Culture Stumbled

Recently published by the Counterpont Press, Ismail Kadare's obstructed novel, with a title amended in A Girl in Exile (Requiem for Linda B.), has just been revised by Cyntia Haven in The New York Times, in a scripture entitled <x0 Times, in a letter entitled “mail Kadare Grapples With the Supertur <x1. Within the day, the announcement of this recession and the translation appeared in the online version of ThemA.

As you can imagine, the review in the important U.S. newspaper welcomes an important event for culture in the United States and introduces the novel to readers of this newspaper, which has a specific, cultural profile. And Haven's writing, in the characteristic jargon of the cultural-literal pages of this newspaper, has all the characteristics of a fast and elegant description appropriate for American reader's expectations and literary tastes, to a work by a well-known writer, but that is practically unknown literature to this reader.

Kadare wrote the novel in Albanian and published it first in Albania; probably, with the Albanian reader in mind. The theme of this novel, characters and conflict are such that Albanian readers feel specific associations and experiences, even Unique, being the last “model reader” of the work.

Rather, today's U.S. reader, including what he reads The New York Times, will approach Kadare's novel differently based on his Cold War encyclopedia, totalitarianism and recognition of Kadare itself as author of other works translated into English. In any case, this reader needs to be “guided” to get into the work in a very different way from the Albanian reader.

As in Albania it has written and published a super-competent analysis of the novel Stumbled, when it was published the first time or later, probably a media generalist like TemAIt would not have been announced; without what today's Albanian reader needs new high-level presentations of Kadare's work more than the need for news of gossip, open and closed bullshit and files referring to the personal life of this writer and his clashes with rivals, schemers and enemies in politics and culture.

This allows me to conclude, however difficult, that the current news in the TemA It's not about Albanian literature or the expectation of this literature, when translated into English, it's published in the U.S. and revised by The New York Times.

publishing news like that, TemA It is not as if it violates any traditions or avoids any routine, rather: Albanian media have already made it a habit not to miss out on news about expectations and presentations given to Albania, Albanians and our art and culture in the world, especially in the West. These media are even filled with raw materials for tourism, natural beauty, folk clothing, antiquity, architecture, history, and other values that strangers see or see in us but which is not that They tell us and communicate with us; not to talk about all those times when such articles promote the very sides they have paid.

In fact, Albanian culture must be able to give its own readers authors, contemporary artists and works, accompanied by the current critical device; and the already flagrant failure to do so cannot be compensated by bringing all kinds of announcements and routines, leading to these authors, artists and works, in front of the public in the West or elsewhere.

This practice, of translation (and “translating”) of the world's positive reactions to our cultural and natural products, seems to try to achieve other goals; and in the case of Kadare, to be included in the already multi-year-old bloodshed between the idolaters and this person's detonators (I'm not saying “the writer”, because this bleeding has little to do with literature, which breaks over the page, in the media view.

News on TemA Whether to display line marker pixbufs The New York Times It's the next rifle from the hands of the idolaters who translate and succeed Kadare's works into the United States want to be used in their favor. This cause of the idolaters should not be confused with the real fate and impact of Kadare's works among Albanian readers, and much less in the world. After all, no one has entrusted or assigned to the polytheists the task of caring for Kadare's image and imposing this image as a national icon. sat on the table with their idol and to keep this suitcase at the airport, they are already using it as authorization “to care for” for the writer's inheritance.

In short, it does not seem to me that these are doing any favors to the writer, not even Kadare human and citizen; because their only actual achievement is that they have lowered the best Albanian author of these last 50 years to the vulg level, or where Kadare actually don't read it, because they can't read it, or just because they don't read it. not read: It's enough to wave flags whenever Kadare wins Eurosong, or something like that. This is the miserable level of the stadium, the level of “how well to be Albanian”, the level of “does not allow me to be touched by redness”; this is the gangrene that is threatening the Albanian culture of this beginning, as “armat” of spontaneous art lovers is being replaced, right under our nose, from a series of mercenaries that aside from “have accessed by” leads and trigger finger, hierarchy reproduction rituals.

A positive review of a novel translated serves and also benefits stem culture, as it serves and does the author well and his reputation, national and world. As an early and thorough reader of Kadare's work, I am pleased to see that the public promote and well received in the West of a work by him; to the extent that I am still able to identify myself with that work. It is all too easy for me to imagine that you are a kind reader of Kadare and the work Stumbled to be excited because of a calibre newspaper The New York Times to write about this work. However, I don't believe that those of us, the contemporary Albanian readers of Kadare, will be able to benefit anything from this current text, which is directed to American readers and is intended to meet that reader's specific needs. Adoptimation and promotion of such materials, which occurs regularly in the Albanian media, is essentially parasitic. To put it simply: We do not need the American reader and interpreter of the writer Kadare to understand what this writer's work represents for us And I say this as to those who consider this novel to be a masterpiece, as to others who find it moderate, as to those who leave it half, because it seems unreadable to them; and as to those who worship the writer, as to those who approach him with authority, as to those who refuse.

Two Details of the News on TemA Makes me doubt even more: writing title: “Readers around the world are amazed at how you don't get Nobel”, which distorts the original “Ismail Kadare readers are astonied every year when the Nobel communite overlocals him” not only by adding this “all over the world”, like to throw a little bit ketchup The tomato sauce; but also because of its own writing The New York Times It has little to do with Nobel and the injustice to Kadare by denying her that honor. The second detail is that TemAWhich otherwise stands out for the rampant freedom that allows in comment space, thus prevents such news. I follow the same practice PanoramaIn scriptures with similar arguments. In view of what the gaps are written in such cases, I understand that this silence may have been required by anyone concerned with protecting Kadare's public image; but, at the same time, the presence of comments on topics and other scriptures betrays a certain editorial policy, manifested as censorship to any criticism that may come from authority; however, it is not an expected position of a media engaged in political, ideological, and cultural conflicts of the day.

It's like that of reprinting, flashing, conveying, transmission of every found material (there should be an emphasis on being found, not thought of as destined for you to use) are already normalized enough that there will be readers who just don't understand the reason for this writing from me, or liquidate it as “by envy or other typical reactions. What is but a symptom of a basic degradation of cultural communication, is being transformed into code or waiting alphabets that have been required of our contemporary culture by the public. And that's mainly because there are people who want their desire for power to disguise it as a predisposition of their <x2 secondary> “over the national issue and devotion in defense of what they themselves have been idolizing. A banal war for power is selling us as cultural debate and confrontation between good and evil.

From Peizage.com, which you can find references to.