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Antonio Zammit:
Love & Myths.
Self-published, 2015. 80 pp.
This book is written in an elegant style – short, economical but vivid and incisive. The author exploits a historic epic for its mythical relevance and transforms it into a legend or even a kind of fable. The story is just an excuse to give vent to a liberal slant of poetic licence that turns reality into fiction.
The plot is derived from the crucifixion of Joshua the prophet and, as in Greek tragedies, it is assumed that the audience is conversant with the story. The interpretation into a socio-political slant of this universal epic is the real aim behind the exercise.
The sub-plot, a passionate love story between Adrian, the son of Quintus and Judith, the daughter of Nicodemus, and explores the tragic drama and the evil perpetrated by man. The love between the couple is idealised by a descriptive statement: “Love is life and life finds its meaning in love”.
Since the story is brief the protagonists are only sketched in, mere stereotypes. Caiaphas is “that old fox”, Pontius is “a hard man for hard times”, Joseph of Arimathea is “rich” and Joshua is a “rabble rouser, a fanatical prophet”. The script could easily be turned into a dialogue for a play with short dramatic scenes.
The author shows intimate knowledge of the scriptural text, classical learning, a love of philosophy and a perception in the psychology of man. In wonderful simplicity he depicts Jerusalem, Bethany and Caesarea – the latter “enjoying the cool breezes of the Mediterranean sea”, a kind of vignette. Place and space give credence and reality to the action and drama.
Explores the tragic drama and the evil perpetrated by man
Probably the author would like to reveal that man is his own greatest enemy: “such is human nature, not only, not knowing how to lose but also not knowing how to win” – a terrible thing to say.
The scriptural description of Joshua entering Jerusalem on a donkey is tangible and realistic. Among the onlookers is Adrian, who “edges closer to his beauty”. Judith “puts her arms around her mother, but her eyes reveal that her emotions mirror Adrian’s pure sentiment”. The loving couple decide to come and live in Malta.
Perhaps the dishonesty, deception and hypocrisy of man are revealed in the description of the Sanhedrin. Yet, the rogue is Caiaphas, who speculates on ritual and earns a huge income on the ritual baths constructed underneath his house. The author cannot be blamed for interpreting history.
This publication reveals that Malta is passing through change, a secular change that challenges fanaticism and extremism and upholds the right to think and choose. Love & Myths is about the condition of man: that history is born in myth and that history becomes myth.