Dhimitër Pasko ( ro, Dimitrie Pascu; 13 September 1907 – 4 May 1967) was a well-known

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n writer, literary critic and translator. Along with

Ernest Koliqi Ernest Koliqi (20 May 190315 January 1975) was an Albanian journalist, politician, translator, teacher and writer. Biography Born in Shkodra, where he also attended his first lessons at the local Jesuit College. In 1918 his father send him ...

he is considered as the founder of modern Albanian prose; in

Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Alb ...

his pen name for which he gained fame was Mitrush Kuteli.

Biography

Mitrush Kuteli was born Dhimitër Pasko in the town of Pogradec at the shores of

Lake of Ohrid Lake Ohrid ( mk, Охридско Езеро , al, Liqeni i Ohrit , also referred as ''Liqeni i Pogradecit'';) is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of ...

, son of Pandeli and Polikseni. His mother was an ethnic Albanian while his father was an ethnic Aromanian. Kuteli studied at a Romanian commercial college in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, later moving to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

where, in 1931, he graduated in economics with a dissertation on the banking system in the Balkans. And in 1934 he earned a doctorate on the field, evaluated with "Diplomam Magnam cum Laudæ". While in Bucharest he became a journalist and directed the Albanian-language weekly newspaper ''Shqipëri' e re'' (New Albania), published in Constanța, from 1928 until 1933. In 1937 he organized the publishing Lasgush Poradeci's collection of verse, ''Ylli i zemrës'' (The Star of the heart). From 1934 he was a high official of the Romanian Ministry of Economy and later on he was the director of the

Cernăuți Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the up ...

bank. He returned to Albania in 1942, and during World War II wrote and self-published most of his major works. At the end of the war he founded the short-lived literary periodical, ''Revista letrare'' (Literary Review), with Nexhat Hakiu, Vedat Kokona and Sterjo Spasse, joined the editorial board of ''Bota e re'' (New World), the first Albanian post-war literary journal, and became a founding member of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists.

Imprisonment and release

The

Albanian Communist Party The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...

took power after World War II, but by 1947 was in the control of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Pasko, an official Albanian delegate to Yugoslavia, disapproved of a proposed

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

and

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

agreed between the two countries, and of a Serbian re-occupation of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

; an earlier 1944 Pasko poem, "Poem kosovar" (Kosovar poem), asserted his criticism of Serbian actions. Upon the Albanian delegation's return from Yugoslavia, Pasko was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his criticism, during which he attempted suicide. Following the freeing of Yugoslavia's hold over Albanian party politics, Pasko was released. After his release from prison, he was informed by the authorities that his family would be banished to

Kavajë Kavajë ( , sq-definite, Kavaja) is a municipality centrally located in the Western Lowlands region of Albania, in Tirana County. It borders Durrës to the north , Tiranë to the east and Rrogozhinë to the south . To the west lies the Adriati ...

. His personal documents were branded with the stamp "Enemy of the people", but his family were saved after the intervention of Fadil Paçrami. Kuteli was given new documents and a job. Pasko died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in 1967.

Literary works

Economy

He was the representative of the democratic and bourgeois alternative for the economic development during the reign of

King Zog I Zog I ( sq, Naltmadhnija e tij Zogu I, Mbreti i Shqiptarëve, ; 8 October 18959 April 1961), born Ahmed Muhtar bey Zogolli, taking the name Ahmet Zogu in 1922, was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's ...

Literature

He published his first authored book, ''Netë shqipëtare'' (Albanian nights) in 1938, a compilation of eight tales of village life from his native Pogradec. This edition was largely destroyed by a fire, and only became widely read through a second edition published in 1944. He worked as a translator for Naim Frashëri Publishing House, the state-owned

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

publishing company. Pasko, as with other Albanian writers of the time, accommodated the imposed cultural doctrine of Zhdanovism by translating

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

-approved Russian authors, although he found himself able to translate his favorite Russian, Romanian, and Spanish writers, publish tales and verse for children, and adapt Albanian oral verse to prose.

Criticism

It is asserted that he followed Poradeci's tread, although his poetry is even more Romanian in character.

Selected bibliography

* - 1937 * (Albanian nights) - 1938 * (The Chestnut forest) - 1958 * (Ago Jakupi and other stories) - 1943 * (Attack and tears) - 1943 * (Literary Notes) - 1944 * (From peak to peak) - 1944 * (Kapllan agha of Shaban Shpata) - 1944 * (The love of Artan the Barbarian) - 1946 * (Gingerman) - 1962 * (Old Albanian tales) - 1965 * (Selected stories) - 1972 * (Mud from this land) - 1973 * (In a corner of southern Illyria) - 1983 * (Songs and cries from the burnt city) * (Great is the lament of sin) - 1993 *' (The Economist's Diary) - 2012 *' (Moldovian Nights) - 2015

Translations

* Eluard, ''Selected verses'' *

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

, ''St Petersburg tales'' and '' Dead Souls'' * ''Haxhi Agaj'', Persian tales *

Ivan Krylov Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (russian: Ива́н Андре́евич Крыло́в; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journali ...

, ''The Fables'' *

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. ...

, ''Selected works'' *

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin ( rus, Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪvˈɡrafəvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof ɕːɪˈdrʲin; – ), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during ...

, ''

The Golovlyov Family ''The Golovlyov Family'' (russian: Господа Головлёвы, translit=Gospoda Golovlyovy; also translated as ''The Golovlevs'' or ''A Family of Noblemen: The Gentlemen Golovliov'') is a novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, written in the ...

'' * Pablo Neruda, ''Que despierte el leñador'' *

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, ''Novels'' *

Turgeniev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style and ...