Leading Maltese authors this morning argued against censorship or restrictions of the type of fiction story carried in the newspaper Ir-Realta' last year, saying that this type of writing featured characters which existed in society. Restricting this sort of writing would therefore be harmful to society.

Lino Spiteri, Prof. Kenneth Wain, linguistics expert Albert Gatt, Ranier Fsadni, Maria Grech Ganado, Maltese literature lecturer Adrian Grima, and Toni Attard were giving evidence in the case instituted by the police against Alex Vella Gera. He stands accused of publishing pornographic and obscene material in the issue of October 21.

Mr Spiteri said one had to draw a distinction between text and porn pictures He never felt that this text was transmitting pornography. The headline, he said, made it very clear that what was broken in society needed to be repaired. The author was criticising the character, who ultimately existed in society. In literature, he said, one should not censor people who wrote in this way, when their purpose was beneficial. Neither could one stop freedom of expression.

He said he had just found out that one of his own books had been banned from schools.

Prof. Wain said he was familiar with this type of literature and he remembered how Lady Chatterley's Lover had raised controversy in the UK because of the way it was written.

French authors in particular used this type of language and style to shock and transmit political statements, not pornography. This work, he said, did not qualify as an erotic piece. It did not leave space for imagination. It was a type of excessive realism, not porn. Were it not for this type of writing, Maltese literature would remain backward.

Albert Gatt said this type of obscene words had a function in society including an emotional connotation which reflected the culture from which they were borne out. For example, sexual words were not accepted in a formal conversation, but were acceptable in other fora. The author was using the emotional colour of these words and the reflection of what society gave importance to.

Dr Grima said this type of writing was useful at the University in order for students to dissect, understand and judge the literature piece. He said that had the piece been in English by an English author, it would not have raised such a controversy. Why didn't society look and talk about itself? This, he said, was in its own interest and had a positive effect.