Literature : into the future

Abstract

In 1964 Malta acquired its independence from Britain and since then the individual has been caught up in the whirling of time. Directly or indirectly the Maltese have been involved in the whirlpool of political change that greatly affected their role in domestic organisation. A post-independence redistribution of the nation's affluence lowered traditional barriers and created psycho-social alterations so that new attitudes and values resulted from such an experience. The writers caught in the throes of these changes were encouraged towards renewed interest in the conduct and manners of the individual as an essential social factor. The new writers who emerged in the sixties welcomed progress but then implied that change had gone far enough to show new disappointments because so many other things have not been achieved. Maltese life in the seventies and eighties is often depicted as being dissatisfied with the shape society was taking since it was placing the individual in a frustrated spot. [excerpt]