Folk-narrative research in Malta since the war

Abstract

With the outbreak of the Second World War the first of Maltese folk-narrative research, which is closely associated with the names of Prof. L. Bonelli, Prof. H. Stumme, Fr. E. Magri and Bertha Ilg, had all had spent itself. The work of these four scholars was carried out within the short space of 13 years (1895-1907). Stumme and Ilg are best known in scholarly circles abroad, while Magri, who for many years remained largely inaccessible to foreigners unfamiliar with Maltese, rather unexpectedly came into vogue in the 1930's when L. Galea and Margaret Murray published some of his tales in English translation (Maltese Folktales, March, 1932), followed in 1934-1936 by Aldo Farini's three delightful volumes of Italian school reading books Fiabe Leggende Tradizioni Maltesi, which included various tales by Magri, along with stories culled from the collections by Stumme, Bonelli and other writers such as Dun Xand Cortis.