Novel · A way to begin
The General of the Dead Army
Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur
Ismail Kadare · 1963
Synopsis
Nearly twenty years after the Second World War, an Italian general arrives in Albania with a priest, a colonel in the army, to exhume the remains of the Italian soldiers who fell there and return them to their families. Albanian workers, drivers and an expert accompany them through a country of rain and mud, where a German general is pursuing the same quest. From grave to grave, the general's confidence turns to doubt, and he discovers the inglorious conduct of some of the men he has come to honour.
Context
The novel appeared in 1963; its author was twenty-six. Official criticism first judged it severely, then passed over it in silence: it turns its back on socialist realism and gives no place to the Party. A French version appeared in Tirana in 1968, then from Albin Michel in 1970, prefaced by Robert Escarpit, with only the credit “traduit de l'albanais”; later editions credit it to Jusuf Vrioni. The English translation by Derek Coltman, made from the French, appeared in 1971.
Who it is for
A novel of about three hundred pages, slow and methodical, with a thin plot; several French editions.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as his most acclaimed work; adapted for the screen in Italy in 1983 and in Albania in 1989.
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