Book Burners and Antipodi

The Maltese Book-Burning Brigade must be in a pickle right now. You see, one of their lead arguments when inciting and applauding the prosecution of author Alex Vella Gera and editor Mark Camilleri for the short story Li Tkisser Sewwi, was that this was not literature, but smut. “ ’tis vulgar and obscene, unredeemed by literary merit” — “It can’t be compared to Irvine Welsh, whose books are works of literature” — “this is just obscenity for the sake of titillation and disgust”

What on earth, now, will they make of this? On the 22nd August, Vella Gera will be launching his latest novel, L-Antipodi, the first chapter of which is circulating on the internet. And having read this teaser, I dare anyone to say this is not literature. Beautifully crafted, with pitch-perfect dialogue, smoothly executed time-shifts, and an underlying sadness and maturity that haunts, this first chapter will be a tough act to follow. Of course, not having yet laid my hands on the rest of the novel, it could well turn out to be a hopeless anti-climax. It could, but I’d be extremely surprised if it were.

I am not necessarily a Vella Gera fan. I passed on his first novel, and subsequently I vehemently argued against the censorship of his short story in Realtà, but not on the grounds of artistic merit. If anything, my point was that we should not seek to defend his right to freedom of expression by hiding behind “artistic merit”, as if only great writing were allowed to be explicit and direct.

Yet this first chapter includes – though not in the quantity and intensity of Li Tkisser Sewwi – a number of explicit phrases, including the dreaded “ħexa” word and stuff being shoved in and out. So now I am looking forward to hearing the Taleban Brigade’s take on this. Will they deem this novel acceptable because its bona fide literary value cancels out the occasionally explicit language? Unlikely. Or will they furiously backpedal, now claiming that even in the case of works of literary merit, a Disney-level curfew should be imposed? “No kissing unless it’s a caste peck on the lips.”

Whatever they say or do, Vella Gera’s new novel will fly off the shelves. Irrespective of content, that was bound to happen the minute Realtà got slapped with the ban. That, dear Book-Burning Brigade, is the ultimate utilitarian reason for not banning books: it tends to backfire, giving the author reams of free publicity and ensuring his presence in the bestseller lists. However it would be a great pity if L-Antipodi were to sell out merely because of the curiosity effect. The first chapter at least, is a solid work of literature – ranking among the most interesting novel-openers this year – that deserves to be read by all Maltese literature fans.

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