The indipedent/Albania’s world-renowned novelist Ismail Kadare dies at 88
Ismail Kadare, the acclaimed Albanian novelist and playwright who defied his country’s communist rulers through his writing, has died in a Tirana hospital after having a heart attack. He was 88.
Prime minister Edi Rama paid tribute to the writer as a “monument of Albanian culture”.
Kadare became internationally recognized after his novel The General of the Dead Army was published in 1963 under the regime of dictator Enver Hoxha.
In 1975, after publishing a satirical poem called The Red Pasha, which took aim at Albania’s communist bureaucracy, Kadare was sent to do manual labour in a remote village in central Albania.
Three of his books fell foul of Albanian censors, and in 1990 he sought political asylum in France after receiving threats following his criticism of the government and calls for democracy. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron named him as a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor during a visit to Tirana.
“Albania and Albanians lost their genius of letters, their spiritual emancipator, the Balkans (lost) the poet of its myths, Europe and the world (lost) one of the most renowned representatives of modern literature,” Albanian president Bajram Begaj said in a statement.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ismail-kadare-albania-communism-b2572053.html