Death
of a giant
of Maltese
literature
Oliver Friggieri, the man whose
work laid bare the soul of a trou-
bled nation in its worst days of
political divide, passed away
this weeek aged 73.
An intellectual who was a po-
et, novelist, literary critic, and
minor philosopher, his work had
an unmistakable timbre of exis-
tentialism.
He articulated Malta's national
consciousness in his works, no-
tably with his 1986 work Fil-Par-
lament ma Jikbrux Fjuri and the
unforgettable paean to murder
victims Karin Grech and Ray-
mond Caruana, victims of Mal-
ta's political war in the 1980s.
Friggieri was born in Floriana,
Malta, in 1947. He studied at the
Bishop's Seminary and then at
the University of Malta in 1968
where he acquired a Bachelor
of Arts in Maltese, Italian and
Philosophy (1968), and then a
Masters (1975).
In 1978 he acquired a Doctor-
ate in Maltese literature and Lit-
erary Criticism from the Catholic
University of Milan, Italy.
He later became head of the
Department of Maltese, at the
Faculty of Arts of the University
of Malta.
14
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 NOVEMBER 2020
EYEWITNESS
PHOTO BY JAMES BIANCHI
