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Ismail Kadaré
Ismail Kadare (; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual, focusing on poetry until the publication of his first novel, '' The General of the Dead Army'', which made him famous internationally. Kadare is regarded by some as one of the greatest writers and intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries, and as a universal voice against totalitarianism. Living in Albania during a time of strict censorship, he devised stratagems to outwit Communist censors who had banned three of his books, using devices such as parable, myth, fable, folk-tale, allegory, and legend, sprinkled with double-entendre, allusion, insinuation, satire, and coded messages. In 1990, to escape the Communist regime and its ''Sigurimi'' secret police, he defected to Paris. From the 1990s he was asked by both major political parties in Albania to become a consensual President of the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Flag Decoration
The National Flag Decoration () is one of the highest decorations to be given in Albania, among the Civil awards and decorations of Albania, and was instituted by special law Nr.8113, of 28 March 1996. This award is granted to Albanians or foreigners for extraordinary contributions for the sublimation of the Albanian nation and Albania. Mostly the proposer of this Order is the President of the Republic through his own initiative. It could also be the Speaker of Assembly or the Prime Minister. Famous recipients of National Flag Order Recipients: ** 2006 - - First President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova Ibrahim Rugova ** 2007 - - 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush ** 2012 - - Founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, National Hero of Kosovo Adem Jashari ** 2012 - - Kosovo Albanian activist Adem Demaçi ** 2012 - - 67th United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ** 2012 - - Leader of Albania from 1925 to 1939 Zog I of Albania (post ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sphere and the private sphere of society. In the field of political science, totalitarianism is the extreme form of authoritarianism, wherein all socio-political power is held by a dictator. This figure controls the national politics and peoples of the nation with continual propaganda campaigns that are broadcast by state-controlled and state-aligned private mass communications media. The totalitarian government uses ideology to control most aspects of human life, such as the political economy of the country, the system of education, the arts, sciences, and private morality of its citizens. In the exercise of socio-political power, the difference between a totalitarian regime of government and an authoritarian regime of government is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man Booker International Prize
The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Booker Prize was then known, was announced in June 2004. Sponsored by the Man Group, from 2005 until 2015 the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage", and was a recognition of the writer's body of work rather than any one title. Since 2016, the award has been given annually to a single work of fiction or collection of short stories, translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland, with a £50,000 prize for the winning title, shared equally between author and translator. Crankstart, the char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca
The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (Cino Del Duca World Prize) is an international literary award from France. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes. Origins and operations It was established in 1969 in France by French businesswoman Simone Del Duca (1912–2004) to continue the work of her Italian-born French husband, publishing magnate Cino Del Duca (1899–1967). The award recognizes an author whose work constitutes, in a scientific or literary form, a message of modern humanism. The award's prize has been valued as high as 300,000 € over the years; in 2016 it was 200,000. In 1975, Madame Del Luca established the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation for a variety of philanthropic purposes and it assumed responsibility for the award. Following her death in 2004, the foundation was placed under the auspices of the Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fall Of The Stone City
''The Fall of the Stone City'' () is a 2008 novel by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Apart from winning the Rexhai Surroi Prize for the best book of the year, in Kosovo the novel was also shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2013. Background Kadare had previously written about his home city Gjirokastër 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'' 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 language, Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian dias ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiritus (Kadare Novel)
Spiritus is a 1996 novel by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. It marks a narrative and compositional turning point in his literary career. The influence of this novel will be felt in all of Kadare's subsequent novels. It is a novel about the anxiety of wiretapping. Plot A group of foreigners touring Eastern Europe after the fall of communism hears exciting rumours during its stay in Albania about the capture of the spirit from the dead. As it turns out, the spirit is in fact a listening device known to the notorious secret service as a "hornet". See also *Albanian literature *The Palace of Dreams ''The Palace of Dreams'' () is a 1981 in literature, 1981 novel by the Albanian literature, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Set ostensibly in the Ottoman Empire, but in a deliberately imprecise past shaded by myth and intended to represent the mo ... References Bibliography * * {{Ismail Kadare 1996 novels 20th-century Albanian novels Novels by Ismail Kadare Novels set i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pyramid (Kadare Novel)
''The Pyramid'' () is a 1992 novel written by Ismail Kadare. It is considered to serve both literary and dissident purposes. It is a political allegory of absolute political power. Background The first part of the novel was written in 1988-1990 but was rejected by the state publisher. It was serialized in January 1991 in several issues of the new opposition newspaper '' Democratic Renaissance''. After the establishment of pluralism and democracy in Albania, it was completed and published in Tirana and Paris. Plot ''The Pyramid'' is a political allegory set in ancient Egypt. It is the tale of the conception and construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza by Cheops, but also of absolute political power. Reception ''The New York Times'' picked up on the significance of ''The Pyramid'': "For the pyramid, viewed by his subjects as an abiding symbol of his total and incontestable power, comes to be seen by him as a personal memento mori, a constant and paralyzing reminder that his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The File On H
''The File on H.'' is a novel by the Albanian author Ismail Kadare. It was first published in Albanian in 1981 under the title ''Dosja H''. Jusuf Vrioni translated the work to French in 1989 (revised in 1996) as ''Le Dossier H.'' David Bellos translated the French version into English in 1996. Both Kadare and Bellos have received praise in the English speaking world for the edition. The premise of the novel is loosely based on the research on the Homeric question done by Milman Parry and Albert Lord in the 1930s, where they helped to develop the theory of Oral-Formulaic Composition. Themes ''The File on H.'' follows the journey of two Irish-American scholars from Harvard University to a small town in Northern Albania known as N—. Armed with a then-state-of-the-art tape recorder, the scholars set out to the uncover the centuries-long mystery of how Homeric epics came to be, believing that the rhapsodies of the Albanian highlanders hold the answer, as they are thought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Palace Of Dreams
''The Palace of Dreams'' () is a 1981 in literature, 1981 novel by the Albanian literature, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Set ostensibly in the Ottoman Empire, but in a deliberately imprecise past shaded by myth and intended to represent the modern totalitarian state, ''The Palace of Dreams'' follows the rapid rise of Mark-Alem, a young Ottoman Albanian related to the powerful Köprülü family, within the bureaucracy, bureaucratic regime of the title palace, a shady Ministry (government department), ministry whose objective is to gather, examine and dream interpretation, interpret the dreams of the empire's subjects in order to uncover the master-dreams, which are believed to show the future destiny of the Sultan and the state. Conceived in the years 1972-1973 and written between 1976 and 1981, ''The Palace of Dreams'' is widely regarded as one of Kadare's masterpieces. After an emergency meeting of the Albanian Writers Union and a public denunciation by Ramiz Alia, Enver Hoxha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chronicle In Stone
''Chronicle in Stone'' () is a novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare. First published in Albanian in 1971, and translated into English by Arshi Pipa in 1987, it describes life in a small Albanian city during World War II. A revised translation by David Bellos was published in 2007. Format and plot Each chapter is followed by an alternate chapter, a short "Fragment of a Chronicle" written by the town's official chronicler. The regular chapters are written in the first person, in the voice of a child, an alter ego of the young Kadare. He is fascinated with words, and reads ''Macbeth'', as Kadare himself did when he was eleven. He applies human drama, imagining blood and crime everywhere. In Kadare's home town, ravaged by history, we see characters walking down the street with severed heads under their arms; the Italian fascists hang several young Albanian rebels, the Greek occupants kill "enemies" chosen according to the whims of their spies, and the Germans indulge in the k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Siege (Kadare Novel)
''The Siege'' is a historical novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, first published in 1970 in Tirana as ''Kështjella'' (''The Castle''). It concerns the siege of an unnamed Albanian fortress by troops of the Ottoman Empire during the time of Skanderbeg, loosely based on the historical Siege of Krujë (1450). It was translated into French by Jusuf Vrioni and then from French into English by David Bellos. The novel was partly rewritten by Kadare after he moved from Albania to France in 1990; most of the changes were references to the Christian beliefs of the Albanian garrison, which had been cut from the original version by the communist censors. Title Kadare originally intended for the novel to be called ''Duallet e Shiut'' ("The Drums of Rain"), but the Albanian publisher changed this to ''Kështjella'' ("The Castle"), which was felt to be more heroic and also served to emphasise the role of the Albanian garrison. The original title was revived when the novel was translated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The General Of The Dead Army (novel)
''The General of the Dead Army'' () is a 1963 novel by then 26-year-old Albanian writer Ismail Kadare and his most critically acclaimed. He was encouraged to write it by Drago Siliqi, literary critic and director of the state-owned publishing house Naim Frashëri. Plot In the early 1960s, nearly 20 years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general, accompanied by a priest who is also an Italian army colonel, is sent to Albania to locate and collect the remains of his countrymen who had died during the war and return them for burial in Italy. As they organise digs and disinterment, they wonder at the scale of their task. The general talks to the priest about the futility of war and the meaninglessness of the enterprise. As they go deeper into the Albanian countryside they find they are being followed by another general who is looking for the bodies of German soldiers killed in World War II. Like his Italian counterpart, the German struggles with a thankless job looki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
