Please allow me to put the record straight. It was Francis Ebejer (1925-1993) himself who had asked for a Maltese translation of his novel Requiem for a Malta Fascist a couple of years before his death. The cultural dominance of Maltese prompted him to ask for a Maltese version of his novel.

I had just published the translation of Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory (1991) and I asked Francis to review it, which he did for Times of Malta.

In May 1991, he phoned me to tell me that he wished to see Requiem in Maltese. He asked me whether I knew of anyone who could do it. I felt that the least I could do for this great figure was to offer my services.

I started the translation of Requiem on June 15, 1991 and finished it on January 18, 1992. Throughout the whole period, I kept continuous and close contact with him and he offered his suggestions very willingly.

Joe Izzo (March 17) talked about translation loss.

There is, of course, theoretically speaking, the other side of the coin: translation gain. In this connection, Rose Marie Caruana’s book, Translating Reality, might give fair critical view of this translation.