Il-wirt klassiku f’lingwa Maltija

Ftit snin ilu, Dr Carmel Serracino u Andrew Debono Cauchi bdew jittraduċu testi klassiċi mill-Grieg Antik u mil-Latin għall-Malti għall-ewwel darba. Kellimna, Ja Muża! (2023 u 2026) hija antoloġija ta’ siltiet annotati mil-letteratura klassika f’żewġ volumi. L-ewwel volum joffri lill-qarrej Malti siltiet tradotti minn uħud mill-aktar testi important bil-Grieg Antik, filwaqt li t-tieni volum jikkonsisti f’siltiet tradotti mil-letteratura antika Rumana.

Fl-2025, Serracino u Debono Cauchi ppubblikaw ukoll l-ewwel traduzzjoni Maltija annotata mill-Grieg Antik ta’ Stejjer Veri, rumanz tat-tieni seklu W.K. tal-awtur Luċjanu minn Samosata, li huwa meqjus minn bosta bħala l-ewwel xogħol tal-fantaxjenza fil-letteratura tal-Punent. It-traduzzjoni tagħhom ta’ Stejjer Veri ġiet ukoll magħżula bħala finalist għall-Premju Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb 2026 fil-kategorija ‘Proża Fittizja Tradotta’.

Minkejja dawn il-pubblikazzjonijiet, in-numru ta’ testi klassiċi tradotti għall-Malti jibqa’ wieħed limitat ħafna. Serracino u Debono Cauchi għalhekk iqisu x-xogħol tagħhom bħala biss bidu ta’ impriża ħafna akbar fejn joffru aċċess għal testi klassiċi bil-Malti. Il-missjoni Erkolea tagħhom hija li jittraduċu kemm jistgħu testi klassiċi.

Għalhekk l-għan tagħhom mhuwiex biss li jżidu n-numru ta’ traduzzjonijiet fil-letteratura Maltija, imma wkoll li jestabbilixxu kullana aktar rikka u rappreżentattiva tal-letteratura klassika bil-Malti. B’hekk, jittamaw li jiftħu bieb għall-qarrej Malti lejn id-dinja antika u li jsaħħu l-irwol tal-Klassiċi fix-xena letterarja u kulturali ta’ Malta.

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A New Chapter for Classical Literature in Maltese

A few years ago, Dr Carmel Serracino and Andrew Debono Cauchi began translating classical texts from Greek and Latin into Maltese for the first time. Kellimna, Ja Muża! (2023 and 2026) is a collection of annotated passages from classical literature in two volumes. The first volume presents the Maltese reader with a collection of passages translated from some of the most important ancient Greek texts, while the second volume presents passages translated from the Latin literature of ancient Rome.

In 2025, Serracino and Debono Cauchi also published the first Maltese annotated translation from ancient Greek of Stejjer Veri, a novel from the 2nd century CE by the author Lucian of Samosata, which is considered by many to be the first work of science fiction in the Western literary canon. Their translation of Stejjer Veri is also a finalist for the National Book Prize 2026 in the category 'Prose Fiction in Translation'.

Despite these publications, the number of classical texts translated into Maltese is still very limited. Serracino and Debono Cauchi thus regard their work as only the beginning of a much broader endeavour to make classical literature accessible in Maltese. Their Herculean task is to translate as many classical texts as possible.

The aim is therefore not simply to add more translations to the Maltese literary corpus, but also to gradually establish a richer and more representative collection of classical literature in the language. In doing so, they hope to widen access to the ancient world for Maltese readers and to strengthen the place of the Classics within Malta’s own literary and cultural landscape.