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| Il-poeżiji ta’ Fenech huma ħdax minn sett aktar kotran li l-awtur kiteb fl-ewwel nofs tas-sena 1967 meta kien qed jgħix Londra fuq borża ta’ studju… Dawn jinkludu tnejn twal: “London Pictures”, il-poeżija tat-titlu li tista’ titqies bħala tmien ritratti instamatic li juru xeni u fażijiet differenti, u “Desiderata”, poeżija ta’ xejra erotika f’sitt taqsimiet. Il-bqija tal-poeżiji… jitkellemu fuq ġrajjiet ġewwa Londra fid-dekad tas-Sittinijiet, kif ukoll kronaka oħra li ġrat dik is-sena tas-67. |
Charles Flores
“Victor Fenech mitluf f’Londra”
l-orizzont, 27.6.1977
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| His English poems have some of the qualities that make all his writing attractive: directness, simplicity, wistfulness, rarely degenerating into self-pity, sudden outbursts of ardour… London, “this bronze colossus of a city”, provided what was obviously an exhilarating and liberating force for the author, and his verse is a celebration of a city then at the height of its gaiety, the fun centre of Europe. Despite Fenech’s wry allusions to Vietnam or the Middle East in contrast with the carefree “firerazed/bombrazed/sexrazed” city, his heart is not in Southeast Asia but there in the heart of London, the witch, the city lost “in an orgy of four-letter words”, where even CND marches have become a way of killing time, where black goddesses haunt the Tube’s escalators, where football matches and their aftermath take on epic proportions…In the title poem Fenech handles the language skilfully and weaves direct speech most effectively with his narrative. |
Paul Xuereb
“Bronze Colossus”
The Sunday Times of Malta, 21.8.1977
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| Other than a few pieces mostly not included in this collection, Fenech’s Maltese poems are in total of a considerably higher calibre than the sum of his English poems and of his London ones. That notwithstanding, the London poems volume is still worth reading; it provides the best insight yet into VF’s main source of inspiration… Victor and I spent some packed time together in London in 1967 when we were both studying in England […] but with little similar effect. London has never inspired me much. For Victor it is as much as much can be… Fenech is very good when, rather than writing about London, he writes because of it. |
Lino Spiteri
“A Poet at his Favourite Shrine”
Malta News, 16.9.1977
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| VF isib l-iskema fid-dualiżmu, hu dak li hu għaliex jiżen u ż-żewġ kefef jidhru kontemporanjament mingħajr ma jirnexxilu jasal għall-konklużjoni... hu l-osservatur diskret tiegħu nnifsu, ix-xiħadd li jagħmilha tal-imħallef ta’ ruħu, jew aħjar il-persona li tinsab imxekkla mid-dell, biex nuża termini Jungjani… Din ix-xejra mhix għajr turija oħra taċ-ċiniżmu fit-taħdit ta’ Fenech, l-indeċiż li jqanqal sens ta’ indeċiżjoni anki fil-qarrej… VF, l-indifferenti involut, iċ-ċiniku ħerqan, hu l-paradoss ta’ min ma jistax jiddeċiedi u li poetikament juża għodod relevanti. |
Oliver Friggieri
“Londra ta’ Victor Fenech”
Il-Mument, 13.11.1977
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Critical Studies:
Oliver Friggieri: “Żewġ Waqtiet Meditattivi”, L-Istudji Kritiċi Miġbura, Malta University Services, 1995, 389-395.
Arnold Cassola: “In Search of Personal and National Identity – the English Poems of Victor Fenech”, The Literature of Malta – an Example of Unity in Diversity, European Commission / Minima Publications, 2000, 154-183. |
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