Hekk Nafhom Jien. Rakkonti dwar Persuni li ltqajt magħhom
Author: Tonio Borg Publisher: Kite Publications, Malta , 2015
Autobiographies have always been popular among those who want to become more familiar with renowned personalities or with people who led interesting lives or lives dedicated to the community. Dr Tonio Borg’s Hekk Nafhom Jien may not, strictly speaking, fall into the category of autobiographical literature but through the short biographical sketches that make up his latest publication, he has indirectly thrown light not only on the persons he writes about but also on his own personality.
Hekk Nafhom Jien is the most recent book I have been reading. I had come across Borg’s recent publication Nidħqu Bina Nfusna. Politika bi Tbissima which he published in 2014 some months ago and so Borg’s writing style was not entirely new to me. However I have to say that his latest book is both gripping and unique in various ways. From the very outset, the author states that he is not presenting the general reader with biographies of the people he writes about. Hekk Nafhom Jien is an informal look at many interesting personalities that he has come to know throughout his life. These people, he met once or even more, and as his says in the presentation at the very beginning of the book, they have all left their mark on his own personality. All the persons he writes about come from the political or the public arena with the exception of one: his own grandmother Mena who is the only relative of his – as far as he knows – who features in the book. All the others are people who are either known by one and all or otherwise individuals who influenced him in a positive way and to whom he wants to express words of praise of gratitude. Tonio Borg’s style is clear, direct and makes for interesting reading; at no point during the hours I dedicated to reading his book, did I feel bored or tired. On the other hand, his style is captivating as much as it is simple and therefore easy to feel familiar with.
A book review is not intended to take away the sense of expectation or even mystique that a reader should feel before beginning to read a book and so I will not try to throw too much light on any of the short memoirs that feature in the book. Hekk Nafhom Jien is written in the narrative style; the reader feels he/she wants to continue reading because the author writes from his own personal experience and therefore he manages somehow to bring back to life even those personalities who have now been dead for a decade, and in some cases, even more. I have to say that I felt moved as I read the account about the late Mgr Ġwann Dimech whom I knew very well. I felt emotionally touched as I went through Tonio Borg’s sketch of Ġorġ Borg Olivier whose sense of patriotism was inspiring that although I did not have the privilege of knowing him, I tend to admire him whole-heartedly. As I went through it more than once, I knew that Borg’s vision of Borg Olivier was in total harmony with Dr. Joseph M. Pirotta’s view of the man as presented in the latter’s latest publication Nation, Pride and Dignity. Borg Olivier and the National Anthem (Midsea; 2016).
I recommend Tonio Borg’s Hekk Nafhom Jien to one and all. It is a book to be enjoyed, it is a piece of literature that could easily be devoured in one sitting but which will remain in the memory of the reader of years to come. Professor Oliver Friggieri’s critical essay of the book summarises in a perfect way Borg’s attempt for what the philosopher-poet calls ‘considerations of a Romantic lineage built on the principle that political travail and the use of the spoken word should be one and the same and serve a common cause’ (reviewer’s translation). Dear Dr Tonio Borg, keep it up!