Last week, one of the most beautiful and imaginative novel written by Ismail Kadare during the communism isolation of my country, “The Siege” was published in UK, attracting media attention. I have read that book in Albanian so I am not familiar with English version. So I am writing my impression derived by Albanian version. First at all, to me seems that “The Siege” is a kind of lesson, how foreigner should think about Albanians.
Kadare tells the story of an Albanian castle under Turkish siege. The main events occur in Turkish command center while from inside the castle events are collected only in very few pages. Defenders does not differ from each-others. There are not names and is only a superhero, Skanderbeg, (our national hero).
What Albanians are, is conceived by what Turkish general Tursun Pasha tells to himself. The reasons of the war are explained also by dialogues between officials of ottoman army.
Seems that defenders are really not interested for wealth, but at least in one occasion, Mr. Kadare deplores about absence of an Albanian Medieval Empire. “Our successors will not find here colonnades and great palaces, because we had not time to build them”, Mr. Kadare wrote in that few pages of the story from inside castle. The siege represents the history of
The castle under Siege should be Kruja, (15 Km in north of Tirana), the medieval center of
The
Ismail Kadare
Product Details
- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Bond Street Books (October 21, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385666632
- ISBN-13: 978-0385666633
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More about The Siege
Nobel Laureate's tale of battle
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/06/2008
Jane Shilling reviews The Siege by Ismail Kadare
In 2005 Ismail Kadare was the first winner of the Man Booker International Prize, a honour that undoubtedly made him the world's most famous Albanian novelist, but perhaps did not altogether consolidate the international reputation his remarkable writing deserves. The rest of article should be read at Telegraph
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