Weġgħat – stories of modern man

Author: Paul P. Borg Publisher: Horizons Year: 2019

Weġgħat is a collection of short stories by Paul P. Borg dealing with the happenings modern man experiences frequently in silence and in solitude even when in a crowd. It is the third in a series of three collections after Beżgħat (1986) and Demgħat (2002). The three books recount the stories of the universal anxious man in today’s society frequently absorbed in unavoidable reflections stemming from everyday situations triggered by his relationships with his inner self, with his enivironment and with other people.

Topping the list in this collection of stories of the common man in the street is the relationship between man and woman which the author considers as most intriguing. Borg believes that every man is daily and continuously subconsciously engaged in a deep discussion within himself, sometimes forcing him to suffer in the circumstances he finds himself in. Man has however not completely lost his ultimate attempt to seek that interior solace he once felt in his mother’s bosom. The feelings of a crying baby are indeed not unlike the emotions an adult feels when faced with the effects of modern society. Borg’s tales delve into man’s inner thoughts, his angst and concerns on sex and sexuality, rape and abortion, intimate religious uneasiness, birth and suicide, male-female relationships and environmental issues.

Borg feels that literature has the ability to reflect upon and enquire about these daily situations and the captivating emotions they cause in the people concerned. But literature cannot offer solutions: the experiences graphically written in Weġgħat can only show that the individual does not suffer alone. Perhaps love might be the light at the end of the tunnel.

Weġgħat has 17 short stories, some of which were discussed in the foreward presented by the late Ġużè Chetcuti. The book is published by Horizons.