War represented as a disaster by Ismail Kadare in his novels

What is it about?

War is a common theme in Albanian writer Ismail Kadare’s oeuvre. As a young boy, Kadare lived through the Second World War in his home town of Gjirokaster which was alternately occupied by Italy, Greece and Germany. He writes about life in wartime Gjirokaster in the semi-autobiographical novel Chronicle in Stone (1971) and the much more politically charged The Fall of the Stone City (2008). The war ended with Enver Hoxha’s Albania pledging loyalty to Stalin’s USSR. This, for Kadare, at least, was akin to vassalage to the Ottomans which began with the defeat of the united Balkan army in the first Battle of Kosovo in 1389. This battle is represented in Three Elegies for Kosovo (1998). This paper will briefly establish and work on the premise that because of these occupations and strong foreign influence, Albania is a postcolonial country and show how in his novels Kadare depicts how each instance of war suffered by Albania was a disaster for the nation, both politically and culturally.

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Photo by Uta Scholl on Unsplash

Photo by Uta Scholl on Unsplash

Why is it important?

War is usually not considered a disaster because it is caused by humans. This article discusses how wars are disasters for people on whom it is imposed and who find it difficult to comprehend why it is happening. It talks about the trauma suffered and rebuilding activities conducted by the bystanders of war by specifically looking at the novels of eminent Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.

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