Blogging and provincialism

David Friggieri in Brussels has set up a blog called Lanzarote after reading Joshua Chaffin's article 'In a huff at the arrival of high society' published by the Financial Times. In this post he takes the cue from Milan Kundera's observations in his new book Le Rideau to comment on the cultural importance of blogging. From Lanzarote:

..This reminded me of something Mark Vella had written some time ago in a review of Immanuel Mifsud's literature: In one of his more insightful critical contributions, Alfred Sant once remarked that a new Maltese literature could only appear by means of a generation of writers that had not experienced the traditional "closed" society. It is, of course, absurd to say that the loose format of blogs were what Kundera (or Sant) had in mind when they spoke of literature. But to me it seems undeniable that several Maltese blogs are the freshest, most un-provincial, reading material about Malta (or simply by Maltese) at the moment. And I do think that those who have left "the traditional closed society" (after having lived it and known it well) simply have the advantage of feeling free(r). Blogging may prove to be more important culturally in Malta than in other places.

Culture in the Age of Blogging - Terry Teachout

Is the blogging world fair?