From Dr G. Mifsud-Chircop
Many have shown their appreciation of the late Guzè Cassar-Pullicino (1921-2005) in the media. However, hardly anyone touched on his work in Maltese folklore.
Under the direct romantic influence of Ninu Cremona’s (1880-1972) Rettungsgedanke perspective, inherited from his vast reading of Giuseppe Pitrè, Cassar-Pullicino hails the peasantry as the folk, the unique custodians of national heritage. His early work focused on unearthing the ancient history of folklore which no one had yet researched, as with studies on Maltese historical legends, including Pauline Traditions in Malta, Pirates and Turks in Maltese Tradition, The French Occupation in Maltese Tradition, and The Order of St John in Maltese Folk Memory. He later adopted the Finnish method, for many years in the first half of the 20th century the only acceptable and prevailing research method developed and devised at the turn of the century to reveal the origin and history of an item of folklore sustained by extensive comparative materials.
From the mid-forties up to the early seventies, Cassar-Pullicino set about his task to rescue and preserve a whole heritage that was disappearing; the heritage of our folklore, the unconscious life and art
of the idyllic Maltese countryman in
order to restore national identity based on tradition. His fervent belief in vox
populi, his historical awareness of folk traditions, his patriotic and humanitarian inclinations and deep faith struck deep in him, proposing a programme of work for himself and following generations. His major works include: Haga Mohgaga u Tahbil il-Mohh Iehor (4 vol., 1957-59; 2nd revised and enlarged ed., 2003); Il-Folklor Malti (1960; 2nd revised ed., 1975); Linguistic Analysis of Fr Magri’s Folktales (1961); Stejjer ta’ Niesna (1962); Il-Bennejja tal-Folklor Malti (1964), Ethno-Linguistic Aspects of Animals in Malta (1967), Studies in Maltese Folklore (1976, 2nd revised and enlarged ed., 1992); Skungrar u Orazzjoni fil-Poezija Popolari Religjuza f’Malta (1981); Studi di tradizioni popolari maltesi (1989); L-Imghoddi tal-Gens Taghna: Bejn Storja u Folklor (1990); Hzuz Manwel Magri. Ktieb tan-Notamenti dwar il-Folklor Malti (1991); Kemuzell. A Maltese Practical Joker, a translation edition of Maltese narratives by Bertha Ilg (1995), Maltese Oral Poetry and Folk Music (1998) with Charles Camilleri, and Folktales of
Malta and Gozo (2000). His Maltese Folklore Review (1964-1973) can be identified with his strategy to open Maltese folklore studies to foreign scholars who feel disadvantaged because of the language barrier.
He worked single-handedly as there was no-one to give him the support he needed. These 19th century romantic ideas, though relevant in post-war Malta and Gozo in a conscious search for identity, persisted with varying intensity and continue to linger today in Cassar-Pullicino’s imitators, although Cassar-Pullicino’s later studies from the mid-seventies onwards prove him to be open to contemporary theories and ideas. In an interview with Paul Falzon in Il Mument (26 January 1992), he insists: “Besides collection and comparisons, text analysis and different genre structures must also be taken into consideration.” (In Maltese: “Barra 1-kbir u t-tixbih wiehed irid jie]u l-analizi tat-testi u 1-istrutturi tad-diversi generi.”)
However, Cassar-Pullicino’s imitators and some others, out of touch with European and American folklorists, ignore such an awareness as his. It is my ardent hope that Guzè’s words are heeded.
Gorg Mifsud-Chircop