Dhimitër Pasko (; 13 September 1907 – 4 May 1967) was a well-known

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n writer, literary critic and translator. Along with

Ernest Koliqi Ernest Koliqi (20 May 190315 January 1975) was an Albanian journalist, pro-Axis politician, translator, teacher and writer. Biography Born to a Catholic Albanian family in Shkodra, where he also attended his first lessons at the local Je ...

he is considered as the founder of modern Albanian prose; in

Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian language, Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particul ...

his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

for which he gained fame was Mitrush Kuteli.

Biography

Mitrush Kuteli was born Dhimitër Pasko in the town of Pogradec at the shores of

Lake of Ohrid Lake Ohrid is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, with a unique aquatic ecosystem of worldwide importance, with more th ...

, son of Pandeli and Polikseni. His mother was an ethnic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

while his father was an ethnic Aromanian. Kuteli studied at a Romanian commercial college in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, later moving to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

where, in 1931, he graduated in economics with a dissertation on the banking system in the Balkans. And in 1934 he earned a doctorate on the field, evaluated with "Diplomam Magnam cum Laudæ". While in Bucharest he became a journalist and directed the Albanian-language weekly newspaper ''Shqipëri' e re'' (New Albania), published in

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

, from 1928 until 1933. In 1937 he organized the publishing

Lasgush Poradeci Llazar Sotir Gusho (; 27 December 189912 November 1987), commonly known by the pen name Lasgush Poradeci, was an Albanian philologist, poet, translator, writer and pioneer of modern Albanian literature. He is regarded as one of the most influen ...

's collection of verse, ''Ylli i zemrës'' (The Star of the heart). From 1934 he was a high official of the Romanian Ministry of Economy and later on he was the director of the

Cernăuți Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

bank. He returned to Albania in 1942, and during World War II wrote and self-published most of his major works. At the end of the war he founded the short-lived literary periodical, ''Revista letrare'' (Literary Review), with Nexhat Hakiu, Vedat Kokona and Sterjo Spasse, joined the editorial board of ''Bota e re'' (New World), the first Albanian post-war literary journal, and became a founding member of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists.

Imprisonment and release

The

Albanian Communist Party The Party of Labour of Albania (PLA), also referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of ...

took power after World War II, but by 1947 was in the control of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Pasko, an official Albanian delegate to Yugoslavia, disapproved of a proposed

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

and

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set u ...

agreed between the two countries, and of a Serbian re-occupation of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

; an earlier 1944 Pasko poem, "Poem kosovar" (Kosovar poem), asserted his criticism of Serbian actions. Upon the Albanian delegation's return from Yugoslavia, Pasko was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his criticism, during which he attempted suicide. Following the freeing of Yugoslavia's hold over Albanian party politics, Pasko was released. After his release from prison, he was informed by the authorities that his family would be banished to

Kavajë Kavajë ( , sq-definite, Kavaja) is a city and municipality centrally located in the Western Lowlands region of Albania, in Tirana County. It borders Durrës to the north , Tirana, Tiranë to the east and Rrogozhinë to the south . To the west ...

. His personal documents were branded with the stamp "Enemy of the people", but his family were saved after the intervention of Fadil Paçrami. Kuteli was given new documents and a job. Pasko died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in 1967.

Literary works

Economy

He was the representative of the democratic and bourgeois alternative for the economic development during the reign of

King Zog I Zog I (born Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli; 8 October 18959 April 1961) was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's youngest ever Prime Minister (1922–1924), then as president (1925–1928), and finally as King ...

Literature

He published his first authored book, ''Netë shqipëtare'' (Albanian nights) in 1938, a compilation of eight tales of village life from his native Pogradec. This edition was largely destroyed by a fire, and only became widely read through a second edition published in 1944. He worked as a translator for

Naim Frashëri Publishing House The Naim Frashëri Publishing House (), was one of the most important publishers in Albania. During Communist Albania, it was the only existing literature publisher of the country. Children's writer, Odhise Grillo, has worked there as an editor f ...

, the state-owned

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

publishing company. Pasko, as with other Albanian writers of the time, accommodated the imposed cultural doctrine of Zhdanovism by translating

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-approved Russian authors, although he found himself able to translate his favorite Russian, Romanian, and Spanish writers, publish tales and verse for children, and adapt Albanian oral verse to prose.

Criticism

It is asserted that he followed Poradeci's tread, although his poetry is even more Romanian in character.

Selected bibliography

* - 1937 * (Albanian nights) - 1938 * (The Chestnut forest) - 1958 * (Ago Jakupi and other stories) - 1943 * (Attack and tears) - 1943 * (Literary Notes) - 1944 * (From peak to peak) - 1944 * (Kapllan agha of Shaban Shpata) - 1944 * (The love of Artan the Barbarian) - 1946 * (Gingerman) - 1962 * (Old Albanian tales) - 1965 * (Selected stories) - 1972 * (Mud from this land) - 1973 * (In a corner of southern Illyria) - 1983 * (Songs and cries from the burnt city) * (Great is the lament of sin) - 1993 *' (The Economist's Diary) - 2012 *' (Moldovian Nights) - 2015

Translations

* Eluard, ''Selected verses'' *

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...

, ''St Petersburg tales'' and ''

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' ( , pre-reform spelling: ) is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov ...

'' * ''Haxhi Agaj'', Persian tales *

Ivan Krylov Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (; ; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalist, he only discovered his true genre at the age of ...

, ''The Fables'' *

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

, ''Selected works'' *

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin ( rus, Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪvˈɡrafəvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof ɕːɪˈdrʲin; – ), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during ...

, '' The Golovlyov Family'' *

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

, ''Que despierte el leñador'' *

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

, ''Novels'' * Turgeniev, '' A Sportsman's Sketches'';