The Hundistan Times/Ismail Kadare: A different dissident

Although Ismail Kadare belongs to the illustrious group of dissidents and critics of an omnipotent State, he also seems to differ from them in his relationship with power and in the way his stories are organised.

Ismail Kadare, the Albanian author who defied the Communist regime in the small Balkan nation, died on July 1. Although Kadare belongs to the illustrious group of dissidents and critics of an omnipotent State, he also seems to differ from them in his relationship with power and in the way his stories are organised. In the works of famous dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Milan Kundera or Ivan Klima, all from former Communist countries, the stories focus on how the intimate lives of ordinary people are crushed by power. In Kadare’s stories, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Albania’s Enver Hoxha take centre-stage, and the workings of totalitarian power are seen from close quarters.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/ismail-kadare-a-different-dissident-101720281703032.html