World Literature Today on Why Read Ismail Kadare

TIRANA, January 12

International literally magazine World Literature Today dedicated the cover feature of its first issue of Winter 2021 to the work and life of Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Five essays, one by the writer himself, introduce the first-time reader not only to Kadare’s style but also to an alternative literary version of Albania’s history. His novels are translated in over 45 different languages, and in 2020 Kadare was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
The World Literature Today features an essay by David Bellos a professor of French and comparative literature at Princeton University, available for the online reader, on why should we read Ismail Kadare.
Bellos first reason why is because Kadare is a great storyteller and he tells many wonderful stories. His stories offer readers a mixture of history, politics, folklore, and ethnicity with elements of the grotesque, realism, surrealism, and a characteristic sense of humor.
Moreover, Bellos points out to the fact that the writer takes the reader all over the world, a world built in Kadaria-n style where the weather is almost a character on its own right, while some characters are on a borderline between dream and reality.
Find the complete “Why Should We Read Ismail Kadare?” essay here.

Source: worldliteraturetoday.org