L-eżistenzjaliżmu f'poeta modern Malti : Philip Sciberras

Abstract

This dissertation is based on thematic and structural aspects of the poetry of Philip Sciberras in his published work, Mandala (1984). The scope of the dissertation runs from obvious and direct references to existentialist themes, to less obvious formal aspects which betray a structural reflection of such themes. The dissertation shows how language becomes equivocal, semantically inconclusive and vague when abstract concepts regarding existence are treated. For this reason, recent critical approaches, mostly from the schools of phenomenology, reader-response criticism and poststructuralism are applied. This work aims to show how poetry itself has an existence, realised in meaning and form, which becomes problematic as a result of the poet's preoccupation with existentialist concepts.