order to give a more or less convincing historical narrative, and often shows a good knowledge of minor events and minor characters who were briefly resurrected by Giovanni Bonello and others. The long bibliography appended to the book gives a very good idea of how many works were used by Psaila for this work.
I like his idea of mentioning the food served at the various tables, corresponding to the period in which the guests at that table had existed. To mention just one example, on page 40 he mentions that Al-Idrisi, whom I have already mentioned, in the year 1100, writes in his book known as 'Tabula Rogeriana' (Roger's book) of a dish of food that sounds very much like primitive spaghetti.
Literature buffs will enjoy book 11 in which the guests include Lord Byron, S.T. Coleridge, Cardinal Newman, Voltaire and Gustave Flaubert.
Both Byron and Coleridge were associated with Malta, the latter having stayed here for well over a year as Secretary of Sir Alexander Ball in 1804-05. Coleridge was to write later in praise of Ball, so Psaila makes Byron criticise his fellow-poet for having helped the British to establish themselves in Malta. Voltaire is brought in solely because of his famously having stated that no event is better known than the Great Siege of Malta, but Psaila gleefully uses him to make the waiter proclaim that the present Maltese government was inspired by similar illuminated principles as the famous French philosopher.
As one can easily imagine, the reader is also allowed to meet people like Manwel Dimech, Fortunato Mizzi, Gerald Strickland and Sigismondo Savona, as well as the Order's corsair captains, and, of course, the leaders of the Order's defence in 1565, as well as the Ottoman leaders, including Torghut, or, Dragut Rais, a formidable seaman and admiral killed during the Siege (of which Psaila gives a lively poetic account) who is detested by the Gozitans for having led most of them away in slavery following his raids on their island in 1551.
This is an unusual work a good many readers will approach with some pleasure, even if they feel that the author's political bias is allowed to be much too obvious.