Kadare, Ismail

born Jan. 28, 1936, Gjirokastë r, Alb.

Albanian novelist and poet.

The son of a post-office worker, Kadare became a journalist. Unhappy with the political environment in Albania, he eventually made his home in Paris. Among his better-known works are the novels The General of the Dead Army (1963), about post-World War II Albania, and The Castle (1970), which explores Albanian nationalism. The stories in Elegy for Kosovo (1999) concern a 14th-century battle between Balkan leaders and the Ottoman Empire. He was the only Albanian writer to have an international following in the 20th century.

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▪ 1998

      Albanian poet and novelist Ismail Kadare, a resident of Paris since 1990, was hard at work in 1997 revising his collected works, which were being published—some for the first time—in both French and Albanian. His 1978 historical novel Ura me tri harqe was translated into English as The Three-Arched Bridge (1991) and received critical acclaim. Kadare's self-imposed exile brought him a freedom to publish and speak that he had rarely, if ever, experienced in his native country. These newfound freedoms came years after he had alternately sought an official relationship with Albania's pro-Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha (they were born in the same town) and yet criticized Hoxha's dictatorial rule. The contradictory actions made Kadare a somewhat controversial and suspect figure. Some of his works had been banned or had remained unpublished, but others seemed a dutiful knuckling under to the party line and as such were artistically undistinguished. Although attitudes toward his works remained mixed, most reviewers believed that Kadare had done much to shape Albanian literature and to bring Albanian letters into the 20th century.

      Kadare was born in Gjirokastër on Jan. 28, 1936, at a time of great turmoil in Albania. He attended the University of Tiranë and, until Soviet-Albanian ties became strained, the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow. Upon his return to Albania in 1960, Kadare became a journalist and also initiated his literary career. He first won recognition in his native country with his poetry, but the work that brought him international attention was Gjenerali i ushtërisë së vdekur (1963; The General of the Dead Army, 1971), a perceptive evaluation of postwar Albania. In Kështjella (1970; The Castle, 1974), his next significant work, Kadare explored Albanian nationalism by examining the time during the 15th century when Skanderbeg became an Albanian hero. Both this novel and Kronikë në gur (1971; Chronicle in Stone, 1987), a powerful portrait of the historic city of Gjirokastër under occupation, captured the hearts of the Albanian people. In 1973, however, a political purge of several intellectuals prompted Kadare to cover himself by writing a politically expedient novel, Nëntori i një kryeqyteti (1975; "November of a Capital City"). This was followed by Dimri i madh (1977; "The Great Winter"), which, despite its unrealistically rosy view of Hoxha, depicted the fascinating story of Albania's break from the Soviet sphere.

      Many of Kadare's later works, including Komisioni i festës (1977; "The Celebration Commission"), Pashallëqet e mëdha (1978; "The Great Pashalics"), and Krushqit janë të ngrirë (1986; "The Wedding Procession Turned to Ice") presented views of critical times in Albanian history. His Nëpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave (1981; The Palace of Dreams, 1993), set in the time of the Ottoman Empire, was perhaps his masterpiece.

KATHLEEN KUIPER

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▪ Albanian writer

born Jan. 28, 1936, Gjirokastër, Alb.

 

 Albanian novelist and poet whose work, which explores his country's history and culture, has gained an international readership.

      Kadare, whose father was a post office employee, attended the University of Tiranë. He later went to Moscow to study at the Gorky Institute of World Literature. Upon returning to Albania in 1960, he worked as a journalist and then embarked on a literary career. He endured periods of controversy in his native country during the long rule of Enver Hoxha (Hoxha, Enver), whose dictatorial government Kadare alternately praised and criticized. In 1990, feeling threatened by the government and fearing arrest, Kadare defected to France.

      Kadare first attracted attention in Albania as a poet, but it was his prose works that brought him worldwide fame. Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur (1963; The General of the Dead Army), his best-known novel, was his first to achieve an international audience. It tells the story of an Italian general on a grim mission to find and return to Italy the remains of his country's soldiers who died in Albania during World War II. Among Kadare's other novels dealing with Albanian history is Kështjella (1970; The Castle), a recounting of the armed resistance of the Albanian people against the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. The same theme of resistance, but in a political context, recurs in Dimri i madh (1977; “The Great Winter”), which depicts the events that produced the break between Albania and the Soviet Union in 1961.

      The novel Ura me tri harqe (1978; The Three-Arched Bridge), set in medieval Albania, received wide critical acclaim. Kadare's subsequent works of fiction include Nëpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave (1981; The Palace of Dreams), Dosja H. (1990; The File on H.), and Piramida (1995; The Pyramid). Tri këngë zie për kosovën (1999; Three Elegies for Kosovo, or Elegy for Kosovo) comprises three stories about a 14th-century battle between Balkan leaders and the Ottoman Empire. Lulet e ftohta të marsit (2000; Spring Flowers, Spring Frost) tells the story of a painter in postcommunist Albania, and Pasardhësi (2003; The Successor) examines the fate of one of Hoxha's presumed successors.

      Among Kadare's nonfiction volumes are Kronikë në gur (1971; Chronicle in Stone), a work which is as much about his childhood in wartime Albania as about the town of Gjirokastër itself, and Eskili, ky humbës i madh (1988; “Aeschylus, This Great Loser”), which examines the affinity between Albanian and Greek cultures from antiquity to modern times. Nga një dhjetor në tjetrin (1991; “From One December to Another”; Eng. trans. Albanian Spring: The Anatomy of Tyranny) expresses his views on Albanian politics and government between 1944 and 1990.

      The themes of Kadare's works, which are often semiautobiographical, include Albanian history, politics, and folklore, blood-feud tradition, and ethnicity. His fiction has elements of romanticism, realism, and surrealism. He has been likened to the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko (Yevtushenko, Yevgeny) for dissenting from state-imposed guidelines for literature and to the Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez (García Márquez, Gabriel), in part because of their common interest in the grotesque and the surreal. Kadare was granted membership in the French Academy in 1996 and was later made an officer of the French Legion of Honour. In 2005 he became the first winner of the Man Booker International Prize.

Peter R. Prifti

 

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