L-Ittra ta’ Osama u Stejjer Oħra by John P. Portelli

 

L-Ittra ta' Osama u Stejjer Oħra

(Osama's Letter and Other Stories)

by John P. Portelli

Maltese author John P. Portelli emigrated to Canada in 1977, where he still lives and works as a professor at the Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education.  This notwithstanding, he has retained a love for his native country and its language, publishing four volumes of poetry, two short story collections and a novel (Kulħadd barra Fajża) in Maltese.

L-Ittra ta’ Osama u Stejjer Oħra (“Osama’s Letter and Other Stories”) was first published in 2019 and brings together fourteen of Portelli’s short stories, ending with the title piece.  The works generally present straightforward narratives, although often with a twist at the end.  They seem to draw on the author’s own experiences. Indeed, a recurring setting is Canada in the 70s/80s, another is the traditional Maltese village, which Portelli left behind him when he emigrated.   

Of the stories, I liked best those with a foreign sitting, which often deal with the theme of an outsider trying to fit into a community. We meet a young black student facing casual racism (“L-Appartament / The Apartment”), another immigrant who is driven to suicide because of his dark skin (“Neville”) and a character who finds it difficult to come out to his conservative parents (“In/Deciżjoni / In/Decision”).  The stories with a Maltese setting generally critique certain aspects of local society, such as the tendency to blindly support one of the two main political parties (“Larry”), but sometimes rely too much on a rather antiquated view of the “Maltese village”, a staple of traditional local fiction which now seems rather dated.  “Il-Paxawwa” in particular, takes this trope to grotesque extremes, leading to a conte cruel ending reminiscent of Anton Grasso.   Other stories are more whimsical, including one where a pair of spectacles act as protagonist-narrators (“In-Nuċċali ta’ Freddie / Freddie’s Spectacles”).

I can’t say I loved all the stories – ironically, one which disappointed me was the title work itself, whose punchline is based on an extended and rather cringey pun.  However, this is, all in all, an enjoyable collection which provides a variety of themes, settings and moods. 

Format

150 pages, Paperback

Published

January 1, 2019 by Horizons