Listening to Ismail Kadare

The almost unbearable significance of contemporary spiritualism often finds relief in twenty first century literature. Indeed, during the last couple of years the best poetry and prose have consciously touched the supernal in order to gift otherwise oppressive political regimes with a healing contextual balm. It was therefore a delight when the Albanian author Ismail Kadare recently spoke so openly concerning these complex textual uncertainties. Rather like Erasmus arguing in praise of human folly, Kadare's November interview at the French Institute allowed him to attack militant literary reductionism as a marketing deception. No doubt, Kadare conceded, it was possible to lie concerning his inscrutable inspiration, but this would simply waist everyone's time. After all, poets themselves didn't really understand the process; they just needed to sing. Kadare's disarming candour may, however, offer us an insight into his mystery. It may even partly reveal the symbols as well as the injuries moulding his personal laments.

Let me elaborate this comment. As a master of international letters, Kadare continues to weave historic events around disenfranchised characters. He seems obsessed by the dialectical position occupied by allegedly liberated men. The obvious vacuity of rekindled vendettas, the alarming distortion of social freedoms along with the tragic strategy adopted by Albanian youth in retreating from transcendent possibilities- are all set against a guarded optimism borne of ethnic survival. This indirectly suggests that Kadare (the novelist), senses a sterility within imposed literary customs which sooner or later become their own antithesis. For him, culture appears analogous to a natural habitat wherein human beings are both nurtured and restricted, yet outside of which they wither. By extension, a foreign literary habitat cannot develop conditions necessary for a previously established group to truly thrive. Kadare's confession to suffering from this problem has always risked ridicule, or a dangerous vulnerability. Moreover, to challenge his countrymen to wrestle with these issues demands a sensativity on their part that can either inadvertently offend or invoke national rejection. What else can be said, Kadare may reside in France, but I heard the voice of an Albanian soul singing with pride that evening.