Albania is a small country located in the Balkan peninsula on the
Adriatic coast. Its complicated political history and a cultural
identity that straddles European and Asian makes the nation an
interesting subject for analysis based on national identity
structures. Additionally, the nation has a rich oral tradition and
often claims to have been the birthplace of Homeric poetry.
Literature from this nation, however, is neither widely read nor
available. The only Albanian literary export of note is Ismail
Kadare who was awarded the inaugural Man Booker International
Prize for his entire body of work and his efforts to bring Albanian
culture to the global masses. Kadare’s writing style involves
creating alternate historical timelines, extensive usage of allegory
and, most significantly for this collection, the usage, re-usage and,
sometimes, reconstruction of Balkan myths.
This essay will analyse how Kadare uses myths in order to make
sense of the national condition of Albania from the beginning of
World War II until the early 2000s when Albania began its process
of recuperating from the Balkan Wars in the 1990s. Indeed, this is
not Kadare’s only motivation for writing. He also intends to
develop a new Albanian identity that is separate from its Ottoman
history. Albania was an Ottoman colony for over four centuries
and was subsequently occupied and influenced – culturally and
economically – by new geopolitical powers in Eastern Europe
such as Yugoslavia and Soviet Russia. In his novels, Kadare recontextualises myths to allegorically critique these foreign powers
as well as native politicians. In doing so, he attempts to show the
purity and nobility of authentic Albanian culture despite its
inherent atavism.