Kadare, the colossus of planetary literature celebrates his birthday today

Një ditë para 88-vjetorit të Ismail Kadaresë, Tiranë, 27 janar 2024.

88 years ago, on January 28, 1936, Ismail Kadareja, the colossus of Albanian literature, was born in Gjirokastër.

Kadare’s birthday is not only a date marked for Albanian readers who are proud of him, but also for readers of other languages in the world, as his literature has been translated into more than 50 languages. Kadare has been a candidate for the “Nobel” prize in literature several times, so he won the highest French decoration, as ‘Commander of the Legion of Honor’.

Kadare was born in the Palorto neighborhood of Gjirokastra. His vocation for literature began at an early age, when the reading of the tragedy “Macbeth” by the English author, William Shakespeare, would leave an indelible mark on the boy Kadare. He would stay in his hometown until the end of secondary education, when he prepared for publication his first cycle of poems “Boyish Inspirations” (1954). Then, he settled in Tirana, where he completed his higher studies in the Language-Literature branch and graduated as a “Teacher”.

In the span of 1958-1960, Kadare deepened his studies in the field of literature at the “Maxim Gorky” Institute in Moscow. In 1960, forced to abandon his studies due to the termination of relations between Albania and the former Soviet Union, he returned to his homeland and started working in journalism.

In 1963, after occasional retouching, his novel “The General of the Dead Army” was published, which resonated even beyond the country. The theme of the freedom-loving nature of the Albanians that is observed in this work, would be the main theme of the novel “Castle”, published in 1970. In this vein, the author was also inspired to write the novel “Krushqi are frozen”, which speaks on the 1981 demonstrations of Kosovo Albanians.

However, Kadare’s pen would not spare the criticism of the backward traditions of the society, as written in the novel “Chronicle in stone” (1970). In the series of uninterrupted publications, the allegorical novel “The Clerk of the Palace of Dreams” (1981), stands out as the most curved in the entirety of Kadare’s work. In the fall of 1990, Kadare left for France and returned to his homeland after the first democratic developments.

Since 1996, the Albanian writer is an associate member (for life) of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. He has been awarded a number of international prizes (“Man Booker Prize”, “Prince of Asturias”, etc.), as selected among world-renowned writers, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Günter Grass and Milan Kundera. Until now, his works have been translated into about 50 languages of the world.

Kadare has been decorated by the President of the Republic of Albania with the “Honour of the Nation” Order, as well as by the French state with the “Cross of the Legion of Honor” and “Officer of the Legion of Honor” orders.

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