Ismail Kadare in two systems, seven books to understand
Erion Uka, në 2020 ka zgjedhur për lexuesit e Tiranapost një listë me titujt më të mirë sipas tij të Ismail Kadaresë.
2024-07-01 14:04:21
TiranaPost
Ismail Kadare is the first international Albanian writer, with a creativity in the two political systems of Albania, developed between Tirana and Paris. On the day of the 84th anniversary of his birth, the debate on the relations with the dictatorial power but also his political disengagement during the period of democracy, is inevitable. But anyone can get answers to these questions by reading his work, from which we have recommended seven books divided chronologically from the 90s.
"Chronicle in stone" is considered the novel of entry into life and literature and remains Ismail Kadare's most autobiographical literary work. As he said in several later interviews, many of his works were conceived from his childhood experiences in Gjirokastër. "It seems as if the city has been raised to awaken big ideas," he writes.
As in the case of "Who brought Doruntina", in "Ura me tri harqe" Ismail Kadare brings back the Albanian legend of Rozafa in the form of a novel, creating an extraordinary phenomenon in Albanian literature. Through the mixture of real and fictional characters, beyond the spell full of rhythm that you get from reading this work, Kadare emphasizes the idea of "invitation to sacrifice" as one of the foundations of the dictatorial system.
In the province of Mirdita, on a plateau isolated from the rest of the country with Catholic believers, travel Besian Vorpsi and his wife, characters of the novel "Broken April" through whom Kadare brings to Albanian literature the application of the Canon in the north of the country , bringing his intellectual and artistic perspective on the relationship of blood feud, loyalty and friendship in the Albanian reality.
If the most famous allegory in world literature is "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, in Albania this role is taken by "Palace of Dreams". In the permanent debate on Kadare's relationship with the dictatorial power, through this novel every reader can understand that he has managed to use the strongest weapon against the regime: literature. In domestic and international criticism, "Palace of Dreams" is considered a work that deserves the Nobel Prize.
"The Wrong Dinner" can be considered as Kadare's most modern and most accomplished work after the 90s, although the theme is related to a real dinner and a global political and now well-known event: the conspiracy of doctors in the Kremlin to kill Stalin. Kadare neatly plays with the whimsy, giving his version of how the event ends.
It is little talked about and maybe it seems underrated, but "Life, play and death of Lul Mazrek" , written in 2003, fully deserves to be considered as one of the best works of Albanian literature. The language especially stands out, which, unlike the above works, is often redeemed in slang, jokes and humor, which serve this somewhat special narrative style for Kadare's literature.
"Dispute: Albania in front of itself" is probably the journalistic testament and the most direct manifestation of Ismail Kadare's worldview about Albania's relationship with itself, but also with others throughout the centuries. You can agree or not, but it deserves to be read as one of the most important works of essays after the 90s.
Published by Erion Uka in Tiranapost in 2020.
