''The Fall of the Stone City'' ( sq, Darka e gabuar) is a
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
novel by the
Albanian writer Ismail Kadare
Ismail Kadare (; spelled Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born on 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the pu ...
. Apart from winning the
Rexhai Surroi Rexhai Surroi (Serbian language, Serbian: Реџаји Суроји, ''Redžaji Suroji'') (8 June 1929 — 22 December 1988) was a Yugoslav Albanian journalist, diplomat and writer.
He was a member of the first cohort of students to have finis ...
Prize for the best book of the year, in
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 ...
the novel was also shortlisted for the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...
in 2013.
Background
Kadare had previously written about his home city
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and th ...
in his earlier novels ''
Chronicle in Stone'' and ''
A Question of Lunacy''.
Plot
Reception
Characterizing it as "a masterful recuperation" from Kadare's previous novel, ''The Accident'', Peter Carty from ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' went on to describe it as "an outstanding feat of imagination delivered in inimitable style, alternating between the darkly elusive and the menacingly playful.".
See also
*
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 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall Of The Stone City
2008 novels
21st-century Albanian novels
Novels by Ismail Kadare
Novels set in Albania
Onufri Publishing House books