The recent death of Dom Mintoff has reignited debate about Malta’s colonial and post-colonial history. One figure who looms large in that part of our country’s development is the subject of a new book by Mark Montebello and Francis Galea. They have collaborated on Aphorisms, based on a recently discovered manuscript written by MANUEL DIMECH during his final days in exile in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th Century. Here they explain the raison d’etre behind the publication.
Alone and forlorn, a tormented prisoner languished at his lonely cell within a dismal concentration camp exiled from home in a remote city. The place is Alexandria. The country, Egypt. The year: 1917. The prisoner: Manuel Dimech, the only Maltese national to have been forcibly removed from his homeland during World War I.
He has all the good reasons to be desperate. His small family back home was dying of hunger. Most of his friends had abandoned him. His profession, as a teacher and a social reformer, had been obliterated. His health was drained. His trust of being finally sent home after three years of compulsory captivity was wiped out. And yet his light, his morale, his spirit, boldly endured. The man refused to be crushed. Instead, he wrote.
WORDS OF WISDOM
He drew hundreds upon hundreds of exceptional aphorisms from his profuse well of wisdom; aphorisms of expectation, of optimism, of anticipation, of faith, of hopefulness. Anyone of us, seeing no light at the end of the tunnel, would have probably broke down in tears, lick our festering wounds, and just watch ourselves go to hell in a handcart.
Not Dimech, however. Not because he was some kind of superman, and not because he was some kind of god either, but because he was a man of endurance; an idealist with a moral character of astounding integrity; a principled conscience ready to die for what he believed in.
And so he did. Over six years into his exile, in April 1921, he breathed his last. Still at Alexandria. Still in Egypt. Still kept away from home. Still exiled.
During his final three years, however, he saw to it to leave us a literary work of rare beauty: his Aphorisms. Few people had thought that anything from Dimech’s hand had survived the ravages of time from that period. Fewer still supposed that he had wrote any extensive work of any major import while in Egypt. Yet new manuscripts which had come to light only recently reveal otherwise.
HISTORIC FIND
The manuscripts in question were held by a daughter of a labourer who had visited Dimech in Alexandria: Juan Mamo. What they basically contain is a massive amount of aphorisms in English which Mamo had directly transcribed from a document personally composed by Dimech. Mamo had been given the document by the attendants at the hospital where Dimech had passed away a short time before. He was requested to return it to the deceased’s next of kin.
Presumably with the permission of Dimech’s wife back in Malta, Mamo retained the document and prepared it for publication. Though he eventually never published the work, the manuscripts of Mamo’s draft copy and a blue-print of it survived. Dimech’s original document, unfortunately, is still missing. Because of this, Mamo’s manuscripts needed proof to attest to their accuracy.
This came about with another wonderful discovery: another manuscript containing part of Dimech’s own original draft of his document, written directly in English. This proved beyond all doubt the authenticity and reliability of Mamo’s manuscripts.
All of these manuscripts will be the substance of a new publication issued by SKS Publications. The book is a Typical Edition of the integral contents of all three manuscripts bearing Dimech’s final writings in exile from the period 1917–1920. It contains 2,582 aphorisms, 57 epitaphs and 17 fables. The publication comes with a biography of Dimech, and a critical and textual analysis and presentation of the said manuscripts. Moreover, the entire production of the book befits the beauty of its contents.
This publication sets unprecedented heights to Dimechian scholarship. Henceforth Dimech will be looked upon in a brand new light. Not only does the publication put forward Dimech’s first known literary work written entirely in English but also lets us in on his moral integrity and intellectual brilliance at a time of tremendous duress. Throughout the texts Dimech’s English is impeccable, his wit cutting, and his acumen staggering.
LESSONS IN BEHAVIOUR
The aphorisms are gems of wisdom in their own right. They deal with everything under the sun, from man’s foibles to world war and politics to religious belief. The insights they proffer can whet any sensible person’s sense of decency, good manners and right judgement. The writings are nothing like anything Dimech had ever written before his deportation and exile during his pubic career. They represent the height of his intellectual endeavour. More forcibly, they reveal a valiant moral character which no spite nor meanness could crush.
Anyone interested in the history of British colonialism, World War I, the Mediterranean and/or the Maltese islands should find this publication of great relevance. The book might interest also readers of social anthropology, wisdom teaching and/or Modern philosophy, and literature in general.