Contemporary Maltese literature : an interim report

Abstract

In discussing immigrant ethnic groups, Geoff Dench finds evidence that among Maltese in London there is 'widespread complicity in electing a non-Maltese identity.' This reflected itself particularly in non-performance of previously sacrosanct religious duties such as hearing mass and going to confession. This is particularly true of Maltese in the red light district of Soho round Frith and Greek Street, where the dominant dialect happens to be Maltese expressed primarily in four-letter words. Yet the swear-words and blasphemies against what "the emigrants had previously held to be sacred are, paradoxically, significant links to their island home. It is reaction and over-reaction to upbringing, and I have seen the most hardened dissidents from our monolithic theocracy prepare with awe and longing for a christening or wedding, and watched them later caught up unavoidably in the long-remembered rituals of religious ceremony.