Naked as Water
Encyclopedia
Naked as Water, by Mario Azzopardi
, is a book of poems written originally in Maltese
. Note that Mario Azzopardi (born 1944) should not be confused with Mario Philip Azzopardi (who has made a career in film-making in Canada). The former Azzopardi is a poet, short story writer, university lecturer and cultural columnist and is the incumbent principal of the Malta Drama Centre (visit www.maltadramacentre.org). He made his first mark as a leading, radical poet in the nineteen-sixties. Naked as Water is a collection of verse by Mario Azzopardi, translated by Professor Grazio Falzon.
To know more about Mario Azzopardi the poet one can visit his website: www.marioazzopardi.com
's insect, an aura of crazed whiteness and a total eclipse, Mario Azzopardi
sees himself "revolving in a Chagall dream, half-moon, half-fish." He broods about himself as "the expansion of hell, fireless, wordless." He brands himself a "guiltless Lucifer," but also an "awful blasphemy."
Azzopardi is l'enfant terriblé of contemporary Maltese poetry. There is no right way for him: he breaks all the rules, makes up new ones and breaks them too. He is fearless in his attempts to mock tradition or to push it to the limits of his passion for life and for words. His poetry is a verbal pyrotechnics sprawling in a phantasmagoria of sounds, images and rhythms.
Because Azzopardi's work is so prolific, varied and at first sight chaotic, the poems in this collection have been arranged into five sections:
"In Malta the catchphrase associated with Mario Azzopardi -- poet, teacher of literature and drama producer -- is enfant terrible."
"Naked As Water is a very exotic volume... The poems themselves are a studied primitivism filled with the primal reality of sea, sun and moon, but always with a sophisticated awareness of the 'isms' of twentieth-century art and literature. This is a very valuable book out of one last minority world of Europe that demands its place on the literary map."
Mario Azzopardi
Mario Philip Azzopardi , is a television and film director and writer.He has worked on such shows as The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1 , and Stargate Atlantis...
, is a book of poems written originally in Maltese
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
. Note that Mario Azzopardi (born 1944) should not be confused with Mario Philip Azzopardi (who has made a career in film-making in Canada). The former Azzopardi is a poet, short story writer, university lecturer and cultural columnist and is the incumbent principal of the Malta Drama Centre (visit www.maltadramacentre.org). He made his first mark as a leading, radical poet in the nineteen-sixties. Naked as Water is a collection of verse by Mario Azzopardi, translated by Professor Grazio Falzon.
To know more about Mario Azzopardi the poet one can visit his website: www.marioazzopardi.com
Synopsis
Collected poems of an avant-garde author tormented by the search for love, self and God. A phantasmagoria of nocturnal visions, mythic quest and sexual obsession.Summary
Describing himself variously as a Satanic joke, a seven-headed dragon, Franz KafkaFranz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's insect, an aura of crazed whiteness and a total eclipse, Mario Azzopardi
Mario Azzopardi
Mario Philip Azzopardi , is a television and film director and writer.He has worked on such shows as The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1 , and Stargate Atlantis...
sees himself "revolving in a Chagall dream, half-moon, half-fish." He broods about himself as "the expansion of hell, fireless, wordless." He brands himself a "guiltless Lucifer," but also an "awful blasphemy."
Azzopardi is l'enfant terriblé of contemporary Maltese poetry. There is no right way for him: he breaks all the rules, makes up new ones and breaks them too. He is fearless in his attempts to mock tradition or to push it to the limits of his passion for life and for words. His poetry is a verbal pyrotechnics sprawling in a phantasmagoria of sounds, images and rhythms.
Because Azzopardi's work is so prolific, varied and at first sight chaotic, the poems in this collection have been arranged into five sections:
- Nocturnes and Visions — poems of angst, nightmares, scenes from the village and city.
- Anima — poems about women.
- The Seven-Headed Dragon — poems about the larger-than-life poet and his quest.
- Equinox — poems on religious themes.
- Tombstone With No Epitaph — abstract poems, poems on geometric relationships, poems about poetry itself.
Reviews
"... Azzopardi's poems speak forcefully about Malta's history and independence as a culture.""In Malta the catchphrase associated with Mario Azzopardi -- poet, teacher of literature and drama producer -- is enfant terrible."
"Naked As Water is a very exotic volume... The poems themselves are a studied primitivism filled with the primal reality of sea, sun and moon, but always with a sophisticated awareness of the 'isms' of twentieth-century art and literature. This is a very valuable book out of one last minority world of Europe that demands its place on the literary map."
Editions
- Translated from the MalteseMaltese languageMaltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, and with an Introduction and Afteword by Grazio Falzon; illustrations by Thomas M. Cassidy. Grand Terrace, CA: Xenos BooksXenos BooksXenos Books is a publishing company in Riverside, California that was founded in 1985 by Karl Kvitko and Verona Weiss. The company is known for publishing bilingual books, and modern American and foreign writers in translation.- Poetry :...
. ISBN 1-879378-11-6 (paper), xiii + 178 p.