Maltese literature

Throughout the centuries use of the Maltese language was often discouraged with varying enthusiasm, ostensibly in the hope that supplanting it would strengthen ties with the country which held possession of Malta at that particular point in time.

In early Maltese history, diglossia manifested itself in the co-existence of a developed form of Siculo-Arabic and the language of a series of rulers, most notably Latin, Greek, Sicilian, French, Spanish and Italian.

[2] The oldest known literary text in the Maltese language is Pietru Caxaro's poem, Il-Kantilena (c. 1470 to 1485) (also known as Xidew il-Qada), followed by Gian Francesco Bonamico's sonnet of praise to Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner, Mejju gie' bl'Uard, u Zahar (The month of May has arrived, with roses and orange blossoms), c. 1672.

A Maltese translation of the Lord's Prayer appeared in Johannes Heinrich Maius's work Specimen Lingua Punicæ in hodierna Melitensium superstitis (1718), demonstrating the formerly wide-held belief that the language had a Punic heritage.

A collection of religious sermons by a certain Dun Ignazio Saverio Mifsud, published between 1739 and 1746, is regarded as the earliest known example of Maltese prose.

The occasion of Carnival in 1760 saw the publication of a collection of burlesque verses under the heading Żwieġ la Maltija (Marriage, in the Maltese Style), by Dun Feliċ Demarco.

The post-War years saw the emergence of Moviment Qawmien Letterarju (Literary Revival Movement) in 1967, an avant-garde literary movement the protagonists of which included Oliver Friggieri (later Professor of Maltese at the University of Malta), Frans Sammut (1945–2011), the "national author", Alfred Sant (who was Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998), Lino Spiteri (who was Finance Minister in two Governments),[6] and others.

[8] Frans Sammut's reputation is built on his novels Il-Gaġġa (on which the film with the same name is based[9]), Samuraj,[10] Paceville[11] and Il-Ħolma Maltija[12] (translated in Esperanto as La Malta Revo).

Alfred Sant is known for his theatre collected mostly in his Fid-Dell tal-Katidral u Drammi Ohra,[13] whereas Lino Spiteri became renowned for his novel Rivoluzzjoni Do Minore[14] and his short stories.

[17] Nowadays Maltese literature is dominated by literature in the Maltese language (e.g., Alex Vella Gera,[18] Guze' Stagno[19]), some works in English (David Samuel Hudson[20] and Francis Ebejer[21] for instance), and some works in Italian, such as the poems of Judge J.J. Cremona[22] and Albert Caruana's ebook Il Sindaco di Racalmusci.