Shqipopedia | Encyclopedia Albanica

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  • Esad MEKULI

    The writer widely considered to be the father of modern Albanian poetry in Yugoslavia, Esad Mekuli (1916-1993), was not born in Kosova itself but in the mountain village of Plava on the Montenegrin-Albanian border where national traditions are still revered. Mekuli went to school in Peja on the Kosova side of the wild Rugova canyon…

  • Sejfullah MALËSHOVA

    The forced marriage between Albanian literature and Marxism-Leninism was firmly cemented from the start with the founding in October 1945 of the Albanian Writers’ Union. Initially, responsibility for cultural policies in post-war Albania was conferred upon the poet Sejfulla Malëshova (1901-1971), who used the penname Lame Kodra. Originally from the Përmet region of southern Albania,…

  • THE AUTUMN OF XHELADIN BEY

    THE AUTUMN OF XHELADIN BEY I Xheladin Bey did not know why he felt such a void in his heart on that November morning. It was an emptiness like the core of a worm-gnawed chestnut, a gorge in the mountains, an uneasiness, and an infinite and ubiquitous feeling of disgust… Surprisingly enough, it was not…

  • Mitrush KUTELI

    Mitrush Kuteli (1907-1967), pseudonym of Dhimitër Pasko, known in Romanian as Dimitrie Pascu, was born in Pogradec on the banks of Lake Ohrid on 13 September 1907 and attended a foreign-language school in Greece (a Romanian commercial college in Thessalonika) and later moved to Bucharest, where he studied economics and graduated in 1934 with a…

  • HOW ALBANIA LOOKED TO ME – (1929)

    HOW ALBANIA LOOKED TO ME The General Appearance of the Country Those who prefer to spend their lives daydreaming are often afraid of waking up. Their desire for the advancement of their country slowly transforms itself into a starling dream. A long stay abroad puts you into an even deeper sleep and catapults you, body…

  • Faik Bey KONITZA

    Faik bey Konitza (1875-1942), also spelt Faik Konica, was perhaps the most influential of all Albanian writers and publishers of the turn of the twentieth century. He was born in April 1875 in the now Greek village of Konitza in the Pindus mountains, not far from the present Albanian border. After elementary schooling in Turkish…

  • THE GARDEN – (1929)

    THE GARDEN Shuk Dija set off slowly in the direction of Arra e Madhe. A light breeze from the hills across the Kir river had begun to give relief from the heat of that July afternoon. The alleys and the walls were still broiling even though the sun was now low. He had no problem…

  • Ernest KOLIQI

    Of all the prose writers of the period, none was more imposing and influential than Ernest Koliqi (1903-1975). Koliqi was born in Shkodra on 20 May 1903 and was educated at the Jesuit college of Arice in the Lombardian town of Brescia, where he became acquainted with Italian literature and culture and first began writing…

  • Naim FRASHËRI

    Naim Frashëri (1846-1900) is nowadays widely considered to be the national poet of Albania. He spent his childhood in the village of Frashër where he no doubt began learning Turkish, Persian and Arabic and where, at the Bektashi monastery, he was imbued with the spiritual traditions of the Orient. In Janina (Ioannina), Naim Frashëri attended…

  • Gjergj FISHTA

    By far the greatest and most influential figure of Albanian literature in the first half of the twentieth century was the Franciscan pater Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) who more than any other writer gave artistic expression to the searching soul of the now sovereign Albanian nation. Lauded and celebrated up until the Second World War as…

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