Ingratitude, cheek and irony

Roberto Benigni has come and gone, richer by one Honoris Causa in Literature conferred on him by the University of Malta, because he is Roberto Benigni, a foreigner and reads Dante's Divina Commedia divinely.

I have dedicated the best 20 years of my life translating the Commedia in Maltese, rhymes and all, not to mention all of Shakespeare's plays, Oscar Wilde's major works and Voltaire's Candide. But did the University ever acknowledge my literary efforts? I was not even sent a complimentary ticket for Benigni's Serata Dantesca. How's that for sheer ingratitude?

And there is more: the first seven stanzas from my translation of Canto XXXIII of Il-Ġenna, recited in toto by Benigni (in Italian) were printed on a leaflet without anybody seeking my permission and, to add insult to injury, were tampered with: the last word of the second line krejatura was substituted with ħlejqa, ruining the overall structure of the line, besides other grammatical mistakes which could be easily attributed to me. How's that for sheer cheek?

To think that earlier this year I was invited by the Centro Culturale di Ravenna for this year's Progetto Dante, which is being held in Ravenna next September. There, at the Basilica di San Francesco, near Dante's tomb, I will be proudly adding Malta's name to the other countries which have their own translations of Dante's masterpiece. How's that for irony?