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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JUNE 2016 30 This Week TEODOR RELJIC speaks to the Head of Department of Maltese at the University of Malta about the newly-launched Diploma in Maltese Literature, which aims to provide a lively and dynamic experience of the local literary landscape What were the initial steps of devising this diploma? What led you to see it as a viable pos- sibility? The Diploma in Maltese Lit- erature is a completely new pro- gramme of studies that breaks the mould in its approach to our literature. It will be discuss- ing literary genres, authors, and styles from their oldest to their most recent periods, includ- ing 21st-century experiments in prose, poetry, and drama. This will familiarize students with the basic history of our literature, but the course will go on to dem- onstrate how literature interacts with other artistic mediums and professional careers. One self-evident example is a study-unit that will discuss the mutual adaptation of poetry and music in the context of musical composition; another study- unit will demonstrate the whole editing process that a literary manuscript must go through on its way to becoming a published work. This wider artistic and professional domain has long been a vibrant reality of Maltese Literature. It has not, however, been sufficiently addressed in academic quarters. In setting up this Diploma, we have simply followed upon this growing cultural and profession- al milieu, a move that has taken us well beyond the traditional scholastic approach to literature. So my answer to your first ques- tion would be that this Diploma is viable because it lays claim to a domain of literary production and performance that is both vi- brant and long-standing. Do you think there has been a sizeable resurgence of interest in Maltese literature in recent years? If so, what do you attrib- ute this to, and how will the Di- ploma engage with this reality? Yes, I am convinced that a significant literary revival has thrived in the Maltese context recently. Not in quantitative terms – the yearly increase in published works does not, in it- self, speak volumes. It merely churns out volumes. Qualita- tively, however, the last decades have seen our literature adopting a more cosmopolitan, more mor- ally engaging, less cliched han- dling of topical affairs. It should come as no surprise, then, that authors such as Immanuel Mifsud and Pierre J. Mejlak (re- cipients of the European Union Price for Literature) have struck a chord with a readership wider then the national mindset. Their success cannot be put down to an in-your-face narrative style intent only on breaking with lo- cal tradition, however. Theirs is a literary endeavour that nods acknowledgingly at Maltese literary norms on its way to new stylistic achieve- ments. The Diploma will discuss this inteplay between received and reworked norms of writ- ing, describing it in terms of the natural tendency of literature to challenge and surpass its own covered ground. This will not exclude cultural, political, and historical factors outside litera- ture that have contributed im- mensely towards the continued development of our literary idi- om in Maltese. The course will also look into different areas of literary prac- tice – such as public speaking and reading. This performative aspect of the Diploma proved to be its most attractive feature when it came to finding sponsors for the course. Let me just say how grateful I am to our two sponsors – Banif Bank and Arts Coun- cil Malta – for their support in this programme of studies. Banif Bank will be paying the fee, up to €2000, of the student who will have obtained the highest marks by the end of the course. Arts Council Malta will be reward- ing €500 to each one of the four students obtaining the highest marks in the second-year project that ends the whole programme. This final project epitomises the fundamental aim of the Di- ploma, involving as it does the students' reenactment of a lit- erary work through such per- formative skills as the evocative use of space and body language. Specially qualified lecturers will be discussing how literature can be translated from dormant text to effective corporeal delivery, from play script to its theatrical production, from passive read- ing to an animated interpreta- tion that virtually co-authors the text. Our aim is to give aca- demic recognition to the public face that Maltese literature has long enjoyed in various profes- sional and cultural sectors, and to equip students with the skills necessary for assuming that pub- lic face. What led you to focus on as- pects such as these, and why do you deem them to be crucial to the contemporary Maltese lit- erary climate? The less recognised performa- tive aspects of the literary expe- rience may well be the most vital for its continued success. Word repetition, refrain, rhetorical questions, rhythm, tone, and a myriad other rhetorical and acoustic elements do not need to be privately read as much as they need to be publicly performed, acted out in full view and clear hearing of a responsive audience. All the Diploma's study-units come together in this one defin- ing orientation: literature as it is enacted, staged, or animated be- tween its performing agent and his or her captivated audience. To this end, one study-unit will explore the specific expectations of young and adolescent readers. How does Maltese literature fare with these specific age groups, and what other art forms – say, book illustrations – should be factored into addressing a young readership? What are the styles, typical motifs, and character types that make a literary perfor- mance appeal more to one age group than to another? These concerns are not specific to the contemporary climate of Maltese literature. They have always been there as intuitively mastered skills. But now that we acknowledge a climate change even in our literature, why not study how we are weathering it as performing agents and re- sponsive audiences coming to- gether in our shared literary ex- periences? In terms of the Diploma's critical arm – will there be any predominant critical and intel- lectual trends that you will be focusing on? Since the Diploma will explore how literary works can be crea- tively adapted to other artistic mediums, and since it will inves- tigate how literary criticism can be converted into creative writ- ing, it cannot but highlight those critical schools that focus on the reader as the agent of liter- ary reenactment and adaptation. Reader Response Criticism is rel- evant in this regard, and a whole study-unit will be dedicated to its emphasis on the reader as the animating agent of recontextu- alized literary works. Naturally, disciplines such as editing, crea- tive writing, public reading, and intermedial adaptations of lit- erature will be delivered through their respective methodologies. It is crucial to have the appro- priate methodologies in place when a reader-oriented and per- formative course such as this is launched. What kind of experience can students hope to look forward to after they graduate from the course? Picking up creatively or per- formatively where our good reads have left off involves skills pertaining to many careers: scriptwriting, songwriting, pub- lic reading, teaching, TV and radio broadcasting, editing, Giving Maltese literature its Bernard Micallef The Diploma in Maltese Literature was launched last March