Editorial [Antae, Vol.2(1)] 

Abstract

‘I’m going to steal the landscape. It is not going to be Malta. It’s going to be an appropriation of Malta; the theft of Malta.’ Jim Crace’s novel Being Dead, winner of the 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award, is centred on an otherwise normal couple, except for the fact that they are recently deceased and decomposing by a Welsh cliffside. In an interview with antae, Crace expresses an affinity for the Maltese islands, as he speaks fondly of the people, the scale, and particularly, the cliff-dotted landscape. Malta will thus find itself a part of the indeterminate yet intimate Craceland—a topographical inspiration in terms of its ‘porous landscape sitting on blue clay with no rivers or lakes, with plenty of water all around it.’ As the opening quote indicates, Crace playfully, but strongly, suggests that there will be the familiar presence of Malta in his next novel, set to be about poverty.