Francis Ebejer as a novelist : a leap into probability

Abstract

Anyone interested in Maltese novelists and their works is likely to deal with the relatively recent adaptation of the form in Maltese literature. When we come to analyse the contemporary novel, which is often psycho-social in nature, then we are bound to consider how it differs from the historical novel of the romantic period. Affirming that the modern differs substantially from that of the past, as is commonly assumed, then our next task is to discover the reason why it appeared in its new robe when it did. The change came in a time of great political shift, when the Maltese national self was seeking (and maybe is still seeking) self-assertion? This affirmation leads to another question: how does a single novelist manage to reveal the national self? A writer like Francis Ebejer (1925-1993) does it through the odd individual who starts as an alienated figure, set apart from the rest of the cast, but who finds himself entangled in circumstances in which he traps others. This alienated individual operates in an environment"- a local one- but he assumes universal dimension because he is representative of the contemporary intellectual who indulges in a glimpse of the future.