Literature of Albania

Martin Barleti, “The Skanderbeg Story”

Albanian literature is literature written in the Albanian language . The term may also refer to literature written by Albanians or in Albania .

Under Ottoman rule (from the 1500s to the beginning of the 1900s), Turkish and Orthodox Greek legends and traditions had a significant influence on Albanian literature. Various stories have been passed down from generation to generation in the form of heroic poems, legends and stories. The oral tradition has helped preserve language and national identity. The Albanian folk epos is characterized by an eight-syllable verse, not in the north of the country, a ten-syllable. A popular hero is Skanderbeg, as well as the Khalil and Muyo brothers who are opposed to the Turkish Sultan. In addition, their enemies are Albanian Christians - “glories”, Serbian Yunaks. In particular, Marco Korolevich. There is a well-known story about a woman walled up in the wall, distributed in Balkan folklore, “Rozaft Fortress”, and snake-fighting: “Derd Elez Aliya”. According to the latter, the opera of the same name was staged with a libretto written by Ismail Kadare. Supernatural is represented in Albanian mythology by female vampires, oures and zanami, characters such as Greek moira and nymphs. And also with the Beauty of the Earth, a fabulous beauty lives underground, her hands are sought by a hero who sometimes resembles an oriental majnun, madly in love. Jokes came from Turkey about Hodja Nasredin and the bald-headed character like Ivanushka the Fool.

The oldest written document in the Albanian language dates from 1462 . The first notable work is “The Skanderbeg Story” by Marina Barleti ; written in Latin, it gained wide popularity in Europe, including in the Moscow kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first Albanian film was put on it (filmed in conjunction with the USSR; received an award at the Kansky Film Festival).

The poem of Cardinal Peter Budi “The Doctrine of Christianity” in the spirit of Catholic Baroque dates to the 17th century. From the time of the Ottoman conquest, Muslim literature was widely influenced by Turkish, Persian, and Arabic designs. Among its notable representatives are Nezim Fracula (1680-1760), Suleiman Naibi (? -1772), Hassan Zyuko Chambery (1740-?). The theme of their poetry is the praise of Islam, satire, love, complaints about the vicissitudes of fate.

In the late 1800s, during the Ottoman Empire, the brothers Naim and Sami Frasheri became one of the leaders of the Albanian national revival . This nationalist movement has inspired many authors for decades, such as the poet Gerg Fisht . You can also mention Jerome de Radu, whose work was appreciated by Lamartine and one of the first Nobel laureates Frederic Mistral . Another famous national writer was the Orthodox bishop Fan Noli , who became the country's leader in the 1920s (he was also a famous translator). Noli's companion was Faik Konitsa friend of Guillaume Apoliner, the initiator of Albanian avant-garde. The first example of Albanian fiction is "The Highlanders' Hunt" by Kristofordi - a famous linguist, there is a Russian translation. The cult of the sacred mountain Tomori found reflection in the story. At the beginning of the last century, Michal Grameno spoke with short stories and memoirs about the anti-Ottoman struggle (there is a translation into Russian of fragments). Grameno's contemporaries were the poet Andon Chayupi, the author of the first plays in Albanian and Ndre Mieda who owns the best sonnets in Albanian poetry.

The most talented Albanian poet and writer of the interwar period is Nikolos Migeni, who was influenced by such writers as Gorky and Nietzsche , as well as the so-called “ cursed poets ”.

Under the communist regime, there was strict censorship , which greatly impeded the country's literary life. With the fall of the one-party system, literature freed itself from censorship and continued to develop. The most famous contemporary writer in Albania is the repeated candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature Ismail Kadare . His opponent is Kassem Trebeshina, a dissident, critic of socialist realism, who anticipated A.D. Sinyavsky , the founder of Albanian postmodernism. One can also note Dritero Agola, Vedata Kokona - a prominent linguist, translator of Shakespeare, Anna Karenina. His novel “On the Waves of Life” has been translated into Russian.