Individual and community : the hero in contemporary Maltese fiction

Abstract

For centuries, Catholic dogma dominated Maltese life and literature. Even today, despite increasing secularization, conservative Catholic thought is still a major force to be reckoned with. The Church remains central in town and village, its ceremonies and ritual providing a scenario for religious, social and cultural activities. Throughout the Maltese archipelago, even architecturally, the rotund female structure of the Church dominates over the male rectangular blocks of houses that converge onto it. The dominant central position of the church spells out in beautiful honey-coloured stone its role as leader in religions, education and culture. It has often been pointed out that the traditional homogeneity of Maltese village life was due mainly to the unifying influence of the Church in a small island community. This homogeneity was, in is turn, reflected in the literature, religious and often gushily patriotic, that sought to justify the ways of God (and of the Church and the Establishment) to man. Our literature was anchored in the conservative myth - don't run over a precipice to avoid a feather, don't rock the boat, support the status quo.