Ismail Kadare Wins the Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Hello Gentle Reader

Ismail Kadare has become the twenty-sixth Laureate for the biennial Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Kadare is the most prominent Albanian writer, whose works are noted for their global reach and appeal. Ismail Kadare rose to prominence in the Albanian literary scene in the latter half of the Twentieth Century on the strength of his poetry; however, his novels such as “The General of the Dead Army,” gained the attention of the world. Behind the Iron Curtain in Albania, and later in Soviet Russia, Ismail Kadare made a stir due to his open rejection of ‘socialist realism,’ the ideological literary measurement deemed appropriate by the bureaucratic administrative powers of the communist regime. After the Soviet-Albanian political divorce, Ismail Kadare would return to Albania and embark on a literary career. He published a fragment of his first novel in a magazine. The fragment (or short story) titled: “Coffehouse Days,” was immediately banned. The novel would hidden and kept in secret for decades until being published after the fall of communism.

“The General of the Dead Army,” may have gained him international renown, it left his fellow writers, critics, and dogmatic literary establishment of Albania embittered. Ismail Kadare was viewed as the darling of the west, and his subsequent works were either criticized before being banned, or banned before publication. Kadare’s work through this time took a continued allegorical and resistance approach to the totalitarian government of Albania. In the nineteen-nineties Ismail Kadare sought political asylum in France, where he supported and called for democratization.

Despite the political overtones and undertones surrounding his work, Ismail Kadare refutes being classified as a dissident writer, as dissidence in Communist Albania was severely and tactically suppressed. Kadare could not be considered a conformist under the ideological restraints either, as the author continually tested the waters and provoked irksome responses for the government and literary establishment, while delighting Western admirers.

In winning the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Ismail Kadare’s reputation as one of the most important Albanian writers in the world is only cemented further. Prior to this award, Kadare has received the inaugural Man Booker International Prize (in its first conception), the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, and the Jerusalem Prize. Ismail Kadare has remained a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature since the nineteen-nineties.  

Congratulations to Ismail Kadare who is a worthy winner!

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M. Mary