Ismail Kadare

From Freepedia

Ismail Kadare is a world renowned Albanian writer. He was born on January 28, 1936 in Gjirokastër, Albania. He first studied at the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana and later at the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow.

There are different opinions on whether Kadare was a dissident during the communist period. Some of his works, such as The Palace of dreams make strong parallels to show the evilness of the communist regime of Albania. There are however other voices opposed to the idea that Kadare was a dissident. These are based on the fact that Kadare had the support of the leader of the communist state of Albania, Enver Hoxha.

In 1960, when Albania broke off relations with the Soviet Union, Kadare returned home. He first became known there as a poetry writer, but in 1963 he published his first novel, The General of the Dead Army, which established his name as one of the most talented Albanian novelists. Since then, he has been a leading figure of Albanian cultural life. During the terror of the Enver Hoxha communist regime, Kadaré attacked totalitarianism and the principles of socialist realism with subtle allegories, though publicly he remained a supporter of the communist party, in order to be able to continue his work.

In 1990, just before the fall of communism in Albania, Kadare sought asylum in France, stating that "Dictatorship and authentic literature are incompatible... The writer is the natural enemy of dictatorship." For the last ten years he has divided his time between France and Albania.

Kadare moved to France in October 1990, just before the collapse of the regime. He was able to go and stay in France because of his status of intellectual, and won acclaim and honors by using his "dissident" status. In 1999 (after the Communist regime), Kadare returned to Albania.

Kadare is published in over forty countries all over the world and is considered to be one of the greatest writers of our times and a literary classic of the 20th century. He has been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature and in 2005 he received the inaugural Man Booker International Prize. Some of his greatest works (some published in France) include: