Dritëro Agolli
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Dritëro Agolli (13 October 1931 – 3 February 2017) was an
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 ...
poet, writer and politician. He studied in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
in the Soviet Union, and wrote primarily poetry, but also short stories, essays, plays, and novels. He was head of the
League of Writers and Artists of Albania 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. Its mission includes assessing and reassessing outs ...
from 1973 until 1992. He was a leading figure in the Albanian Communist
nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' (; from , system of names) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: ...
.


Biography

Agolli was born to an
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 ...
,
Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...
family in Menkulas in the
Devoll District Devoll District() was one of the thirty-six districts of Albania (which were dissolved in 2000) that is now part of Korçë County. It derives its name from the Devoll river flowing through the valley. It had a population of 33,785, and an area o ...
. He and his family spoke
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 ...
in the
Tosk Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...
dialect. He finished high school in
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...
in 1952. He later studied at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Leningrad and took up journalism upon his return to Albania, working for the daily newspaper
Zëri i Popullit ''Zëri i Popullit'' () is an Albanian online newspaper. It was the official press organ of the Party of Labour and, later, of the Socialist Party of Albania, but it later ceased print publication and became an independent online publication.
() for 15 years. Agolli was also a deputy in the
Albanian Parliament The Parliament of Albania () or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to a four-year term on the b ...
.


Beginnings as a poet

Agolli first was a poet. His early verse collections were ''I went out on the street'' (,
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 ...
1958), My steps on the pavement (, Tirana 1961), and Mountain paths and sidewalks (, Tirana 1965).


Prose attempts

As a prose writer, Agolli first wrote the novel Commissar Memo (, Tirana 1970), translated in English as ''The bronze bust'', Tirana 1975. Agolli's second novel, ''The man with the cannon'' (, Tirana 1975) translated into English in 1983, takes up the partisan theme from a different angle. After these two novels of partisan heroism, Agolli produced his satirical Splendour and fall of comrade Zylo (, Tirana 1973). Comrade Zylo is a well-meaning but incompetent
apparatchik __NOTOC__ An '' apparatchik'' () was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the government of the Soviet Union, Soviet government ''apparat'' (Wiktionary:аппарат#Russian, аппарат, appar ...
, a director of an obscure government cultural affairs department. His pathetic vanity, his quixotic fervour, his grotesque public behaviour, his splendour and fall, are all recorded in ironic detail by his hard-working and more astute subordinate and friend Demkë who serves as a neutral observer. Comrade Zylo is a universal figure, to be found in any society or age, and critics have been quick to draw parallels ranging from
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...
and Nikolay Gogol’s Revizor to
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
and
Milan Kundera Milan Kundera ( ; ; 1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship ...
's Zert. Splendour and fall of comrade Zylo first appeared in 1972 in the Tirana satirical journal Hosteni () and was published the following year in monograph form.


Albanian League of Writers and Artists

Agolli was head of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists from 1973 until 1992. He was a leading figure in the Albanian Communist
nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' (; from , system of names) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: ...
. From the 1960s until the Communist regime collapsed in the early 1990s, the League accused Albanian writers it deemed guilty of neglecting their responsibility as Communists to reflect the literary style of Socialist Realism in their writings and thereby advance the goals of the Communist Party; some writers were arrested, and either imprisoned for many years or shot, and others were hounded by the state secret police and suffered attacks. Kasem Trebeshina was imprisoned,
Pjetër Arbnori Pjetër Filip Arbnori (18 January 1935 – 8 July 2006) was an Albanian politician and dissident of the communist regime in Albania. He was dubbed "the Mandela of the Balkans" by Albanian statesmen because of the length of his 28-year internm ...
(also called ''Albanian Mandela'') was re-convicted in prison for his literary anti-communist work and imprisoned from ages 26 to 54, Bilal Xhaferri was expelled, exiled in communist
gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
s, and forced to flee to the U.S., Vilson Blloshmi was shot, and many others who were persecuted in many ways. Some survived, such as the poet
Xhevahir Spahiu Xhevahir Spahiu (born 1 March 1945 in Malind, Skrapar District, Albania) is an Albanian poet. Biography Spahiu studied at the University of Tirana, Faculty of Philology and History, Literature-Language Branch. Since 1968, he has worked as a j ...
and the writer
Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual, focusing on poetry until the publication of his first novel ...
, who ultimately defected to France to escape the regime and its ''
Sigurimi The Directorate of State Security (, DSSh), commonly called the ''Sigurimi'', was the National security, state security, Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence and secret police service of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. I ...
'' secret police, and thereafter won the
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (Cino Del Duca World Prize) is an international literary award from France. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes. Origins and operations It was established in 1969 in France by French b ...
, the
Herder Prize The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
, the
Man Booker International Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...
, the
Prince of Asturias Award The Princess of Asturias Awards (, ), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 (), are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals ...
, the
Jerusalem Prize The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Forum (previously kn ...
, the
Park Kyong-ni Prize Park Kyong-ni Prize (Korean: 박경리 문학상) is an international literary award based in South Korea. It was established in 2011 in honor of Park Kyongni, known for her series '' Toji''. The award was founded and sponsored by the Toji Found ...
, and the
Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious int ...
.


The 1990s

In the early 1990s, he was a member of Parliament for the
Socialist Party of Albania The Socialist Party of Albania (, PSSh), also known as simply the Socialist Party (, PS), is a Social democracy, social-democratic centre-left political party in Albania. It is the successor to the Party of Labour of Albania, which reconstituted ...
. He also founded the ''Dritëro Publishing Company'' and published new prose and poetry. Agolli wrote throughout the 1990s. He has verse collections: The time beggar (, Tirana 1995), The spirit of our forefathers (, Tirana 1996), The strange man approaches (, Tirana 1996), Ballad for my father and myself (, Tirana 1997), Midnight notebook (, Tirana 1998), and The distant bell (, Tirana 1998). Among volumes of prose are: the short story collection Insane people (, Tirana 1995); The naked horseman (, Tirana 1996), and The devil's box (, Tirana 1997). Agolli, died from
pulmonary disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bron ...
on 3 February 2017 in Tirana at the age of 85.


Legacy

Though Agolli was a leading figure in the Albanian Communist
nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' (; from , system of names) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: ...
, he is still widely read in Albania.


Bibliography

* Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë (2008) (in
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 ...
), Fjalor Enciklopedik Shqiptar (Albanian encyclopedia),
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 ...
, *
Robert Elsie Robert Elsie (June 29, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was a Canadian-born German scholar who specialized in Albanian literature and folklore. Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter, and specialist in Albanian studies, being the author of numero ...
, ''Historical Dictionary of Albania, New Edition'', 2004, * Shefki Hysa, "The Diplomacy of self-denial" (Diplomacia e vetëmohimit), publicistic, Tirana, 2008, * Namik Selmani, "Salute from Chameria" publicistic, (2009), Tirana,


References


External links

*
Poetry by Dritëro Agolli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agolli, Dritero 1931 births 2017 deaths Albanian novelists People from Devoll (municipality) 20th-century Albanian poets 21st-century Albanian poets Bektashi Order 20th-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian politicians Respiratory disease deaths in Albania