Jolanda Kodra (1910–1963) was an Italian-Albanian writer and translator, one of the first woman writers in the Albanian language, as well as a translator into the Italian language of the works of Albanian writers, such as

Ndre Mjeda Ndre Mjeda (20 November 18661 August 1937) was an Albanian philologist, poet, priest, rilindas, translator and writer of the Albanian Renaissance. He was a member of the Mjeda family. He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and ...

Migjeni Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (; 13 October 191126 August 1938), commonly known by the acronym pen name Migjeni, was an Albanian people, Albanian poet and writer, considered one of the most important of the 20th century. After his death, he was recogni ...

, Petro Marko, and

Sterjo Spasse Sterjo Spasse (; 14 August 1914 – 12 September 1989) was an Albanian prose writer and novelist. Life Sterjo Spasse was born in 1914 in Gollomboç, Pustec Municipality, Korçë District, Albania, of Macedonian Slav descent. Spasse pursued ...

Life

Jolanda Kodra was born an Italian, Iolanda Guazzoni, in 1910, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, and was a niece of

Enrico Guazzoni Enrico Guazzoni (18 December 1876 – 23 September 1949) Birth name Enrico Guazzone. Additionally, document states in lower right, "è morte in Roma in 23-9-49 / died in Rome 23 September 1949". was an Italian screenwriter and film director. G ...

, an Italian screenwriter and film director. She was pursuing studies in a

classical lyceum The ''liceo classico'' or ''ginnasio'' () is the oldest public secondary school type in Italy. Its educational curriculum spans over five years, when students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age. Until 1969, this was the only secondar ...

, when she met with Malo Kodra, originally from

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 ...

, who was a student in Rome. A fitness teacher, he brought her to

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 ...

in 1931. She soon learned

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 ...

and started not only to communicate well, but also to publish poetry in Albanian as well as literary criticism articles in well known magazines ''

Hylli i Dritës ''Hylli i Dritës'' () is an Albanian periodical first published in 1913 by Gjergj Fishta, one of the most notable writers and poets of Albanian literature. It is regarded as one of the most important Albanian magazines of the early 20th century. ...

'',

Përpjekja shqiptare ''Përpjekja'' (meaning ''Endeavor'' in English) is an Albanian language quarterly culture and literary magazine published in Tirana, Albania. History and profile ''Përpjekja'' was first published in 1994. Its founder is Fatos Lubonja. He is a ...

, Fryma, Njeriu and '' Tomori'' on

Naim Frashëri Naim bey Frashëri, more commonly Naim Frashëri (; ; 25 May 184620 October 1900), was an Albanian historian, journalist, poet, translator, and one of the most prominent figures of the Albanian National Awakening. Regarded as a pioneer of moder ...

Gjergj Fishta Gjergj Fishta (; 23 October 187130 December 1940) was an Albanian Franciscan friar, poet, educator, rilindas, politician, translator and writer. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of the 20th century, particularly ...

, and

. Kodra worked particularly on Migjeni and Mjeda, which she later translated into Italian. She was one of the first women to publish in Albania, in the company of Selfixhe Ciu and

Musine Kokalari Musine Kokalari (10 February 1917 – 13 August 1983) was an Albanians, Albanian prose writer and politician in Albania's pre-communist period. She was the founder of the Social Democratic Party of Albania (1943), Social-Democratic Party of Alban ...

. After World War II she worked as a translator from and into Italian, as well as

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, of, among other, writers such as Petro Marko and

. She was allowed to neither teach by the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

nor to go back into her home country until 1962, one year before her death.

Work as a translator

Kodra translated into Italian almost the complete work of

, she worked on his poetry in the version of 1957, published by Skënder Luarasi, and finished them in 1962, entitled ''Poesie e prose''. The only song missing is the ''Kanga e fundit''. Also she omitted Migjeni's notes, as well as certain subtitles of some poetries such as that of ''Dityramb Nietzsche-an'', ''Melodisë kombëtare'' (To the national melody) and the dedications. Her translations of the 1960s are very precious, because nowadays hard to find. Kodra is very true to the original text as a translator, which was a must in those years for a translator. For this reason there is an emotional shift in Kodra's translations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodra, Jolanda 1910 births 1963 deaths 20th-century Italian women writers Albanian–Italian translators 20th-century Albanian women writers Albanian writers Italian emigrants to Albania Writers from Rome 20th-century Italian translators