Ismail Kadare, Albanian outstanding writer celebrates his 86th birthday today

/Klara Ruci, RTVSH

Ismail Kadare celebrates his 86th birthday today. Assessed as the genius of Albanian letters, Kadare’s works have been published in 45 languages.

On this occasion, the Academy of Sciences gathered Albanian and foreign scholars on Kadare’s works. For the French academic Jean – Pul Champseix, Kadare’s works go beyond the principles of socialist realism.

“While reading Kadare’s novels, it seemed to me that transgressions were numerous. From his first works “The General of the Dead Army”, and “The Monster”, the author skips the principles of socialist realism. Winter sadness, lack of heroes with whom you can identify, unfortunate endings of events are not at all in line with socialist realism. It lacks the whole spirit of the party, the collective enthusiasm and the steely unity of the party-people. For Kadare, the risk is not very great because although I have tried to contextualize it in its historical period, the work comes out of this framework thanks to its qualities. Indeed, Kadare has written against a regime in a certain period, but his literature has other sources,” said Jean-Paul Champseix.

Kadare was born on January 28, 1936 in Gjirokastra, which he brought to life through the work ‘Chronicle in Stones’. With the General of the Dead Army, the writer’s name became known abroad as well. The Palace of Dreams has sealed his worldwide success.

Kadare has received dozens of prestigious literary awards. In 2005 he won the Man Booker International Prize, in 2015 the Jerusalem Prize, and in 2019 the French president Macron awarded him the title “Commander of the Legion of Honor”.

Kadare has been nominated for the Nobel Prize more than 20 times, but has not won. However, the hope of Albanians has not been extinguished.

Although this year the academy did not formalize his name as a candidate, as it has done every year, it will send him to the Royal Swedish Academy at another time.

28 Janar 2022.