ABC and national literature

I should thank Andrew Borg Cardona (the individual indicated by the e-mail address of weekend correspondent I.M. Beck) for reproducing my reaction to his unwarranted diatribe against the national literature. I found his subsequent contribution (February 3) quite obliging.

ABC's decision to publish my ("less than charitable") message helped me circumvent all editorial censorship. It may not say much for his tactical prowess but he did glean some profit from it. Quoting my impromptu message almost verbatim actually helped improve the usual level of his column.

When ABC's philistine predecessors viciously attacked Dun Karm, the self-effacing poet refrained from responding in the same vein, opting to lament only with writer Laurent Ropa that since he had abandoned Italian for Maltese he was vilified and ill used by the self-styled pro-Fascist critics writing in the local press. Dun Karm had his own meek way of doing things. ABC is wrong, however, in assuming that he can mess with all Maltese writers with impunity. The undersigned is not one of those who are naturally inclined to follow in Dun Karm's footsteps. In addition, false modesty has never been one of my weaker traits. Should my "uncharitable" response come as a surprise to anyone?

I have no time for wretched confessions about his preferences regarding tobacco and juvenile sexual escapades - even if one cannot help noticing that the legal adviser of a prominent cigarette company strongly disavows any attachment to smoking while unwilling to match that aversion with similar distaste for pornography. What concerns me is ABC's insistence on describing as "the vernacular" what has been recognised as the national language of this country since 1934 and confirmed as such in 1964 and 1974, apart from being accepted as one of the official EU languages.

To the untutored eye, ABC's gung-ho attitude may appear as reflecting the considered opinion of a literary expert or scholarly heavyweight. To those of us who know a little more psychology than your average undergraduate, his cavalier stance comes across as a bid to conceal a deep sense of insecurity. I do not mean this term to be an offence commensurate with ABC's insolent style. I am only trying to point out that some people truly feel uneasy when faced by literary pieces that examine national topics in the national language. They cannot comprehend that the national language, for all its shortcomings, is a worthy vehicle of lofty ideas and its literature an effective instrument to tackle moral and existential problems. They have been brought up thinking that "literature" is an alien sport dealing with foreign problems that have no real bearing on their insular, provincial lives.

To the dread of serious literature the fact must be added that, for a number of reasons, some schools never manage effectively to teach the national language or to inculcate a sufficiently healthy respect for it. Such a contention of course calls for a serious investigation that requires much more space than is usually allotted to a single missive. I will, therefore, unwillingly stop here, feeling somewhat unsatisfied that I have only touched on the ABC of the matter.