UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
Institute of Maltese Studies
M.A. in Maltese Studies
IMS5007 Maltese Literature
2008/9
Exam Paper: Thursday 22nd January 16.45- 18.45
Duration 2 hours
Please find 6 questions to choose 2.
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la. Theatre in Maltese developed as a popular art-form under the direct influence of
major European theatrical traditions and at the expense of indigenous dramatic traditions.
Discuss.
OR
Ib. During the 1970s, Francis Ebejer wrote several works which dealt with contemporary
local issues in what could be considered as generally realistic theatre. Analyse briefly the
main issues that Ebejer discusses in relation to the country's cultural and political
situation after Independence.
2a. Literary historical fiction was mainly concerned with the search for a national
identity. Discuss with reference to the main Maltese historical novels.
OR
2b. Maltese fiction often dealt with the conflict between the individual and society.
Discuss.
3a. "All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." Examine this
criterion by referring to Maltese Poetry.
OR
3b. Dun Kama, as the voice of a dignified nationhood, succeeds in sublimating the vision
of a glorious nation and transforms its long history into a lyrical epic full of heroes and
spectacular events. Discuss.
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4a. Discuss the various definitions of literature and the poet in relation to each other and
the concepts of inspiration and artistic beauty with special reference to Western
Philosophy including Maltese aesthetic writings of different periods.
OR
4b. Analyse two Romantic aesthetic papers written by Maltese authors and compare the
concepts discussed in these papers to the same concepts discussed by foreign Romantic
authors.
5 a. Hermeneuticists such as Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur treat the interpretive
process as a growth in meaning or a surplus of meaning, which then brings about a
corresponding growth in the interpreter's being or worldview. How might this be applied
to a literary archetype or genre that confirms one's cultural or folkloristic identity at the
same time that it extends this identity into an enlarged worldview? How is one's cultural
and folkloristic being preserved through an interpretative extension of one's familiar
world?
OR
5b. Modern hermeneutics argues that the interpreter recognizes established models of
meaning through their constituent parts, yet the interpreter can only recognize these parts
by first positing tentative models of meaning. This hermeneutical circle is not vicious, but
obliges the interpreter to see the whole and the parts as interdependent, explaining and
transforming each other's nature. How would you apply the hermeneutical circle to
literary parts and wholes of post-Independence Maltese poetry? What light is shed on a
Maltese literary identity and cultural mindset by this interdependence of part and whole?
6a. The identity of Malta as the complex result of diverse cultures fused into one unique
whole. Discuss with special reference to its literature.
OR
6b. How was the "imagined political community" that Benedict Anderson writes about
created through Maltese literature. What kind of Maltese national community did they
create?
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