Random thoughts on some local books : of fear, sarcasm, and history

Abstract

Maltese creative prose is on the increase and this is a healthy sign. Short and long narratives are quite popular among Maltese readers, especially when works do not require much intellectual effort, that is when they are merely for entertainment. In Mejt (Dizziness, 1988) Anton Grasso provides much of madness in a collection of five short stories that can easily be digested by the reader who enjoys being gripped by some of the gruesome and paranoiac events. The element of fear in this collection depends upon our realisation of what the author is trying to do. Grasso investigates some of the extreme states of man's consciousness, a vertiginious consciousness that seems to assert Edgar Alan Poe's "And much of madness and more of sin/ and horror the soul of the plot." Almost transcendental experiences grip the mind and shackle it in gyves. [excerpt]