Hello Gentle Reader
Reviewing an anthology is always difficult. It’s not a work in a singular composition. It’s a collection of stories or poems. However each work is written by a different author. This makes it difficult to review, and to judge the work on any level. Before I had started to read, “The Best European Fiction of 2013,” I thought that I would read each work individually, and write a quick blurb or review about that work, by that author. After a few attempts, and numerous notes taken, this idea was abandoned. Once again faced with this anthology of Albanian short stories, I am left to wonder how I am going to start this review:
Albania is a small country south of Italy. Its history has been divided between being ruled over by two more dominate empires. First the Ottoman Empire: for five hundred years, Albania was under the rule of the Ottoman Sultan. Their culture was stifled; and language repressed. It was during this time that a mass majority of Albanians converted to Islam. In nineteen-twelve, Albania declared itself independent and free. However this independence was short lived, and disastrous. From nineteen-fourteen to nineteen-twenty five, a short lived monarchy was abolished. From nineteen-twenty five until nineteen-twenty eight, Albania, attempted being a republic. Again this was another failed attempt. From nineteen-twenty eight until nineteen-thirty nine, a constitutional monarchy was in place, with the former Kingdom of Italy as its de facto protectorate. In other words, the Kingdom of Italy would oversee Albania’s military power, and security from outside threats. This would prove to futile in the end. Nineteen-thirty nine until nineteen-forty three, Albania was ruled by fascist Italy; and therefore ceased to exist as a independent and sovereign nation. After fascist Italy’s armistice, with the allied powers in World War II, Albania was left for a year, in the hands of the Nazi Germans. At this point in Albania’s history a new controlling force consumed the country. The Soviet Union, consumed Albania along with other former Eastern and Central European states. Enver Hoxha. What followed was decades of oppression and caprice, and political instability for the people; and the intellectual crack down, on all who thought differently than the pre-approved party ideology.
Now Albania is giving independence another chance. When I read the essays in his travelogue “Fado,” by the Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk; there is a feeling that Albania has moved forward, and enjoys its location in the Mediterranean. Lazy walks on the beach; siestas under trees; a game of chess with the blue sea in the distance. There was also a sense of age old beliefs and superstitions from the rural world, of tribes and Sheppard’s; such as the north savage and barbaric and populated by demons. Then of course, Albania’s relationship with China and the Chinese technocrats, that continue to help mine and support Albania in its industries and exports; much as they did as Hoxha had moved away from Soviet Union, and began to further strengthen relationships with Communist China.
If one knows Albanian literature, and or Albania as a country it is most likely thanks to the Albanian writer in exile Ismail Kadare. The author of such novels as: “The General of the Dead Army,” “Broken April,” and “The Pyramid.” Kadare is a strong force in Albanian literature, and language; because of his restoration of the language – all of Kadare’s books are written in natural Albanian language, and do not utilize foreign words; as well as moving Albanian literature, into more contemporary means. In regards to this anthology Kadare was supposed to have three of his short stories, published in it. However before publication, he retracted his stories. This works well for the authors in this anthology as they are forced to prove themselves, on their own merit, and therefore cannot be compared to an already well known writer, such as Kadare. This way they rely and thrive or fail on their merits and talents alone.
One of the greatest parts of this contemporary anthology of Albanian short stories is that, as old as Albanian literature is; prose is a new form of style within Albanian literature. This anthology showcases how writers from Albania are utilizing this still relatively new form. Many of the authors are excelling in the form of the short story and prose as a whole. Each of these stories have a sense of being written after the fall of communism and after the death of Enver Hoxha, and his anti-intellectual paranoia and fear. Now writers, are no longer forced to spout and speak the dribble of the ruling party; but are free to creatively bare witness, and reminisce of the past, and the historical situation that had taken place during that time of oppression, and cruelty. Literature, can act as the measuring instrument, in to which we can gauge society and civilization, in regards, to civility and general ideals of humanism. However, the works here, strike the paradox of the country, as it was, and as it is one line from: “Stars Do Not Dress Up Like That,” reads as the following:
“If I were not depressed, I might even be happy.”
That sentence comes from the novel: “Stars Do Not Dress Up Like That,” by Elvira Dones. It begins with the interior monologue of a young woman Leila, who offers snippets of her story. As a reader, one is aware, that our narrator named Leila, is neither happy, and comes to realize after a while she is in a torment of pain. Two pages later, the scene shifts, to Leila’s father, bringing his daughter home, back to Albania. But not as one would think. Leila is dead. She is in a coffin; and is being transported back to Albania, under the watch of her father. She has been stabbed death. After a while Dones’ sample of her work, becomes a cautionary tale, of how Albanian women, with no education and no prospect of employment, leave Albania and end up in human trafficking; and then into sexual services, which will eventually lead to the death of these young women. It’s a piece of work that tackles the social issues, facing Albanian young women; but also the young women of former Soviet states.
Ylljet Aliçka has three of his stories published, in this anthology. “The Slogans in Stone,” is standout story. A strange story in its absurd premise; but after a while, becomes a allegorical message to some degree of the former government; and communist rule. In this story a school teacher, is sent out to a remote village, where each teacher and class, is assigned a slogan, in which they are painted on stones – letter per stone; and are tended by both the teacher and the class. They are to be kept in pristine condition; so as to be admired from all over. The care each teacher and class puts into the maintenance of these slogans, and the obsessive need to continually check and maintain them. They become an allegory of false ideologies, that one is forced not only to believe in, but to act within their approved guidelines; but also to uphold these ideologies on a physical level.
Another story worth mentioning of this work was: “The Mute Maiden,” by Lindita Arapi. Its short and sweet, and very concise, but not simple story. However it does falter, because of its length as well. It begins with a very strong tone, and is told in a very direct but at times elusive manner. The story is about the youngest daughters, relationship to an ever present but distant father. It’s a memory of childhood, and growing up; and the eventual passage of childhood into adulthood. However the abrupt ending, in which the writer, leaves the story relies on the sense or the need for the reader to feel outrage, and that’s it. A bit more work would have achieved a far stronger ending.
My favorite two stories of the entire anthology though were from Teodor Laço. Both of his stories: “The Pain of a Distant Winter,” and “Another Winter,” that were published in this anthology are connected; on the basis of each story. Both of these stories detail the same memories of a man, and his love for his mother, and her love for him. In a sense they have a tinge of autobiographical feel to them; this allows for the reader to understand that they hold a deeper meaning for their writer; and this shared empathetic relation, with the reader, and writer, gives both the stories, a greater understanding and a deeper connection to the work. They are great stories, and are the strongest works of the entire collection. Neither of these stories are political. They are by all means personal ruminations, and have a sense of melancholic loss and a need to escape into the memory, to escape the changing present that one is not comfortable with or does not wish to face.
The entire anthology is a good introduction to Albanian literature, especially its budding experiments with prose; and the release of the stifling socialist realist desire, to make the writers, write in the sense that is politically pure to the ruling party’s ideology. Some of the works are political – some more so then others; but the best ones, are the ones that have a sense of personal connection, and describe the landscape around them, both in a historical and present fashion.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment