Review by Charles Briffa

A biographer is mainly concerned with the truth and therefore he has to go beyond the mere collection of facts because the subject of a biography is human nature as it tries, consciously and artistically, to record the behaviour of an individual and to rebuild their personality. Part of the definition of biographies is that they are the past people and their mental attitudes.

 

Interest in human nature

Sergio Grech, who has already written biographies of Fr Feliċjan Bilocca, Dr Alexander Cachia Zammit and Anton Tabone, has now given us another one on Walter Zahra (Trevor Żahra's father). From his writings we take a look at the writer's mind style. Grech, who writes with the purpose of informing, is the historian who deals with public figures with a guiding intention to clarify and interpret the effect of their personality and disposition upon the course of local history. From these works I get the impression that Grech's biographies are really opportunities for promoting some definite moral characteristics which he wants his readers to know about. This is surely the case with the book on Walter Zahra. Its concluding chapter reminds me of the main message of Grech's novel Il-Lejl tal-Irġulija (2010), which declares that love conquers all.

Walter Zahra (1912-2003) is the fifth book in the Żejtun series Għamlulna Ġieħ (They honoured us) - a set that aims at presenting Żejtun personalities that have somehow left an impact on the cultural or social progress of our country. The selected details about these personalites try to evoke striking impressions especially when the reader sees the characters in action.

Grech, who was the first executive director of the National Book Council, is fully aware that most of us are interested in people: in their intentions, incentives, motivations, inspirations, peculiarities, idiosyncracies, eccentricities; in other words, in the absorbing variety and ramifications that constitute the human comedy. Therefore, a description of a living portrait (as in his book on Zahra as a character of an individual) is bound to provide a pleasant reading material to the reader. The varied biographical approach towards Zahra embraces family members' comments and remarks and observations from other relevant sources, together with the subject's public roles and his social toil in politics, trade unionism, environment, literary circles  and works. Grech does not lose sight of Zahra when he presents the times and circumstances. This assorted technique provides a portrayal of Zahra's personality and nature. With his selections, Grech paves the way for admiration as he shows us the contemporary influences which turned the subject into the character he was.

And to do so, the author often displays the character's thoughts. For instance, he quotes a sentence from Zahra's humorous sketch, Id-Dittaturi wara l-Gwerra: "Il-popli liberi jmexxu d-dinja u intom toqogħdu għal li jgħidu huma." (p. 37, The free nations lead the world and you [that is, the dictators] must obey them.) This shows that Zahra made use of the theatre to express his personal opinions. Grech's quest for the truth often leads him to reveal some of the ideas of Zahra like, for instance, when he depicts the latter talking about the envy and resentment of writers of Maltese that brought about the end of a society of Maltese writers (called Il-Qawmien Malti, that is, the Maltese Revival) that he wanted to form. Or when Zahra is quoted to have said in 1960: "I am a great believer in Anglo-Maltese connections." (p.60)

 

The biographical narrative

In this book, Grech's method of narration includes the selection of anecdotes and salient traits of behaviour - all revealing features of Zahra, the man with his individuality, constitution, and reputation. With every section I read, I added on my impressions about the subject. This biographical writing rests on the twofold principle of selection and scrutiny. He is generally brief but includes everything that is significant for consideration. In fact, the political history of the post-World War II era (which takes a full chapter) is important to understand Zahra better. And the following chapters on Zahra's literary efforts and voluntary work show the subject as an intellectual fellow.

All this is done not only because Zahra is an interesting figure, but more importantly because the subject matter of this book is human nature and therefore it assumes (as other biographies do) perennial interest. Grech's biographical attempts depict Walter Zahra not only as an occupational and social figure but also as an individual with a family background. We are given some of Zahra's trade unionistic and political endeavours and exploits, and literary and voluntary undertakings together with his development from birth till adulthood with a family of hard workers who were often involved in contemporary change. There is here a degree of ethical purpose.

 

Selection

As I said, Grech's approach is to choose those details that bear directly on a relevant characteristic of Zahra's role, hoping to appeal to readers' delight. One can understand that a biography can pose a problem when the target has several dimensions. What traits are to be included, and what traits are to be ignored? The answer to these questions depends upon the writer's impression of the figure under consideration. This means that a biography has an impressionistic element and the description can be partial and interpretive.

Grech's impression seems rather complex and it may require qualification. But his ultimate aim is the revealing of truth about Zahra's behaviour and values. He gives us the social and cultural setting (with contemporary people in it) to serve as an extension of the character's personality. And at the same time, we can view Zahra in a wider perspective as we see him in relation to his society and times. In other words, Grech tries to make Zahra's portrait as dynamic as possible.

The impressionistic quality is based on a measure of subjectivity. So much so that Sergio Grech, in his launching of the book (which took place on 26 August at St Gregory's Church, Żejtun), admits that "l-istoriċi għandhom ħabta jagħżlu s-suġġetti tagħhom" (historians have a knack of choosing their subjects).

 

Conclusion

Grech, who produces several researched programmes on local radio stations, is a social historian. In Walter Zahra (1912-2003) he portrays Zahra's personality and describes the latter's work and station in life, so that we watch Zahra being active in politics, as an invironmentalist with Din l-Art Ħelwa and as a trade unionist fighting for workers' rights according to the Rerum Novarum. We see him as a lover of culture (in the fields of music and carnival) and a literary writer promoting the love for the Maltese language.

The interplay of personality with the social world makes the biography a vivid and enjoyable one.