what is Albanian literature?
Albania is a strange country. By its language, that doesn't resemble any other tongue, by its vaguely Islamicate usages (under the ashes of post-communist laicism), by its strange patriarchal culture, by the paranoias of not so distant past. Even by its polyphonic singing that haunts the listener like something from a world far away. Yet we are still in Europe, not so very far from home.
Albanians used to be Christians. But before their culture truly began to flourish, they fell under the Ottoman yoke. Already the Renaissance was a time of exile for the Albanian elite. Such was the case of Marin Barleti (1460-1513), who published his history of Skanderbeg in Rome (Skanderbeg was, of course, the great military leader of the rebellion against the Ottoman empire, and thus a champion of Christianity; no wonder Barleti's biography was read in all Europe).
The Albanians were eventually vanquished by the Turks, but their Church culture, divided between Catholicism in the north and the Orthodoxy in the south, continued to develop. They even had their own Protestantism, and in the 19th century - a national Albanian church with the liturgy in their own language. On the other hand, the progressive Islamisation of the country, and in particular the popularity of the Sufi orders and their peculiar culture, led to a form of Albanian written in Arabic characters. Also, under the influence of Sufi type of imagination, the 18th century saw the development of a local school of poetry adopting genres and forms of Turkish and Persian literature. The greatest name to be associated with this current is that of Nezim Frakulla (1680-1760).
The 19th century, the great age of nationalistic movements in the Balkans, brought also the birth of Albania as an independent country, even if the idea of nation clashed against clan identifications and the spirit of rebellion characteristic for this region. The transformation of clans into a nation was the work of the powerful Albanian Romanticism, often exploring the folklore and oral poetry of the country and working on the task of merging Western and Eastern elements. Among the greatest 19th-century writers are Jeronim De Rada and Naim Frasheri.
Albanians used to be Christians. But before their culture truly began to flourish, they fell under the Ottoman yoke. Already the Renaissance was a time of exile for the Albanian elite. Such was the case of Marin Barleti (1460-1513), who published his history of Skanderbeg in Rome (Skanderbeg was, of course, the great military leader of the rebellion against the Ottoman empire, and thus a champion of Christianity; no wonder Barleti's biography was read in all Europe).
The Albanians were eventually vanquished by the Turks, but their Church culture, divided between Catholicism in the north and the Orthodoxy in the south, continued to develop. They even had their own Protestantism, and in the 19th century - a national Albanian church with the liturgy in their own language. On the other hand, the progressive Islamisation of the country, and in particular the popularity of the Sufi orders and their peculiar culture, led to a form of Albanian written in Arabic characters. Also, under the influence of Sufi type of imagination, the 18th century saw the development of a local school of poetry adopting genres and forms of Turkish and Persian literature. The greatest name to be associated with this current is that of Nezim Frakulla (1680-1760).
The 19th century, the great age of nationalistic movements in the Balkans, brought also the birth of Albania as an independent country, even if the idea of nation clashed against clan identifications and the spirit of rebellion characteristic for this region. The transformation of clans into a nation was the work of the powerful Albanian Romanticism, often exploring the folklore and oral poetry of the country and working on the task of merging Western and Eastern elements. Among the greatest 19th-century writers are Jeronim De Rada and Naim Frasheri.
I have read... nothing ...
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I have written... nothing ...
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Tirana
Et'hem Bey Mosque
This peculiar example of Islamic art was built between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th c. by the descendants of Sulejman Pasha Bargjini, an Albanian general and governor of the Ottoman Empire (the founder of the old mosque that was destroyed during the WW2). The construction was started in 1790s by Molla Bey and finished in 1819-1821 by his son Haxhi Ethem Bey. Its unique frescoes, freely inspired by Turkish models, depict plants, trees and imaginary cities.
The prayer space is small, I would say it was the smallest historically important mosque I have ever seen. But it was a place full of life, a place with a community of faithful (also, it happened to be a Ramadan when I was there). Which is indeed not so very obvious observation to make, since the former dictator, Enver Hoxha, was proud of having transformed Albania into "the first atheist country in the world". But as soon as the winds of History changed direction, the religion is back.
The prayer space is small, I would say it was the smallest historically important mosque I have ever seen. But it was a place full of life, a place with a community of faithful (also, it happened to be a Ramadan when I was there). Which is indeed not so very obvious observation to make, since the former dictator, Enver Hoxha, was proud of having transformed Albania into "the first atheist country in the world". But as soon as the winds of History changed direction, the religion is back.
Gjirokastër
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the Castle of Gjirokastër
in a Bektashi turbe
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Albania became part of the Ottoman empire in 1417, and progressively took on its share of Islamic history. Bektashism, often defined as a liberal branch of Shia Islam, was born in Iran in the second half of the 13th century. It became popular in southern Albania much later, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Two main babas, or saints, whose remains are still revered in the citadell of Girocastra, are Baba Sulltan and Baba Kapllan; they lived here in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Elbasan
Kisha e Shën Mërisë
Eastern Orthodox church and monastery in Elbasan (15-16th c.)
other places
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vestiges
