Novel
Vdekja më vjen prej syve të tillë
Not translated into English
Rexhep Qosja · 1974
Synopsis
In Vajazan, in Yugoslav Kosovo, the writer Xhezair Gjika belongs to the “forbidden people”, the Albanians of Yugoslavia. Around him, craftsmen, poets and prostitutes become cowards or informers in order to survive, and the police strike at the slightest suspicion. Gjika himself is arrested and interrogated for days on end. The book is made up of thirteen tales, which tell his life from three angles and follow what he lives and what he sees.
Context
The novel first appeared in instalments in the journal Jeta e re in 1973, then in volume from Rilindja in 1974. Ismail Kadare had it reissued in Tirana in 1987 and recommended it in France, where Christian Gut translated it for Gallimard in 1994 with a preface by Kadare. It has also appeared in Italian, Greek, German, Dutch, Slovene, Bulgarian and Serbian. Critics note the influence of Kafka and Dostoevsky, and a break with the realist prose of the time.
Who it is for
A fragmentary, ironic novel, readable in French; its atmosphere of surveillance is that of a Kafkaesque nightmare.
Prizes and reception
Ibrahim Rugova saw in it, as early as 1974, a model that resembled nothing else; it is regarded as one of the great modern Albanian novels.