Book on authors who wrote about Malta

A book on the authors who have written about Malta from classical times to 1900 - Thomas Freller's Verses And Visions: The Maltese Islands In World Literature - will be launched on Saturday.

Prof Freller's numerous books and articles on people, incidents and customs relating to the history of Malta are well known.

His substantial new and scholarly work will provide the first overarching view of the many authors, famous and obscure, who have written about Malta.

The author places the various works within the literary and political context of their times, and his knowledge of the highways and byways of Maltese history enables him to explore in depth authors' attitudes to Malta and to the Order of St John.

Beginning with classical literature and the Acts of the Apostles, he goes on to write chapters on English, Italian, French, Spanish and German authors from the 16th to the end of the 19th century.

A few of the authors whose works are examined are: Christopher Marlowe, Lope de Vega, Friedrich Schiller, Sir Walter Scott, Prévost d'Exiles, Washington Irving, Jules Verne and Gabriele Rossetti.

The many footnotes and the substantial bibliography add greatly to the usefulness of the work to the scholar as well as to the general reader.

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti will launch the book on Saturday at noon, at the Green Lounge, Hotel Phoenicia, Floriana. The guest speaker will be Peter Vassallo.

The book can be bought at a special pre-publication price (€34 instead of €40 for the hardback, and €24 instead of €29 for the paperback) until Saturday.