Wednesday, October 16, 2019

SOLILOQUY OF A SMALL-TOWN UNCIVIL SERVANT by K.K. Srivastava, Rupa Publications, India 2019.


’I have truely ridden the bicycle. I know both: the bicycle and the ride. My perception has not been principally an act but a background against which all acts and behaviours stand out. I have looked at perception as an active process allowing it to winnow latent meanings from human action.’
                                         
                        SOLILOQUY OF A SMALL-TOWN UNCIVIL SERVANT
                
K.K. Srivastava is the author of three volumes of poetry: Ineluctable Stillness (2005), An Armless Hand Writes (2008; 2012), and Shadows of the Real (2012). His poems have been translated into Hindi (Andhere Se Nikli Kavitayen—VANI PRAKASHAN (2017) and his book Shadows of the Real into Russian by veteran Russian poet Adolf Shvedchikov. Srivastava is also reviewer and columnist for the newspapers The Pioneer and The Daily Star. Currently he works as Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General. His publisher describes him as ‘very reticent and reclusive.’

Soliloquy of a Small-Town Uncivil Servant: a literary non-fiction, is Srivastava’s fourth book but  first written in prose. It is organized in 13 chapters, together with a Prologue and an Epilogue. In the Prologue, the narrator admits that he lost his memory, thus deciding to “retrieve afresh” and “undertake this journey in order to unravel the story that will discover me.” The aim is also to “reach the core of the disjointed identities.” The titles of the chapters already say a lot: Srivastava writes about growing up in Gorakhpur; his early adolescence, Prof. Yadav and his uncle; rendevouz with a New World (about his first encounters as a civil servant); sex and sensuality; authors, books and human behaviour; of human niceties; women of literature and women in literature; and social media (“like a fairy tale with ubiquituos surfaces...”). The book propels the readers to a revealing insight into the power of  imagination on memories: not only of the events that have actually occurred, but the ones   often imagined. Ambling through the muzzy alleyways of time, he skillfully shapes his experiences into an amalgam of real and unreal.

The author declares from the beginning that this is not a memoir, at the most a semi-autobiographical work. Thus Srivastava is the author and K.K.the narrator. So I feel.  Srivastava opted for the title “Soliloquy” because the 58-year-old “I” is in conversation with itself, thus the reader is witness to this interior monologue, or “exercise in reinventing my imagination, rethinking my cogitations.” Soliloquy is thus a collection of fragments which together reveal the writer as a whole during his journey - “an onerous journey not without pain” - which started in 1988 when K.K. wrote his first poem, ‘Birth trauma’. Thus, his birth as a writer.

K.K. is a staunch beliver in India’s Hindu religion and culture, traditions, rites, ways of living and family for all of which he has highest esteem. He reveals himself to be a well-read person, and admits that he grew up, “Amidst books by eminent authors and under illiterate Amma’s guidance, insight and forsight, this is what made me.” In fact, Soliloquy is full of inter-textual references and names of different writers, artists, and philosophers, hailing both from India and the western world: Murphy and Watt by Samuel Beckett, V.S. Naipaul’s India: A Wounded Civilization, Dr. Faustus, Sartre’s Nausea, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Peter Shaffer’s Equus, Albert Camus’s The Fall, Salman Rushdie, Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, R.B. Sheridan’s The Rivals, Anthony de Mello (priest, therapist and poet), Nirad Chaudhuri’s The Continent of Circe, Nassim Taleb (Lebanese-American essayist and scholar, but also statistician, former trader and risk analyst), Narendra Modi’s poetry book A Journey, Terence’s play Andria, Raj Kamal Jha (writer and master sculptor), Edward Albee (American playright), Vladimir Nabokov, poetess Kamla Das, Joseph Conrad, Milan Kundera, Hindi poet Muktibodh, and Ezra Pound. All are part of Srivastava’s accumulated cultural baggage and wisdom and thus get reflected in his soliloquies.

Writing about his childhood, Srivastava admits that, “Sometimes we return to the childhood to get newness.” His writing flows naturally using crystal clear images (thus “eidetic”), is genuine, and generates the eventual smile, like when Srivastava remembers his uncle verbally abusing a stubborn and indifferent horse, or burning pages of Shakespeare’s plays to prepare tea with a different taste, in the absence of wood or coal; or when his teacher answers his question: “Don’t ask many questions. My wife makes life hell for me in the house. At least let me live peacefully here.” K.K. links one chapter to the next by revealing the subject of the following chapter at the end of the previous one. His writing - made up of memories, and descriptions full of animation, movement and life, philosophical and psychological insights - generates profound reflection and pleasure. I liked most a number of aphorisms: “You define someone and either you or that someone is doomed.”; “Human anomalies are our greatest curse, but we live happily with these.”; “… age dulls us, but beauty lives through us imprisoned inside our ruined body.” “A reviewer does not look through the windows of other houses; he has his own windows. But disputants argue that the best reviewers never look through their windows; they choose others’ windows to kill the bird.”; “Time is not an imaginary entity. It is a continual palpitation of moments.”  He aptly commented adversely on writers when in 2015, these writers started relinquishing their awards in India. He exhorted them “Writers must neither live in glass houses nor make castles in the air. But our award-relinquishing writers do both.”. And further, ‘When books create controversy, it is welcome and the magnificent grandeur of art lies in justifying and accepting all such controversies. The real problem arises when award relinquishing writers create controversies and generously gift themselves the honour to wallow in these.’’  He attributed efforts of writers hell bent on returning the awards to their being intrinsically motivated ‘’to emerge from oblivion’’. “Good bureaucrats know the art of tiptoeing.”; “Feminism is not ultimate freedom. Feminism has limitations. Those who believe in it must believe in its limitations.”; “Literature dies the moment senile old men start assessing young poetess's works.”; and, “Reality is a dream. By the time you realize it, half of your life has been lived and you are not sure if the half left over belongs to you at all.” At times K.K.’s prose takes the form of conversations between him and Prof. Yadav, the Socratic way. He also includes letters sent to him by some of his writer-friends living far away and admits that what he misses in India, he gets from such friends.

On other occasions, Srivastava mentions or comments on his previous literary works such as Ineluctable Stillness or Shadows of the Real. He gives us a clear description of himself: “I believe in the power of words: I write poems, books of poetry.” Being thus means also being a keen observer or listener of one’s surroundings. Listening through the closed doors of a lift while electricity is down, or a conversation with 95-year-old Joe P.K., can prove to be food for reflection on different aspects of humankind and their behaviour. Year 2004, travelling by taxi, K.K. gives us a vivid description of what happens on the roads in small places: a lowly paid guard with a big belly; women filling discarded containers with water flowing from a pipe; and a naked boy defecating in public; all mirroring the discomforts people live because of paucity. Such experiences or circumstances make both K.K. and the reader reflect and grow and feel motivated to do something for the poor and needy.  

During this voyage K.K. addresses directly the reader and goes up and down memory lane, referring to particular dates and years: 1979-80, 2017, 2005, 1978, 2014, 2015, 1987-88… Srivastava alternates between narrating, on the one hand, particular experiences of his own and, on the other, personal reflections on various issues and worldly happenings. His are words that inspire inquiry: “The writers I mentioned are dead. But are their ideas dead too?”. He thus writes about worthwhile things, ignorance and the working of the mind; about the difference between living and existing; suicide; dreams and images of snow; correspondence of love through poetry and letters; he describes his beloved as ‘a poem in trance’ (‘’Her curiosity in me aroused curiosity about her in me. Curiosity met its counterpart. Curiosity is at the root of all love……I am ever ready to meet life attired in deeper mire of sorrow.’); “real joy” for thinking persons and writers ; train, platforms and philosophy; age and beauty; American poet Michael McClure’s concept of Caves and “huge figures” (“… you fellows die so many times every hour in caves. You people lack reaction, are tawdry, passive, inarticulate, puny.”); lack of reaction which gives space to exploitation; rebellion or the need to rebel at least once in a lifetime; Wikipedia today vs the eighties; the mechanics of coterie and how it controls powerful people; reading bestselling authors or reading unappealing and forgotten books; “farting aloud” intellectuals and their inability to confront even simple, let alone difficult, questions; the need to address broken parts in History which are many; YouTube; art and literature not being “a knavish business”; creativity, recognition and awards; wearing the right tie and clothes, social parties and behaviour; book-reading sessions and “smooth elevation” in upward mobility; India as a land of marvels, but also as part of humanity with its good and bad points; feminism; language as a thing of beauty; relationships between men and women, bachelors and spinsters; words written on taxis; writing (it helps the writer get out there what he thinks is essential); isolation (“an enlightened freedom, the freedom which illuminates the world inside the writer.”) some ostentatious persons from different walks of life being “ replete with stylized arrogance and a self-eulogized persona”); and much more. K.K. also writes from the social-economic point of view, citing economists such as G.A. Cohen and Paul Streeten, and philosophers like John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin applying their ideas in the context of development in his home town Gorakhpur.

Writing becomes a recording of past encounters: “the streets, the shops, the colleges, the schools, the University, the vendors, the hospitals, the libraries and above all the individuals that crowded the city.” At moments Srivastava is also very critical, and this is another strength in his writing. His mocking tone is a very important element in his writing style. While writing about some of the teachers who taught him in University, he mentions about their “belief [...] in the uselessness of time”, he criticizes the “creamy-layered professors lacking both wisdom and knowledge.” Progress means leaving no space for children to play and old people to spend time together, but also people knowing the art of fitting into particular forms as these suit them, leaving crowds of patients patiently queuing for long hours and days, making profits as only concern. Srivastava reminds us of the presence of the mafia lords in his place of birth, Gorakhpur, known as a Second Chicago in the past, and where life, once upon a time, was marginalized, hopless and unyielding. However, K.K. also mentions positive elements of his birthplace such as the grand Goraknath temple, Gita Press, literary legends and learned men. It is here that K.K. expresses himself in favour of the art of simple living, bringing nature very close to it, a reminder very relevant to concrete-ridden societies, thus revealing himself as a dreamer of a new dawn for his home town. His honesty and directness are powerful. He writes about people in parties talking aimlessly, “none interested in listening. Intellectual inertia or dementia....Exteriours infatuate them: these bring them face to face with their ilk. That is the precise reason I don’t circulate.’ Suddenly he cites Vladimir Nabokov,’Where there is beauty, there is pity, for beauty must die. It dies.’ He thus reminds ostentatious persons of ultimate truth: decay and end.

In the Epilogue Srivastava confesses that “Eidetic merger of insights and intuitions is at the core of my narratives.” In psychology the word “eidetic” relates to or denotes mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.  K.K. also  admits that, “On days I wrote, I felt like walking the road, the way I imagine I would, on the day of my death. Like moments just before death, which bring all memories of a man’s life to him before he forgets everything for good, the end of the days I would write on would bring the same feelings to me.” Reading Soliloquy from a miniature island Malta: thousands of kms away from giant and  multifold  India (K.K thanks his poet friend Bernard Jackson from UK for maintaing ‘an objective distance’ and for reposing his total faith in the present efforts for the future good of society) makes me feel in dire need of reading the book again and again in order to understand the real depths Srivastava’s writing touch and uncover. Soliloquy is introspective: it opens not only Srivastava’s but also strongly emerging India’s inner world to be read with gusto. A big thanks to K.K. for sharing his new work worldwide.


Wednesday, June 12, 2019

REBBIEGĦA KOLLHA LWIEN ta’ Alfred Massa, Horizons, 2019


Rebbiegħa Kollha Lwien huwa s-16-il rumanz ta’ Alfred Massa li jifrex fuq 240 paġna maqsumin f’16-il kapitlu. Hawnhekk, Massa, li llum għandu mat-tmenin sena, jikkonċentra fuq żmien iż-żgħożija, mela żmien l-imħabba, u dan billi jirrakkonta l-ġrajja ta’ żewġ familji ftit snin wara t-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija. Dan hu rumanz li jieħu x-xeħta ta’ ħarsa nostalġika lejn dan iż-żmien fil-ħajja tal-bniedem li għandu ħafna mis-sabiħ, minkejja li l-waqtiet diffiċli ma jonqsux. Fil-fatt Massa jsemmi wkoll xi ħsibijiet koroh li jgħaddu minn moħħ iż-żagħżugħ/a f’waqtiet bħal dawn, fosthom is-suwiċidju u l-abort, imma kontra dawn joffri dejjem l-alternattiva tal-fidi. F’dan ix-xogħol narrattiv Massa jikteb dwar valuri li jemmen fihom bħal-lealtà fl-imħabba, il-familja, ir-rispett lejn il-persuna u ġisimha, ir-rispett tal-ulied lejn il-ġenituri, u l-fidi Nisranija. Ma jonqosx mela t-ton morali tan-narratur: hekk lejn l-aħħar tar-rumanz jikteb dwar iż-żwieġ u l-“familja tradizzjonali; is-sinsla ta’ kull pajjiż Ewropew.” (p. 241)

Mill-ewwel jispikkaw l-element deskrittiv - fejn huma importanti anki l-element kromatiku (l-ilwien) u dak udittiv (ħsejjes) - , tant għal qalb Massa, kif ukoll temi bħalma huma t-twemmin u n-natura. Massa jħobb jagħtina kwadretti marbutin mal-imgħoddi, żmien meta Malta kienet għadha taħt l-Ingliżi u fil-parti l-kbira tagħha rurali, u żmien meta kien għad hemm il-bogħod bejn l-irħula u l-Belt, mela Malta fis-snin ħamsin u l-bidu tas-snin sittin (żmien il-kwestjoni ta-Integration mar-Renju Unit, il-ġlieda bejn il-Partit Laburista u l-Knisja, u t-talba għall-Indipendenza), Malta fi żmien ir-Rediffusion bħala sors tajjeb ta’ tagħrif u ta’ divertiment l-iktar għal min kien nieqes mill-iskola: jissemmew il-qari ta’ rumanzi klassiċi tal-letteratura Maltija (Raġel bil-Għaqal  u Ġrajja tal-Gwerra) jew kanzunetti magħrufa bħal O Sole Mio. Ma jonqosx ukoll il-kumment ambjentalistiku ta’ Massa: “Dak iż-żmien Malta kienet mimlija kampanja; xi ħaġa li llum diżgrazzjatament il-progress qiegħed jeqridha.” (p. 97)

Dawk ta’ Alfred Massa huma deskrizzjonijiet ta’ ħajjiet normali., f’rabta ma’ għadd ta’ tradizzjonijiet li m’għadhomx magħna, bħat-tberik tar-Riħ li kienet issir fil-25 ta’ April, jew il-forn u l-ħami ta’ nhar ta’ Ħadd, il-familja madwar il-mejda waqt l-ikla ewlenija nhar jum il-mistrieħ, is-suq - fil-pjazzetta tar-raħal quddiem il-knisja – bħala lok fejn kienu jiltaqgħu u jgħidu kelma n-nisa. Fuq in-naħa l-oħra, jinħassu l-biża’ u l-injoranza li kienu jeżistu rigward ċerti suġġetti bħalma huma r-relazzjoni bejn ġuvni u tfajla, u n-nuqqasijiet ta’ poplu li jgħix fi spazji limitati: “Mur ara kemm ser itaqtaq ilsien in-nies!” (p. 170) Dan kien żmien meta s-sess kien meqjus bħala tabù u diżunur jekk isir qabel iż-żwieġ, u kienet traġedja kemm għat-tfajla kif ukoll għal familtha jekk toħroġ tqila qabel il-waqt. Huwa f’partijiet bħal dawn fejn Massa jinkludi spiss il-paragun bejn l-imgħoddi u l-preżent. Fuq kollox Massa jurina kif inbidlu ċerti komportamenti u tradizzjonijiet matul iż-żmien.

Dak li jikteb dwaru Massa hu żmien meta kienu jaħkmu l-qgħad u l-emigrazzjoni għal bosta Maltin li kienu jsibu xogħol barra minn xtutna. Hu żmien meta l-iskola kienet tfisser avvanz soċjali, imma anki żmien meta kienu għadhom jeżistu bosta limitazzjonijiet fuq il-post tax-xogħol u anki fil-knisja: darba minnhom il-kappillan iwissi li “L-irġiel għandhom ikunu għalihom u n-nisa għalihom...” (p. 129)

Bħala spazju jaħkem dak tar-raħal, b’wieħed mill-personaġġi ewlenin ikun il-Kappillan, il-persuna mfittxija minn min ikollu bżonn ta’ parir. Personaġġ ieħor hija dik li tilħaq salib ħaddieħor. Spazjalment jissemmew ukoll il-Furjana, il-Belt Valletta u t-Tlett Ibliet, u anki l-Għadira u l-Buskett bħala postijiet ta’ rikreazzjoni. F’dan ir-rumanz il-qarrej jifhem li ż-żmien għaddej il-ħin kollu permezz tal-festi li nsibu fuq il-kalendarju tal-Knisja Kattolika: hekk jissemmew San Mark l-Evanġelista, il-Ġimgħa Mqaddsa, San Girgor, il-Qalb Imqaddsa ta’ Ġesù. It-trama narrattiva, mela r-ritmu tar-rakkont, jimxu skond it-tradizzjonijiet u l-festi li huma għal qalbna l-Maltin.

In-narratur huwa extra-dijeġetiku u onnixxenti, mela mhux parti mit-trama imma osservatur estern u jaf x’inhu għaddej f’moħħ kull personaġġ f’kull waqt. Stilistikament insibu bosta partijiet djalogati li jalternaw mal-kumment tan-narratur. Għalhekk ma jonqosx tagħrif ta’ natura kulturali u storika dwar Malta, u huwa hawn meta Massa jieqaf temporanjament mir-rakkont ewlieni. Indirettament l-awtur ikun qed jistieden lill-qarrej biex jibża’ għal wirt art twelidu. Massa l-awtur-narratur - “jien ngħid” - jinkludi wkoll referenzi għal kotba ta’ riċerka partikolari jew kittieba oħra bħal Jeremy Boissevbain, John Keats, u Ġużè Galea: hawn xi drabi l-kitba tieħu x-xeħta ta’ saġġ iktar milli rumanz. Bħal dejjem Massa jħaddem tajjeb il-Malti idjomatiku u jinkludi bosta qwiel Maltin, minkejja li ma jiddejjaqx xi drabi jdaħħal ukoll xi espressjonijiet bl-Ingliż.

Ritmikament in-narrazzjoni timxi bil-mod ħafna matul parti sostanzjali tar-rumanz, tant li tista’ tegħja lil ċerti qarrejja, imma minn ċertu punt ’il quddiem Massa bħal jintroduċi numru ta’ elementi ġodda li jagħtu lin-narrazzjoni ħajja ġdida u b’hekk tinqara b’inqas tbatija. Personalment, laqtitni l-iktar il-parti meta nibdew naraw żvilupp fil-personaġġ(a) seksieka tar-raħal billi jibda joħroġ bil-mod il-mod l-aspett uman tagħha u jinxteħet dawl fuq l-imgħoddi mqalleb tagħha biex nifhmu għaliex ġabet ruħha b’tali mod u x’qed iħabbatha. Hawnhekk it-trama bħal takkwista enerġija ġdida u jibdew jinkixfu rapporti umani li wieħed qatt ma ħaseb dwarhom qabel. Mela, kif qed naraw, fin-narrattiva ta’ Massa naqraw il-ħajja ta’ lkoll kemm aħna: naqraw dwar il-problema tad-dipressjoni li wieħed jipprova jtaffiha b’mod żbaljat bix-xorb, il-kanċer, l-adozzjoni, il-firda bejn ċerti persuni, ix-xjuħija, il-problemi ta’ saħħa li ġġib magħha, u l-biża’ mis-solitudni u l-abbandun, imma aktar tard anki dwar il-metamorfosi li wieħed jista’ jgħaddi minnha minħabba esperjenzi partikolari, is-sabiħ tal-maternità, ir-rikonċiljazzjoni u l-maħfra.

Rebbiegħa Kollha Lwien hu rumanz bi tmiem pożittiv u hieni. Hu xogħol li fih Massa ma jużax il-kelma “destin”, tema importanti fix-xogħlijiet l-oħra tiegħu. Dan tiegħu mhux biss xogħol fittizzju imma b’xi mod hu wkoll studju antropoloġiku-soċjali tal-poplu Malti hekk kif kien qed jirkupra wara s-snin kiefra tat-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija. Żġur li jieħdu gost b’rumanz bħal dan dawk li jkunu jixtiequ jaqraw xogħol mingħajr bosta kumplessitajiet jew taħbil il-moħħ.



IX-XIRKA TAL-BEATI PAOLI ta' Salv Sammut


Fid-Dedika u Nota mill-Awtur li Sammut jikteb għal dan is-seba’ rumanz tiegħu naqraw: “Lil dawk kollha li b’xi mod jew ieħor batew u għaddew mit-trawma kerha ta’ att [ta’] pedofilija minn min suppost kien qiegħed hemm biex iħares l-innoċenza tal-minorenni.” Minn hawn diġà nifhmu x’se tkun it-tema ewlenija tar-rumanz. Dan kollu f’xogħol li jtul ftit iktar minn 300 paġna u jinqasam f’żewġ partijiet ewlenin, li flimkien jgħaqqdu 30 kapitlu bi Prologu u Epilogu. 

Fil-Prologu naraw lill-kittieb ġewwieni, mela dak li hu parti mit-trama fittizzja, li - issa li kiber u m’għadux tifel - jiddeċiedi li jikteb it-tifkiriet tiegħu waqt tempesta li qed isseħħ barra, imma fl-istess ħin għaddejja minn ġo fih tempesta oħra interna: “Moħħu kien tqil l-istess bħassmewwiet. Iżda kien ċar! ... kiteb ukoll kollox, mill-bidu nett...”, u aktar tard naqraw li “Seħet is-siegħa li kitbu għax ma’ kull sentenza li kiteb kien jerġa’ jrodd lura tifkiriet ta’ esperjenzi li xtaq li qatt ma seħħew jew għadda minnhom.” (pp. 13-14)

F’dan ir-rumanz polizjesk insibu r-reliġjuż, il-ġurnalist, il-pulizija, il-kirurgu u l-bullies/kriminali bħala personaġġi ċentrali. Sammut jambjenta l-ewwel disa’ kapitli - mela l-ewwel taqsima tarrumanz (intitolata “Tfulija Mqallba”) - fil-passat li hu mqiegħed fis-snin ħamsin tas-seklu 20. Hawn naqraw dwar il-logħob tat-tfal fl-aħħar tas-snin ’50, logħob li huma kienu jivvintaw anki mill-materjl li kien ikollhom disponibbli, l-innoċenza tat-tfal li tnissel ukoll tbissima, imma anki il-biża’ tal-ommijiet quddiem mistoqsijiet marbutin ma ‘sess min-naħa ta’ wliedhom, mera tal-injoranza li l-poplu kien jinżamm fiha fl-imgħoddi. 

Imbagħad, it-tieni taqsima (intitolata “Tliet Deċennji Wara”) titqiegħed temporalment filpreżent, jew aħjar tletin sena wara, mela bejn wieħed u ieħor fis-snin tmenin. Hawnhekk Sammut mill-ewwel jaħsadna b’delitt faħxi li matul din it-taqsima jiġi segwit minn delitti oħrajn u dan bħal jagħti enerġija ġdida lir-rakkont. Huwa hawn fejn jispikka l-element polizjesk. Bil-mod il-mod il-qarrej jibda jinduna li hemm pont jew fil dirett bejn l-avvenimenti li seħħew fl-imgħoddi u dawk li qed iseħħu fil-preżent. Bħal f’kull detective story insibu lmessaġġ bil-Latin li l-qattiel iħalli warajh, il-post tad-delitt partikolari li jintagħżel b’għan partikolari u l-misteru wara l-espressjoni “Beati Paoli”. Dan kollu jnissel mistoqsijiet varji – Għaliex? Xi tfisser? Min huma? u l-bqija - mhux biss fil-protagonisti li qed isegwu l-każ imma anki fil-qarrejja. Sammut jagħtina wkoll deskrizzjoni ta’ kemm inbidlet Malta matul iż-żmien mill-perspettiva ta’ min telaqha għal xi snin u reġa’ ġie lura. Kapitlu 19 bħal jagħti ftit mistrieħ mir-ritmu mgħaġġel tat-trama ewlenija minkejja li jibqgħu importanti t-temi tal-imgħoddi u ttifkira: dan hu kapitlu ta’ riflessjoni dwar Jum l-Omm u dwar dawk li nħobbu u m’għadhomx magħna. 

Din id-darba Sammut għażel li juża lingwaġġ dirett fil-partijiet djalogati tiegħu, mela bla ma ddejjeq jinkludi kliem li jista’ jdarras lil ċerti qarrejja, minkejja li hu kliem li jintuża fid-diskors ta’ kuljum minn bosta individwi. Inkluda wkoll ċerti partijiet li huma marbutin ma’ sess jew stupru/abbuż sesswali. Dan wassal biex fuq il-qoxra ta’ wara jinkiteb li Ix-Xirka tal-Beati Paoli hu rakkomandat għal qarrejja minn 18-il sena ’l fuq. Dan ma jagħmel l-ebda għajb lil dan ixxogħol letterarju li ritmikament jinqara jgħaġġel u jżomm lill-qarrej kurjuż u fuq ix-xwiek, minkejja li Sammut jitma’ t-tagħrif bżonnjuż lill-qarrej ftit ftit, bla għaġla ta’ xejn. Din il-kurżità tissaħħaħ qatigħ lejn l-aħħar tar-rumanz: il-qarrej jistaqsi x’kienu jgħidu n-noti f’tarf il-paġna tal-folji mgħoddija lill-ispettur? U x’kien hemm miktub fil-ktejjeb li l-ispettur sab b’kumbinazzjoni fuq l-iskrivanija ta’ personaġġ ieħor? Sammut jipprovdilna deskrizzjonijiet b’saħħithom u dettaljati. L-azzjoni sseħħ fi spazji differenti bħalma huma skola jew istitut għal subien ta’ familji foqra fejn isiru l-abbużi, uffiċċju fid-depow tal-pulizija, kamra mortwarja, kappelli fil-kampanja fejn iseħħu xi delitti, kafetterija, ċimiterju, l-ajruport, l-istess kampanja jew il-baħar ta’ Malta; hi azzjoni li tifrex fuq spazji differenti, kemm rurali kif ukoll urbani – bilħsejjes u l-ilwien differenti tagħhom - azzjoni li timraħ mill-Mellieħa u tibqa’ nieżla sa Għar Lapsi. 

It-temi li Sammut jittratta din id-darba huma l-faqar, il-pedofilija u l-umiljazzjoni, il-bulliżmu (mela fenomeni li ma bdewx ilbieraħ) f’ambjenti magħluqin u klawstrofobiċi, il-kriminalità, ilmod kif il-progress bidel wiċċ Malta matul is-snin, mela t-tema ambjentalistika, imma anki lħbiberija, il-lealtà u l-irġulija, fost oħrajn. Minkejja s-suġġett jaħraq u attwali tal-pedofilija, wieħed però ma jridx jaħseb li dan hu rumanz antiklerikali. Hekk, lejn l-aħħar tar-rumanz naqraw dan: “Inti taħseb li jekk nixtri pakkett imsiemer u l-ewwel wieħed li nsammar jitgħawweġ u t-tieni u t-tielet ukoll, narmi l-pakkett kollu? Daqshekk ieħor mhux se ngħid li nnies tal-Knisja huma kollha bħal dawk jew dak li kont naf jien snin ilu. Serraħ rasek... hawnhekk l-ambjent lanqas biss jintgħaraf minn kif kien. Hawn arja aktar nadifa!” (p. 253) 

Dejjem fuq nota ambjentalistika, Sammut iqabbel l-isbuħija tad-“dehra tal-kampanja għadha mhix mittiefsa minn id l-ispekulatur” (p. 97), ma’ dik ta’ reġjuni oħra bħat-Toskana fl-Italja jew partijiet mill-Awstrija u mir-Repubblika Ċeka. Din hi tfakkira li Salv Sammut hu bniedem li vvjaġġa ħafna. Aktar ’il quddiem naqraw, “...illum toroq wesgħin aktar u jgħaddu karozzi flok karettuni u bougainvillas minflok l-Ingliża... Ma basarx li l-ħtiġiet soċjali kienu se jagħmlu daqshekk qerda mill-ambjent rurali li kien jaf.” (p. 147) Bħal donnu Sammut, permezz ta’ wieħed mill-personaġġi tiegħu, l-ewwel jesprimi sens ta’ wġigħ li wara jinbidel f’rabja: “Ara ftit kif kullimkien stupraw bil-bini! Ma ħallewx roqgħa ħamrija waħda! Lanqas farfett wieħed ma jidher itir bħal qabel!” (p. 150) Il-qarrej jifhem għalhekk li Ix-Xirka tal-Beati Paoli jitkellem dwar stupru ieħor: dak tal-ambjent naturali li bħat-tfal m’għandux leħen u sefa vittma ta’ min għandu f’idu l-poter. Il-“farfett” hawn jista’ jinftiehem bħala simbolu tat-tfulija li ntilfet darba għal dejjem, tfulija li fl-imgħoddi kienet ħaġa waħda mal-ambjent tal-widien u l-kampanja Maltija. Leħen Sammut bħal jerġa’ jinstema’ fi kliem bħal dan: “Jien issa xbajt bl-istorbju talibliet... Issa bdejt nixxennaq għall-kwiet!” (p. 199) Hija x-xewqa ta’ ħafna minna wkoll. 

Dan hu rumanz dwar l-effett - jew trawmi differenti - fuq it-tfal u t-taqlib psikoloġiku u soċjali li jgħaddu minnu meta jiċċaqalqu minn post għall-ieħor u jkollhom jadattaw għal kultura differenti bla ppjanat, dwar it-tpattija, dwar il-ġlieda bejn il-ħażin u t-tajjeb – jissemmew anki d-droga u l-prostituzzjoni -, mela dwar il-kuntrast bejn l-innoċenza u l-biża’ tat-tfal li jiġu abbużati għall-ewwel darba u l-ħażen u l-ipokrisija tal-adult korrott, dwar mard fil-familja u ttbatija li tgħaddi minnha meta jiġi nieqes il-missier, in-nuqqas ta’ għajnuna soċjali lir-romol, is-sagrifiċċji li tagħmel il-mara-omm li toħroġ taħdem għall-bżonn, it-tbatija tal-ulied li jkollhom iħallu d-dar u jgħixu fi skola tal-fqar, id-dilemmi etiċi u morali li wieħed jiltaqa’ magħhom meta jkun fuq xogħlu, il-midja u s-sensazzjonaliżmu. Sitwazzjonijiet bħal xi wħud minn dawn żgur li jfakkru f’Oliver Twist ta’ Charles Dickens. F’parti oħra tar-rumanz Sammut ifakkar f’Animal Farm ta’ George Orwell, meta jikteb, “Hawnhekk, f’din l-iskola kien jinsab f’nofs razzett ta’ ħnieżer selvaġġi li jew tmur għal għajnhom jew jikluk ħaj.” (p. 45) Hu rumanz li jittratta l-inizzjazzjoni għad-dinja adulta permezz ta’ abbuż: “kien ħalla d-dinja tat-tfulija biex mingħajr ma talab jew staqsa għaliha daħal fid-dinja tal-kbar.” (p. 70) Hawnhekk Sammut m’għandux kantunieri: jikkundanna lill-pedofilu u jsejjaħlu “bhima selvaġġa”. (p. 71) Il-ħsieb ta’ Sammut hu li parti mit-tort wara l-istupru tal-innoċenti hi l-injoranza li l-ulied kienu jitħallew fiha min-naħa tal-ġenituri, imma anki min-naħa ta’ sistema edukattiva arretrata li tħalli liċ-ċittadini tal-ġejjieni sajmin minn edukazzjoni sesswali sura u f’waqtha. Aktar tard firrumanz naraw xebh bejn il-mara tal-ispettur – mara intelliġenti u li lesta tisimgħu anki fi kwistjonijiet rigward ix-xogħol tiegħu – u Livia, il-kumpanja tal-Kummissarju Montalbano fixxogħlijiet magħrufa tal-kittieb Sqalli Andrea Camilleri. 

Apparti l-livell fittizzju, insibu wkoll dak li seħħ realment storikament, bħal meta jissemma lkunflitt politiko-reliġjuż bejn il-Partit Laburista u l-Knisja fis-snin ’50 u ’60, u r-referendum għall-Integration ta’ Frar 1956. Dan bħal jagħti lit-trama fittizzja iktar kredibbiltà. 

Kollox isib f’postu lejn it-tmiem tar-rumanz, bħal kull detective story tajba, minkejja li Sammut jerfagħlna sorpriżi sal-aħħar. Dan hu rumanz dwar it-tfulija, l-adolexxenza u l-adultezza, xogħol li fih Salv Sammut ma joqgħodx lura milli jikkritika l-ħwejjeġ li ma jogħġbuhx. Fl-aħħar mill-aħħar dan hu xogħol li jispiċċa fuq nota tajba, miktub minn min jemmen li l-ġustizzja tirbaħ, anki jekk wara ħafna snin.
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