Robert Elsie (June 29, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was a Canadian-born German scholar who specialized 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 ...
and
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
.
Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter, and specialist in Albanian studies, being the author of numerous books and articles that focused on various aspects of Albanian culture and affairs.
Life
Born on June 29, 1950
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada, Elsie studied at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
, graduating in 1972 with a diploma in
Classical Studies
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
. In the following years, he continued his post-graduate studies at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
, at the ''
École Pratique des Hautes Études
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
'' and at the
University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne, at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...
, and at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
, where he finished his doctorate on Linguistics and Celtic Studies in 1978 at the Linguistics Institute.
![Albanien 1978 28](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Albanien_1978_28.jpg)
From 1978 on, Elsie visited Albania several times with a group of students and professors from the University of Bonn. For several years, he also attended the , held in
Pristina
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...
, Kosovo. From 1982 to 1987, he worked for the
German Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
in Bonn, and from 2002 to 2013 for the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
in The Hague, in particular as an interpreter for several noted cases including the
trial of Slobodan Milošević
The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) lasted for just over four years from 2002 until his death in 20 ...
.
Elsie's scholarly travels and interest in
Albanian dialects
The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into two major groups: Gheg Albanian, Gheg and Tosk Albanian, Tosk. The Shkumbin river is roughly the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of ...
brought him into contact with
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
from Albania,
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 ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
,
Montenegro
)
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, map_caption =
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, capital = Podgorica
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, official_languages = M ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Macedonia, and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and made dozens of recordings of the
Albanian language
Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...
.
As a translator Robert Elsie offered the reader “a selection of songs from the best known cycle of
Albanian epic verse”.
Elsie during his lifetime authored many works of scholarship and had no major unpublished work left for completion prior to his death.
Death
![Theth, Fushë-Theth – Cemetery 04 Robert Elsie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Theth%2C_Fush%C3%AB-Theth_%E2%80%93_Cemetery_04_Robert_Elsie.jpg)
On October 2, 2017 Robert Elsie died of
motor neuron disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...
in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
His
last words
Last words are the final utterances before death. The meaning is sometimes expanded to somewhat earlier utterances.
Last words of famous or infamous people are sometimes recorded (although not always accurately) which became a historical and liter ...
before passing away were "death is so boring. So slow. One only waits for it".
At the time of Elsie's death, it was initially reported in the media that he had requested in his will to be buried in Albania,
although it emerged two weeks after those events that Elsie did not specify in his will where to be buried.
Instead it was the decision of his life partner, Stephan Trierweiler, that he should be buried in Albania due to the deep love Elsie had for the country.
Elsie's coffin was brought to Albania to
lay in repose
Lying in repose is the tradition in which the body of a deceased person, often of high social stature, is made available for public viewing. Lying in repose differs from the more formal honor of lying in state, which is generally held at the pr ...
at the
National Library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...
in Tirana for people to come and pay their respects.
A farewell ceremony paying tribute to Elsie was held in Tirana, bringing together friends, academics and politicians from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia.
During his lifetime, Elsie developed a fondness for
Theth
Theth ( sq, Thethi) is a small village within Shkodër County, Albania. Following the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Shkodër, and has been declared a Protected Historic Center by the Albanian Government. The commu ...
, seeing it as an Albanian "
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...
". On October 18, he was buried in the northern village located in the
Albanian Alps
The Accursed Mountains ( sq, Bjeshkët e Nemuna; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Проклетије, Prokletije, ; both translated as "Cursed Mountains"), also known as the Albanian Alps ( sq, Alpet Shqiptare), are a mountain group in the western part of the B ...
.
A prolific author of scholarly works, Elsie's untimely death within the context of Albanian studies has been seen as a "big blow" for its international promotion.
Publications
Below are a selection of his publications of which he was an author, editor or translator. Elsie published around 60 books in English, Albanian or German.
* Robert Elsie, Baron Franz Nopcsa and his contribution to Albanian studies.
[ The essay, first published on Elsie's website, is the basis for the "Introduction" to Nopcsa's memoirs titled ''Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer'' (2014) edited by Robert Elsie.]
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Honours
*
Medal of Gratitude (Albania, 15 May 2013) – decorated by President of Albania
Bujar Nishani
Bujar Nishani (; 29 September 1966 – 28 May 2022) was an Albanian politician. He served as President of Albania from 24 July 2012 to 24 July 2017.
Nishani was the youngest person to have been chosen as president of Albania, taking office at ...
. Robert Elsie received the honour for his contributions as a scholar for over 35 years focusing and internationally promoting the "culture, language, literature and history of Albanians" alongside the "positive image of Albania in the world".
[ Offering his gratitude, President Nishani referred to Elsie as "a good Albanian".]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elsie, Robert
1950 births
2017 deaths
University of Paris alumni
Canadian expatriates in Ireland
Albanologists
Canadian expatriates in France
Linguists from Canada
Writers from Vancouver
Canadian expatriates in Germany
University of Bonn alumni
Canadian expatriates in the Netherlands
Canadian gay writers
Canadian LGBT journalists
20th-century translators