Albanian Lyrical Poetry and the Healing Process after the Fall of the Communist Regime

Abstract

Albanian literature is considered to be a domain of epic genres. The reason is strongly related to the historical and social context in which art and literature were developed. Having the ideological function as the main reason why most literary works were written, made epic genres strongly connected with the narrative of the nation and national awareness. From the Albanian Renaissance onward, epic poetry and later short stories and novels were the main genres that represented Albanian literature.

This dominant model became very oppressive during the totalitarian re- gime. Albanian literature was forced to enter the confines of socialist realism. Poets who could not comply with its schematic formula were condemned, imprisoned, and even executed. Lyrical poetry became almost obsolete during the communist regime in Albania, going by the number of books published. Moreover, the desperate call for freedom (personal and artistic) of the lyrical poets became the main indictment in the communist prosecutors’ files. Although in quantitative terms the epic genres represented the dominant model of literary development, the repression shown towards lyrical writers is strongly related to the involvement of the state in the creation of a fake narrative and a fake identity for Albanian literature.

After the fall of the totalitarian regime, there was a sudden development in lyrical genres in Albanian literature. Lyrical poetry became one of the most important means of defining the huge emotional abyss that communism had brought into Albanians’ lives. The remaining part of the literary work of the executed poets such as Lazër Shantoja (1891–1945), Trifon Xhagjika (1932– 1963), Genc Leka (1941–1977), Vilson Blloshmi (1948–1977), Havzi Nela (1934–1988), etc., was published after the fall of the communist regime (1991). This literary corpus, together with the poetic work of imprisoned poets such as Isuf Luzaj (1913–2000), Arshi Pipa (1920–1997), Zef Zorba (1920–1993), Pano Taçi (1929–2012), Jorgo Bllaci (1938–2001), Frederik Rreshpja (1940– 2006), Visar Zhiti (1952), etc., represented a new face of Albanian literary identity, which for the first time was strongly connected to poetry.

The main goals of this paper are to analyse the changes that happened in Albanian literature after the fall of the communist regime, present the transformation of the Albanian literary system, and highlight the importance of poetry in acting as a self-healing mechanism. Lyrical poetry became the voice of the national trauma in which Albanians were deeply involved. Through writing and reading lyrical poetry about the living hell of the communist period, poets transformed their wounds into an intense dialogue between the present and the past.