Gozo and World War II
Charles Bezzina: When the Siren Wailed: Memoirs of Wartime Gozo, an English translation by Alfred Palma of the original Meta Karbet is-Sirena (2003), self-published, 2012. 107 pp. In the year 2000, Charles Bezzina published The Fury of War over Gozo,...
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Charles Bezzina: When the Siren Wailed: Memoirs of Wartime Gozo, an English translation by Alfred Palma of the original Meta Karbet is-Sirena (2003), self-published, 2012. 107 pp.
In the year 2000, Charles Bezzina published The Fury of War over Gozo, his father Frank’s own experiences of the grim and difficult years of World War II.
His poetry subtly prevails in the way the book is written, with so much love and devotion lurking between the lines- Patrick Sammut
Frank died in 1996 and his son, Charles, considered it his filial duty to expound onwhat his late father had so dearly begun and kept atheart: what Gozo went through during that senseless anddevastating war.
He went even further than that: besides enlarging on his father’s oeuvre, Charles came up with the idea of contacting a good number of Gozitans and penning down their own accounts and experiences of the war.
This resulted in the very well-received book Meta Karbet is-Sirena, published in 2003.
Eventually other war-related books were issued: The Gozo Airfield (2004), which was reprinted in 2008, and Il-Vittimi Għawdxin tat-Tieni Gwerra, publishedin 2006.
Set on perpetrating his late father’s keen interest in the war and on bringing a war-ridden Gozo into a more focal and comprehensive light, after being repeatedly requested by locals and foreigners topublish Meta Karbet is-Sirena in English, Bezzina approached poet and translator Alfred Palma to translate the work into English. The result is this book.
I had already read and very much enjoyed the Maltese version and was looking forward to reading it in English.
Palma, as usual, did a very good job of it, keeping asfaithful to the original as hepossibly could.
Set on the lines of the original Maltese edition, the book is divided into two sections: the first deals with salientfactors relating exclusivelyto Gozo vis-à-vis the war, such as the number of air-raids unleashed on the island,the damage sustained by bombs, the prevalent dearth (in spite of the variousways and means to keep itat bay), the role taken bythe British government inthe ensuing fray, troubleand unrest, the part theChurch played in mitigating hardship, military strategies and so forth.
The second part is entirely dedicated to the memoirs gathered by the author from Gozitan mouths, relating their own personal experiences of those horrible years with utter simplicity, incisiveness, clarity of mind (in spite of the advanced years of the contributors), with an effusion not lacking the occasional attempt at some humorous aside or a comic situation.
This English version of the book is further enhanced by some interesting black and white photos, which add to the enjoyment of the read, and the overall neat and pleasing presentation of the bookdoes honour to both author and translator.
Bezzina is a poet, a worthy one at that, and has a very good number of poetry collections to his credit, some of which earning him well-deserved prizes.
In this publication, his poetry subtly prevails in the way the book is written,with so much love anddevotion lurking between the lines, in the author’s own effusive and colourful narrative line; in the very recollectionsgathered from his fellow Gozitans – from the exquisite literary descriptions of the beautiful Gozitan landscape, the generous and liberal character of the Gozitans themselves, but mostly and predominantly in the poetic homage he paid his late father when he finished in such a stupendous way what Frank, with dedication, had begun so many years ago.