Mehmet Kraja: 10 books of Albanian literature that must be read

The writer Mehmet Kraja chooses "Rhapsody of an arboreal poem" by Jeronim De Rada as one of the books that should not be left unread. Calling it a work beyond art, Kraja invites us to a different reading of De Rada. Below he comes with his 10 suggestions from Albanian literature, for MapoLetrare readers.

Jeronim De Rada, "Rhapsody of an Arbëresh poem"

In my opinion, one of the most important works of Albanian literature. This work of De Rada has been unfairly moved from literature to history, that is, it has somehow been pushed beyond art, turned into dates, footnotes, bio-bibliographic notes and is not suggested as a work for reading. The reason for this may have been the language, but the work has been re-sung for some time and, next to the original text, it can be enjoyed in this form as well. This work stood the test of time because of the motifs, which, like all ancient literature, express the fundamental relationships of man with the main enigmas of life and existence. Secondly, "Rhapsodies..." is made high art by the great density of figures, which does not extend only to the level of language, but in most cases is the essence of discourse. A special flow of this work is the knightly and aristocratic theme, which due to historical circumstances, will not be repeated in Albanian literature.

Ndre Mjeda, "Juvenilia"

Ndre Mjeda is a great master of the Albanian sonnet, unique in Albanian literature, an extraordinary sculptor of verse. Mjeda is a classic of Albanian literature; his poetry is a literary monument carved in marble. It has been somewhat forgotten without right, it seems due to the rivalry of the Franciscans with the Jesuits, including the cynical assumption that Mjeda was recognized even during the dictatorship, while Fishta was anathema. Despite being considered dialectal, Mjeda's poetry is a model of all Albanian verse, because it expresses, recognizes and unites the sound values ​​of the word with its figurative meaning values, which is the highest ideal of poetry. Mjeda's poetry can still be read today with pleasure, if some prejudices are removed.

Ernest Koliqi, "Flag Trader"

It is one of the most important works of our prose, which influenced the modernization and emancipation of Albanian literature. The narrative prose of the collection "Merchant of Flags" by Koliq was written in a time of spiritual tranquility of the Albanians and it reflects emancipated language, stabilized social life, civic culture and critical thinking. I think that the influence of Italian literature in this creativity of Koliq is overestimated, because it appears assimilated, just like the Persian literature of Naimi, or the Romanian literature of Lasgushi. At this point, Koliq's narrative prose is no exception. If a remark should be made about Koliq's language, it is not related to the deep dialectic of his lexicon, because it suits the environment, but more to the unassimilated Slavisms that are found in any of these proses.

Mitrush Kuteli, "Great is the horror of sin"

It is the most accomplished work of Mitrush Kuteli and one of the most important works of Albanian prose. In this prose by Kutel, the narrative subject is placed in a religious context. In a broader sense, the narrative is built firmly on the biblical situation of Solomon's "Song of Songs". But the biblical motif has been carried over time and space, as is usually done in such cases. It's just that, when it comes to mysticism, the fathers seem to feel the same rejection, so this may be one of the reasons why this prose of Kutel has not succeeded in overshadowing the other works of this author, except those with social themes, although artistically it is his most accomplished work. Mysticism transformed into a life situation, this is the basic feature of this prose. Kutel's language in this prose is a model, how the local koine rises to the level of cultivated artistic text. It is language that creates a powerful balance between text and context.

Petro Marko, "The Last City"

Petro Marko's best novel and one of the best Albanian prose works of the second half of the 20th century. It stands out for its chosen subject and for its creative courage, because the novel, both in terms of subject and creative method, comes out on the other side of the scheme, challenging ideology and one of its pillars, socialist realism. In this novel, Petro Marko deals with the consequences of the war, coming out "on the other side", that is, in the camp of those who lost the war. And there you find great dramas, reversed destinies, lives that take a tragic turn. Despite the fact that the author consistently follows the clear anti-fascist line, it seems as if in most cases the narrative goes "out of control" and falls into the "trap" of humanism. Even from the point of view of the literary method, the same thing happens: the novel miraculously escapes the constraints of socialist realism. An artistic elaboration of the writing could make the work more durable over time.

Ismail Kadare, "Chronicle in stone"

It is Kadare's masterpiece and one of the masterpieces of Albanian literature, a novel that goes beyond the literary scheme of this author and the Albanian literary experience in general, mainly through a deeply elaborated narrative discourse and through the appearance of a world that lies on the borders of dreams and reality, myth and legend on the one hand and history and real deeds on the other. The work is based on the retrospective and sublimated narrative of the "childhood of the world" about the war in general and the Second World War in particular. It is an honest, extremely poetic and non-ideological account of a human drama of great proportions, which, in a small place, highlights the destinies of people in a strange, almost upside-down and fantastic reality. It is an atypical novel about the war, which sublimates knowledge and literary culture, a novel that transcends individual experiences and becomes the experience of literary writing of an almost universal koine. The novel has been classified several times among the hundred best novels of European literature of the 20th century.

Azem Shkreli, "Poetry"

He is one of the best poets of contemporary Albanian literature, a powerful integrative figure of Albanian literature: his poetry, as far as it is read and analyzed, works without distinction in the entire Albanian literary space. It is primarily meditative poetry, with deep layers of meaning and cultivated linguistic and artistic expression. The lyrical hero of Azem Shkreli's poetry is neither the Kosovar nor the passionate and euphoric Albanian, but the rational, meditative Albanian. This lyrical hero never becomes part of the crowd, so he is not a collective hero, on the contrary, he is a powerful individualist, who meditates on eternal themes such as freedom, endurance, love, death, etc. Azem Shkreli's poetry uses spare language and expressions and stands out for original findings in the field of poetic imagery. Azem Shkreli's literary work has the characteristics of a wise man, who meditates a lot and speaks little.

Ali Podrimja, "River River"

There are few poetry books like "Lum Lumi" by Ali Podrimje, which remain in the reader's attention for such a long time, not with any poem, with any verse, with any motif or metaphor, but the book as a whole. "Lum Lumi" continues to be in the attention of readers and literary researchers. It became the book-emblem of Albanian poetry, a special book, which marks a turning point with the modernity of expression, with substantive emancipation, with an extremely successful interweaving of cultivated expression and the subject with completely clear semantic references. "Lum Lumi" is the unrestricted freedom to express pain, it is the freedom to feel, it is the freedom to suffer, it is the freedom to cry, it is the freedom to say what you feel. To make "Lum Lumin" Ali Podrimje needed a lot of pain and just as many found words-images and expressions. In this book, Podrimje's poetic eloquence shows extraordinary insights.

Zija Çela, "Half of Xhokonda"

One of the most important works in the opus of Zija Çela's creativity, special for me, because, together with the novel "The Swallow's Blood", it opens a new phase of this author's literary creativity and manifests stability in the difficult literary transition of the period after socialist realism in Albanian literature. With this novel, Zija Çela becomes a model of the new spirit in Albanian prose, which consists in the simultaneous creative and selective acquisition of the pluralism of literary schools, maintaining the balance between her original voice and the growing demands of the Albanian reader. Unlike many other Albanian writers who failed to keep pace with time and its dynamic developments, with this novel Çela becomes an author who places his literature in relation to communication and competition with contemporary contemporary prose, because, on the one hand , he sublimates the great achievements of 20th century prose in the construction of textual texture and procedure, while, on the other hand, with the theme of his works, he stays close to the preoccupations of the Albanian world, echoing its sufferings and dilemmas.

Vath Koreshi, "Wolf and Will"

Despite being considered a novel with a predetermined thesis, where good and bad have a predetermined fate, this novel by Vath Koresh marks an extraordinary success in Albanian literature after the great turning point of the 90s. The novel is a proof that Albanian literature, after the collapse of socialist realism, had the internal potential to regenerate, especially the novel, and recognize new subjective and linguistic insights. The novel is important, because it opens paths and offers one of the variations of the "retelling" of history, unlike what history had been told until then: the novel is a history of events and circumstances, but more of a lyrical history of love and passion, of suffering and survival. Although again schematized, the author takes the characters out of the ideological scheme and places them in other limitations, showing that true freedom does not exist, that it has other existential, philosophical and worldview limitations. On the other hand, with this novel the author makes important linguistic research and insights at the level of our novel prose. /map/