https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/697 2026-04-28T13:39:01Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 Title: Pawlu Grech : a Cosmos of Art Authors: Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe Abstract: The publication pays homage to pioneering Maltese multidisciplinary artist Pawlu Grech (1938–2021). It documents a three-part project consisting of a concert, an exhibition of his visual works from 1949 to the 1980s, and a scholarly essay. The text explores Grech’s "talent trinity" as a musician, artist, and thinker, focusing on his innovative use of atonal compositional language, "sonic hieroglyphs," and the interrelationship between musical and visual structures. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145933 Title: The novel before Cervantes : Spanish fiction and «historical truth» from Montalvo (1508) to Alemán (1599) Authors: Garrido Ardila, John A. Abstract: This article presents diachronically the theories of fiction posited by Spanish writers before Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605). Focusing on the concept of verisimilitude in relation to Cervantes’s term historical truth, and with reference to Aristotelian realism and to Ian Watt’s formal realism, we will firstly appraise the recent scholarship on the genre of Don Quixote. Thereupon, we will explicate the main Spanish metafictional discussions of verisimilitude and realism postulated in the preliminaries to some central literary works published before Don Quixote; namely Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s Amadís de Gaula (1508), Bartolomé de Torres Naharro’s Propalladia (1517), Francisco Delicado’s Retrato de la Lozana andaluza (1528), and Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache (Part I, 1599). By means of this analysis, we will provide new evidence to lay out the verisimilar / realist nature of Cervantes’s Don Quixote fundamentally as the result of more than one hundred years of conscientious theorisation and experimentation in Spanish literature. Moreover, we shall suggest that, alongside the rich Spanish romance tradition of the sixteenth century, the line of verisimilar fiction (including Lozana andaluza, Lazarillo de Tormes and Guzmán de Alfarache) stemmed essentially from aesthetical innovations originated in theatre, not solely from Celestina (1499) but also from Torres Naharro’s innovative definition of realism.; Dieser Artikel stellt Theorien zu Fiktion, die von spanischen Schriftstellern vor Cervantes’ Don Quijote (1605) postuliert wurden, diachronisch dar. Mit Verweis auf das Konzept der Wahrscheinlichkeit in Verbindung zu Cervantes’ Begriff der historischen Wahrheit und mit Bezug auf den Aristotelischen Realismus wie auch Ian Watts formalin Realismus wird in einem ersten Schritt die jüngste Forschung zum Genre Don Quijotes beleuchtet. Daraufhin werden in den einleitenden Überlegungen die wichtigsten spanischen metafiktionalen Diskurse zur Wahrscheinlichkeit und zum Realismus in Werken vor Don Quijote erläutert, und zwar Garci Rodríguez de Montalvos Amadís de Gaula (1508), Bartolomé de Torres Naharros Propalladia (1517), Francisco Delicados Retrato de la Lozana andaluza (1528), und Mateo Alemáns Guzmán de Alfarache (Teil I, 1599). Anhand dieser Analyse werden neue Belege zum wahrscheinlichen / realistischen Wesen von Cervantes’ Don Quijote geliefert, die im Grunde als das Ergebnis von mehr als hundert Jahren der gewissenhaften Theoretisierung und des Experimentierens in der spanischen Literatur verstanden werden. Darüber hinaus legt dieser Aufsatz nahe, dass neben der reichen Romantradition des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts die Ausrichtung der wahrscheinlichen Fiktion, unter die Lozana andaluza, Lazarillo de Tormes und Guzmán de Alfarache fallen, von ästhetischen Innovationen aus dem Theater der Zeit stammt – nicht nur aus Celestina (1499), sondern auch aus Torres Naharros neuartiger Definition des Realismus. 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145926 Title: Stone deterioration at underwater archaeological sites in the Mediterranean Sea Authors: Germinario, Luigi; Moro, Isabella; Crocetta, Fabio; Tomasin, Patrizia; Cibecchini, Franca; Demesticha, Stella; Gallocchio, Enrico; Gatt, Judith; Moschin, Emanuela; Mazzoli, Claudio Abstract: The Mediterranean Sea hosts a remarkable underwater cultural heritage that reflects millennia of interaction between people and the sea, preserving evidence of ancient societies, their maritime trades, travels, economies, coastal lifestyles, and technological achievements. Its protection and preservation rely on knowledge of the properties and deterioration of historical materials and their interaction with the marine environment. This study addresses the state of conservation, decay, and vulnerability of stone structures and artifacts from underwater archaeological sites across the western, central, and eastern Mediterranean Sea: the Roman harbor of Anse des Laurons in France, the Roman residential complex of Baia in Italy, and the Hellenistic harbor of Amathus in Cyprus. Petrographic, textural, chemical, and biological-morphological investigations of archaeological stone were carried out by microscopic and microchemical techniques, along with a novel application of 3D surface modeling. These allowed identifying the materials used for structural and ornamental purposes, their biofouling, and related changes in stone surface texture and chemistry. Biodeterioration is the dominant decay form, affecting composition, aesthetics, and legibility of artifacts. The decay patterns are influenced by the diverse characteristics of historical materials and the marine environmental and archaeological context, but appear relatively uniform across the Mediterranean basin. The findings overall contribute to advancing the understanding of the risks to underwater cultural heritage and can support the development of improved conservation methods, technologies, products, and protection policies, also in light of climate change and its effects on marine biodiversity and environments. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145716 Title: Coastal communities must be at the heart of policy Abstract: Coastal policy in Malta needs a shift in perspective — from viewing coasts as economic assets to recognising them as lived social spaces where people connect, belong, and build their lives. In this article, I reflect on why communities must be placed at the heart of coastal governance, and ask a simple question: who are our coasts really for? 2026-04-13T00:00:00Z