Wall Street Journal: Ismail Kadare, conscience of his people

Critical Sam Sack's article starts with this paragraph: “in a 1985 essay on Eschil, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare argues that the most valuable thing of ancient Greeks even more important than the invention of philosophy and democracy was their feeling of <x1->communication” A bold saying, but consider that centuries earlier the Greeks had waged a vicious and morally unworthy war against Troy. A less developed civilization would have erased that shameful period from its memory. Instead, the Greeks made it the cornerstone of their literature. “Crime was displayed from all angles by Greeks themselves, without any pressure exerted by other nations”, writes Kadare. “This was an unprecedented exorcism, a shocking act, at the same time releasing and emancipating. For the first time in mankind's history, one people's conscience was willingly experiencing such concern”.

Since 1960, Mr. Kadare, now 82, has followed the example of Greeks in all impossible circumstances. He was Albania's best-known author in the Stalinist rule of Enver Hoxha, who ruled the regime of forced collectiveisation and ruthless oppression from the end of World War II until 1985. He is still the most famous author of his country. By its nature, totalitarianism is intended to keep the conscience in a state of sleep. It requires a spiritual slowdown that facilitates obedience. Mr. Kadare found freedom from state intervention difficult because of his career, he moved between concessions and the differentials of criticism of Hoxha's government; he was published and censored, in turn. However, as the three newly translated books show, he remained loyal to what he has called “the basic function of literature: keeping the luminary morality”. Kadare's essay on Eskili comes along with the controversial considerations of Dante and Shakespeare in “E on World Literature”, translated by Ana Cocobo”. Further “W SJ” continues: “Collection serves as a kind of Rosetta stone to decipher its effects and motives. These classics, he claims, speak as much as the plight of Albanians rather than others. He sees Eskili's Prometheus, the harshly punished hero for setting fire to mankind as one of the first figures in literature that opposed tyranny. He calls “Divine Coedine” <x10vetman work that he reflected as the darkness and light of communist Albania”. And he points out that, like the writer of Eastern Europe of the 20th century, Shakespeare was probably under constant surveillance.

Mr. Kadare with Western canons continues in “A girl in exil” (Convention), published first in 2009, with a story in the early 1980 ' s. The story focuses on an Albanian playwright known as Rudian Steffa, in which his current work, in progress, is a drama that activates “Hamletin” and “Macbabet”, which contains the ghost of a communist partisan killed during World War II.

So when he is called for questioning by the Party Committee, he assumes he will be reproved for violating the principles of socialist realism. Mr. Kadare gradually reveals an image of the temptations of power. Sack has considered “works obstructed” of “The having of shame”, but does not leave the “Dream table” or “Bridge with three bows”. Over “WSJ” writes that this work illustrates the several - scale fixation he created during Hodge's rule. This novel was published in 1978 and is part of its two largest books, “The three bows window” (1979) and “The dream palate” (1981), novels that reprocessed Albanian history and folklore with delicate algorithmic purposes. ) WSJ) draws attention that the story from which the novel begins is the rebellion of Ali Pasha, the Albanian governor who tried to leave the Ottoman Empire and was killed by the Sultan's forces in 1822. The focus is not on uprising as far as the “andset”: Ali Pasha's severed head, preserved on ice, is transported to one of Constantinople's squares and appears as a warning to potential rebels. Mr. Kadare spins among the different characters associated with that coat of authoritarian violence.

While for the disabled “ ” novel, the translation is from John Hodgson, “W SJ” writes that the political intentions of Kadare's books are clear and unerring.

Describing the corruption and the strange cruelty of the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Kadare brings a rude view and assessment of Albanian communism. But it would be wrong to think of this novel as an oruelian political allegory. The existence of the past feels contemporary (tourists flock to Istanbul to hit the head cut off, and you can almost imagine them photographing it by cell phone) and out of time. Mr. Kadare has more in common with William Faulkner, a writer who extracts mythology from regional legends.

This is also as much a moral project as artistic. At “The having of shame”, Kadare describes the efforts of the Ottoman Empire, which deliberately try to eradicate Albania's language and customs. This memorable novel adds his eternal work to cultural recovery. The past is certainly present in his books a ghost walking among the living, or a severed head that seems to block you in its view” closes Sam Sack's critical review on Wall Street Journal.