Antoine Cassar

Infobox Writer
name =Antoine Cassar


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birthdate = 1978
birthplace = London
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occupation = poet, translator
nationality = Maltese
period = 2007-present
genre = Poetry
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notableworks = Mosaics poems
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influences =Antoine Cassar (London, 1978) is a Maltese poet and translator. Born from Maltese parents, Antoine Cassar grew up and studied in England, Malta, Italy and Spain (Degree in Modern European Languages with Distinction in Spanish and Italian, at the University of Durham, UK). He is currently completing a PhD thesis on the origins of the sonnet. He now lives in Luxembourg, where he works as a translator into Maltese.

"Mosaics" poems

Cassar's "mużajki" or "mosaics" poems [ [http://www.alwatan.com.kw/Default.aspx?MgDid=537975&pageId=327 Marija Grech, "Mosaics: A symphony of multilingual poetry", The Daily Star (Kuwait), 2007] ] combine a minimum of five tongues, mainly English, French, Italian, Maltese, and Spanish, often in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet. These poems, the first series of which was published in July 2007 in the anthology "Ħbula Stirati" "(Tightropes)", [ [http://hbulastirati.blogspot.com/ Cassar on "Ħbula Stirati"] ] engage in the braiding of words and sounds in the different languages used whilst maintaining a coherent rhythm and logical poetic sequence. Among the main themes explored by the mosaics are the vanity and futility of life, love unrequited or fulfilled, the absurdity of colonialism and its after-effects, and the at once exhilarating and disorienting feeling of variety itself. [ [http://www.muzajk.info Mużajk website] ] The following is a stanza from his sonnet "C'est la vie" [ [http://www.the-chimaera.com/January2008/Trans/Cassar.html Antoine Cassar, "Mosaics" — Multilingual Sonnets"] ]

As Marija Grech explains, "...the deeper significance of these poems may be said to lie not simply in the more traditional meaning of the individual words or verses, but more specifically in the play with sound that the movement from one language to another generates and exploits. As the poet explains, 'the mosaics are designed not so much to be read but to be heard'." Cassar, on an interview, [ [http://www.alwatan.com.kw/Default.aspx?MgDid=537975&pageId=327 Marija Grech, "ibidem"] ] describes the meaning of the "multiple levels" on his poetry: "How often does one read or listen to a poem and understand it completely? In my reading experience, I find that if a poem offers all its connotation, undertones and beauty at one go, its taste will soon be forgotten... The multiple levels of a poem should pique and stir the readers' curiosity, slowly but surely bringing them deeper into the text."

References

ee also

*Modern Macaronic literature
* Poesia multilingue

External links

* [http://muzajk.info/ Antoine Cassar's home page]
* [http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=ewvrU0AnqWg Performance at the XIII Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l'Europe et de la Mediterranée, 28 May 2008]
* [http://www.maltaculture.com/textpage.asp?x=1&n=pressnewsdetails&i=11576 The Malta Council Culture and the Arts, 2008]
* [http://ara.proz.com/profile/86114 Cassar on proz.com]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/poems09022006.html Adrian Grima translated by Antoine Cassar]

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