I have been regaled with the massive volume Il-Gross, a veritably precious mine of literary attempts by the late Prof. Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici. It was not possible for me to go through it all, but from some of the lyrics that randomly caught my eye, for example Insonnia (p. 233) and Un Canto d’insonne (p. 249), I could very easily recall not only the lyricism of Dun Karm, but also, as stated in the introduction, the memory of two of my Lyceum masters, Dr Giovanni Curmi, and Dr Vincenzo Frendo Azopardi.

Lately, I have also been going through Duminku Mintoff, Bejn Storja u Miti and Mintoff, il-Bniedem u l-Istorja , both of which are also eminently worthy works. Fr Mark Montebello contributed to both publications.

In his appraisal on Dom Mintoff in Bejn Storja u Miti, Fr Montebello had this to say about Il-Gross (p. 112, my translation “Even though Il-Gross was rather pompous, not really an intellectual, proud and projected political importance more than...) In the SKS publication, in his study Illuminiżmu u Nazzjonaliżmu Fr Montebello repeated almost verbatim the same ideas (p. 46).

I am no critic, but I feel that such remarks, coming from a scholar, call for a scholarly evaluation. Apart from what I consider as somewhat arbitrary sweeping statements, what particularly annoyed me was the phrase “taparsi intellettwali” (not really an intellectual). Why?

On leafing through Il-Gross I found it well nigh impossible to share Fr Montebello’s assertions. Perhaps he would find time to qualify and possibly substantiate his claims. My asking is prompted solely and simply out of purely literary motives.