https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/1046 2026-10-25T07:58:04Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150170 Title: Macaronic Mediterranean : the queer fluidities of the eighteenth-century imagination Authors: Aquilina, Aaron Abstract: Taking my cue from a neglected play – Robert Hitchcock's The Macaroni. A Comedy (1773) – I explore the compelling and contradictory nuances of its titular figure, both as a particular dramatic character and as a sweeping cultural phenomenon at the latter end of the long eighteenth century. As a cultural icon, the macaronis were young men who turned themselves, through their language, mannerisms, and ludicrous fashion, into a counter-image of British self-perceptions. At a particularly volatile period in history when the Empire was invested in consolidating Britishness, the macaronis threatened to wash it all away by importing a distinctly Mediterranean perspective to bear on various facets of British identity. The macaronis' attack-by-parody took to task, especially, contemporaneous imaginaries around masculinity, and they were in turn derided, even dehumanised, for their flamboyant play with gender. Considering their provocation as one which takes the form of clashing conceptual borders (geographical, political, temporal, gendered), this article undertakes a queer-historical perspective in examining eighteenth-century British relations with the Mediterranean region, its sea, and its linguistic landscape. Ultimately, this essay examines how this relation's visual-semiotic framework foregrounds a poetics of fluidity upon which any constructed solidity is mere display. As a character, Hitchcock's macaroni, pointedly named Epicene, is an unhappy one, trapped between the demands of conventional masculinity and the appealing liquification of gender binaries. He, too, will have his say occasionally, if we can hear him against what his author intended. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/149950 Title: Antae : A Journal of Creative Writing, Vol. 10(1) Abstract: 1. Safety Stop: In Praise of Analog Boredom; 2. Permanent Red O; 3. House Hunting The High Life; 4. The High Life; 5. μ (mu); 6. A beckoning cat meets Karma; 7. White flags; 8. Foreign language; 9. Recipe for a cult-like following; 10. It’s definitely a day for work, not play, so don’t be tempted; 11. Entelechia; 12. Archives for everyone; 13. Wringing out loud; 14. Resolution; 15. Heaven or Las Vegas; 16. Molly Bloom goes to the beach; 17. (In the distance); 18. (Space of time); 19. Erasing peace; 20. Moments beyond; 21. A good, simple life; 22. Business plan; 23. The Stranger; 24. The Little Boy With No Eyes; 25. Nucelus; 26. The Friend; 27. A Perfectly Wrapped Up Mess; 28. Night Haiku; 29. The Death of Leonidas; 30. Anatomy of Distance; 31. Sometimes if we are lucky; 32. If Language Be The Food Of Love; 33. The Martyrdom of Njal; 34. Iron and Sap; 35. The Walnut; 36. Atone; 37. Viewing Unions; 38. Zoom; 39. Notes on Contributors 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/149944 Title: Safety stop : in praise of analog boredom Abstract: I started and abandoned director Wong Kar-Wai’s 2000 classic film In the Mood for Love three separate times last year before finally finishing it. It was at the top of every ‘best films of the 21 Century’ list and my most trusted film buff friends raved about it, but I couldn’t “get into it”. Not until I powered off my cellphone and gave the movie my full attention (required because it is a Cantonese/Shanghainese film subtitled in English) did I slip under its spell. [excerpt] 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/149943 Title: Permanent red o Abstract: Poem by Clark Holtzman. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z