Earlier this month the Tumas Fenech Foundation for Education in Journalism made the official launch of ‘Il-Gross – Il-kontribut letterarju’ (Il-Gross – the literary contribution) whose name is normally associated more with politics than literature. 

The impressive publication is a collection of Prof Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici’s poetry in Italian and Maltese, speeches, discussions and other literary works, apart from a number of essays published in the Malta Chronicle. Most of these works are being published for the first time. 

Keith Micallef met with President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici who shared his views on his father’s legacy while recollecting some of his vivid childhood memories.

The President Emeritus has vivid memories of his father, who passed away in 1948 aged 50, after six semi-vegetative years following a stroke in 1942. At the time he was only 15 years old. He welcomes us in his house in the heart of Cospicua, which has been the home of the Mifsud Bonnici’s from one generation to another since the days of ‘Il-Gross’. Situated in a small square dominated by the Saint Margaret Church, the house is the next most prominent landmark.  

Walking in the study room is an experience in itself which takes you back to the inter-war period, with hundreds of books all around ranging from literature, fiction and legalistic studies. A significant part of this collection was acquired by ‘Il-Gross’ with further additions after his death. The wooden mahogany desk on which ‘Il-Gross’ spent countless hours is perhaps the most treasured piece of furniture in the room. Even though some minor structural modifications were made along the years, the atmosphere inside the house is very particular, reminiscent to a bygone era.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici explains that his late father left his legacy both in the legal and also the political fields. 

“While for some he was a politician, others may recollect him as a fine lawyer” he says. However he reveals that “his first love was literature”.

He says that ‘Il-Gross’ is the author of a long list of poems, as well as critical reviews on prominent people in literature.

His first book of poems dates back to his student days, in the second decade of the last century. “Nowadays there are no copies of it as this was in the form of a leaflet”. 

Later during the thirties, he published a book of poems which was printed in Italy. “While there might be some original copies still around, it is no longer for sale, so it is virtually impossible to come across it”, he says.

The idea behind the book launched this month was to gather his literary contribution, including poems in Maltese which can be found in the journal of the Akkademja tal-Malti ‘Il-Malti’, ‘Lehen il-Malti fl-Università’ and also in a religious publication called ‘L-Immakulata’.

The aim was to make historical justice with him and highlight all his qualities. 

The President Emeritus while acknowledging that he may be obviously biased in his judgement about the literary contributions of his father, humbly remarks that he considers himself a valid literary critic having kept a keen interest in Italian and English literature since his student days.“My father was under the influence of contemporary authors like Giosuè Carducci, Gabriele d’Annunzio and Giovanni Pascoli”.

He says that in the beginning he followed Carducci in the sense that his verses are based on the Latin and Greek prosody, which Italians used to find quite hard to master.  

“My father tried to use this kind of prosody as well as Maltese stanzas.” At a later stage, he focused more on the content rather than the form of his poetry. Meanwhile he was following the developments in Italy and the advent on free verse poetry by French authors.

“His best works date to this period, when he used the free verse”

The President Emeritus remarks that a lot his father’s works reflect the ongoing tensions between politics and poetry. “While for him poetry came before politics, he felt it was his duty to serve his country through politics”.

He explains that he used to scribble some verses especially in the evening, if he was in the right mood. Dr Mifsud Bonnici reveals that a number of his father’s works were unearthed after his death, some of which were unfinished.

Some of the themes reflect contemporary events and sentiments such as the strong patriotic currents which were behind the movement for Malta to become a sovereign state. However other themes are still highly relevant as the tensions between political life and the family.

“He also dedicated poems to me, and other family members including his uncle who had brought him up as he lost he lost his parents when he was just six year old.” Apart from this ‘Il-Gross’ has also written romantic poems.

One particular poem refers to the nuns who used to live  in the monastery adjacent to St Margaret church, which is a few metres away across the square.

Even though he had never met them in person, he was able to distinguish them and read their characters simply by listening to their voices, be it while singing or in conversation. He even went a step further by assigning them fictional names such as Suor Placida and Suor Modesta.

The President Emeritus acknowledges that his father was a major influence in his life, and it is no surprise he ventured in the political scene at a young age and has also an interest in literature. 

He describes the political beliefs of his father as based on emancipation, even of the lower classes. “This sentiment is very evident in his poem ‘Id-dar tal-baruni ta’ Wied il-Ghajn'”.

He was also a very active journalist , and was the editor of a newspaper which in those times with all the financial restrictions was no mean feat. According to him some of his proposals were rather avant-garde such as the abolishment of capital punishment. 

He was also one of the very first to commemorate in parliament, the beginning of the Christian-democrat movement, at a time when in Italy the Fascist regime had sent to prison some if its leaders, while other such as Don Luigi Sturzo had to leave the country.

One of them Giuseppe Donati who was also the first editor of the party’s newspaper ‘Il popolo’ had come to Malta in 1930 as part of the St Edward’s college staff, probably due to his anti-fascist views which were fully exploited by the colonial administration and their allies, mainly Lord Strickland.

According to the President Emeritus, Donati had died in Malta, even though there are accounts that he left the island in a bad state of health and died some weeks later in France in 1931.

“My father had written his necrology and commemorated him in parliament.  He viewed the Christian –democrat principles as a way in which the Church was an ally of the working class rather than the state. This was a recurrent theme in my father’s political beliefs which distinguished him from contemporary politicians even in the PN”

“In a way he can be considered as harbouring moderate views if not progressive. His proposal to remove capital punishment is clear testament of this.” 

“He was an inspirational figure and a role model not only for me, but also for my son who would follow my steps”

“Even former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff had acknowledged some of his progressive views, and used to visit his house. This was just before Mr Mintoff won the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University in 1938. 

The President Emeritus remarks that even though his father was a great admirer of Italian culture, he was still very patriotic and defended the Maltese identity. This must be viewed in the context that in the pre-war years, there was a strong movement within the PN, which favoured the Italianisation of Malta.

The President Emeritus refuses to comment about the current political situation even though during his term as president he faced similar circumstances when the Labour government collapsed in 1998. He admits however that recent events have taken their toll, but at the same time reiterates that as former president he is bound to stay away from political controversy. “I made this decision in 1994, on the day when I was nominated to become head of state, and will continue to take this approach”.

However he recounts the events which led to the 1974 constitutional amendments through which Malta became a republic. He says that such a scenario is difficult to repeat itself. “This was a very good compromise as both parties remained loyal to their principles while removing some clauses in the constitution which use to be source of disagreement”.

Regarding calls to revise the constitution the President Emeritus says  that he fails to see the need for amendments. 

He disagrees with those calling for the president to be elected with a popular vote, as it would be much harder for an elected president to win over those who had cast their preference for another candidate. 

In his conclusion at the end of our brief encounter, the President Emeritus drops some words about his strong connections with Cospicua. “As long as God gives me strength, I will try to remain active and not miss the appointment of the solemn mass on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December which I treasure most” he pledges.