Josef Kalleya and Dante: A Child's Tormented Soul in Paradise Vol. III, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, Società Dante Alighieri – Comitato di Malta, 2023
Josef Kalleya and Dante: A Child's Tormented Soul in Paradise Vol. III is the third and final instalment in 's comparative series on the work of the Maltese artist Josef Kalleya and the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.
The series, a study of a corpus of Kalleya’s works previously unknown and undeciphered, reflects Dante’s three-part poem, itself sculpted upon the divine significance of the number three in Christian theology. Three realms, three books, terza rima, three languages, three virtues, three examinations. The significance and repetition of the number is infused within the entire text, itself an ocean of trinity symbolism. Dante’s vertiginous repetitions have been a consistent feature in Schembri Bonaci’s three volumes, establishing a rhythmic structure that set the tempo for the spiritual expedition: Dante’s iambic tercets, Kalleya’s incessant visual cycles, and Schembri Bonaci’s rhythmic repetitive reference to their words and images.
The trinity is now concluded. The cosmic journey spirals back round to the beginning to be trespassed again with new eyes, begetting further galaxies for generations to inherit and explore. The ardour and commitment of Dante, Kalleya, and Schembri Bonaci illuminate the journey, holding a “pura luce” to the mystifying path, and assisting us in unravelling its obscure layers.
Copies of the third volume, as well as the previous two volumes, may be purchased from the and from leading local bookshops.
