Dhimitër Pasko ( ro, Dimitrie Pascu; 13 September 1907 – 4 May 1967) was a well-known Albanian writer, literary critic and translator. Along with Ernest Koliqi he is considered as the founder of modern Albanian prose; in Albanian literature his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, 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 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, 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, later moving to Bucharest 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 (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

, from 1928 until 1933. In 1937 he organized the publishing Lasgush Poradeci'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 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 The League of Writers and Artists of Albania () is a non-profit organization founded with the goal of promoting and advancing the literary and artistic creativity of Albanian writers and artists, as well as to assess and reassess the finest works ...

Imprisonment and release

The Albanian Communist Party took power after World War II, but by 1947 was in the control of Yugoslavia. Pasko, an official Albanian delegate to Yugoslavia, disapproved of a proposed currency and customs union agreed between the two countries, and of a Serbian re-occupation of Kosovo; 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. His personal documents were branded with the stamp "Enemy of the people", but his family were saved after the intervention of

Fadil Paçrami Fadil Paçrami (born Shkodër, May 25, 1922 – died Tirana, January 16, 2008) was an Albanian politician, writer and playwright. He served as Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania from 20 November 1970 to 25 September 1973. - Re ...

. Kuteli was given new documents and a job. Pasko died of a heart attack in 1967. Pogradec, Albania – Promenade 2018 14

Literary works

Economy

He was the representative of the democratic and bourgeois alternative for the economic development during the reign of King Zog I.

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 ( sq, Shtëpia Botuese "Naim Frashëri"), 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 Gri ...

, the state-owned Tirana publishing company. Pasko, as with other Albanian writers of the time, accommodated the imposed cultural doctrine of

Zhdanovism The Zhdanov Doctrine (also called Zhdanovism or Zhdanovshchina; russian: доктрина Жданова, ждановизм, ждановщина) was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. I ...

by translating 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, ''St Petersburg tales'' and ''

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' (russian: «Мёртвые души», ''Mjórtvyje dúshi'') 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 adv ...

'' * ''Haxhi Agaj'', Persian tales * Ivan Krylov, ''The Fables'' * Lu Xun, ''Selected works'' * Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, '' The Golovlyov Family'' *

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, ''Que despierte el leñador'' * Pushkin, ''Novels'' * Turgeniev, '' A Sportsman's Sketches'';