ISMAIL KADARE, página 2 de 7

El ambiente viciado y agobiante de las celebraciones de un primero de mayo en la Tirana del régimen dictatorial de Enver Hoxha evocan al narrador el sacrificio de Ifigenia por su padre, Agamenón, el vencedor de la guerra de Troya. En la mañana de un 14 de diciembre aparece misteriosamente muerto de un disparo el sucesor del dictador albanes. Ambas historias son la base esencial sobre la que gira la trama de La hija de Agamenon y El Sucesor. Dos novelas cortas, escritas en un intervalo de veinte años, que Kadare ha publicado al mismo tiempo para conformar un diptico narrativo aparentemente inconexo pero que constituye un conjunto intrinsecamente complementario. Escritas en clave de intriga, con una poderosa fuerza lirica salpicada de notas de humor negro, Kadare, como ya es tradicional en su obra, entrelaza lo real con lo onirico y la historia oficial con la alegoria, sobre un fondo en el que se entrecruzan los mitos y las tragedias clasicas griegas con las legendarias tradiciones balcanicas. En La hija de Agamenon y El Sucesor Kadare da una nueva vuelta de tuerca sobre las tinieblas que envuelven las dictaduras. Nebulosas opresivas en las que la supersticion y la propaganda reemplazan a la razon, en las que el peso de ese gran hermano, ese guia omnipresente, ahoga los destinos y las relaciones amistosas y afectivas de unos personajes que en estas dos novelas cortas adquieren una dimension universal arquetipica a la altura de Josef K.

La construcción fabulosa de una especie de reino de la muerte, de un infierno en el que los sueños y el inconsciente colectivo son analizados y censurados, se convierte en una de las mejores alegorías del poder totalitario de Ismail Kadare, asi como uno de sus mas perfectos logros narrativos. El joven Mark-Alem, vastago de los Quyprilli, influyente familia de procedencia albanesa, y promotora de importantes reformas en el seno del Imperio Otomano, consigue un atractivo puesto de funcionario en EL PALACIO DE LOS SUEÑOS, inquietante organismo estatal al que cada ciudadano esta obligado a enviar por escrito un informe de lo soñado durante la noche. La presente edicion ha sido minuciosamente revisada por Ramon Sanchez Lizarralde, autor de la traduccion, de acuerdo con la edicion definitiva de su obra que acometio el autor, libre ya de trabas, a partir de que obtuviera asilo politico en Francia en 1990.

Agamemnon''s Daughter is a searing story of love denied, then shattered, under the chilling wheels of the state. It follows one day in the life of a young, unnamed journalist about to attend a celebratory May Day parade. His lover, Suzana, whose father''s political star is on the rise, has just left the journalist in a sort of political sacrifice. Kadare draws us into a land deprived of choice, a country under a reign of terror. Through the impeccably crafted, incisive tale, we are given a true sense of how hard it can be to remain human in a world ruled by fear and suspicion.

In the early fifteenth century, as winter falls away, the people of Albania know that their fate is sealed. They have refused to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire, and war is now inevitable. Soon enough dust kicked up by Turkish horses is spotted from a citadel. Brightly coloured banners, hastily constructed minarets and tens of thousands of men fill the plain below. From this moment on, the world is waiting to hear that the fortress has fallen. The Siege tells the enthralling story of the weeks and months that follow of the exhilaration and despair of the battlefield, the constantly shifting strategies of war, and those whose lives are held in balance, from the Pasha himself to the technicians, artillerymen, astrologer, blind poet and harem of women that accompany him. Brilliantly vivid, as insightful as it is compelling, The Siege is an unforgettable account of the clash of two great civilisations. As a portrait of war, it resonates across the centuries and confirms Ismail Kadare as one of our most significant writers.

Two Irish-American scholars from Harvard journey to Albania in the 1930s with a tape recorder (a 'new fangled' invention) in order to record the last genuinely oral epic singers. Their purpose, they say, is to show how Homer's epics might have been culled from a verbal tradition. But the local Governor believes its an elaborate spying mission and arranges for his own spy to follow them. The two dedicated scholars realise only too late that they have stumbled over an ants' nest. This simple tale by Albania's most eminent and gifted novelist serves to lift the veil on one of the most secret and mysterious countries of modern Europe.

Che cosa e successo la notte del 13 dicembre nella camera da letto del "successore" - l''uomo designato a prendere il posto del tiranno del popolo albanese -, il cui cadavere e stato scoperto all''alba colpito da una pallottola in pieno petto? Questo romanzo di Kadare e ispirato al piu tenebroso enigma della storia dell''Albania contemporanea: la morte misteriosa del delfino del dittatore comunista, trasparente allusione a Enver Hoxha. Chi ha ucciso il successore e perche? Partendo da un avvenimento reale al quale conferisce dimensione universale, l''autore mette a nudo la psicologia del tiranno e le trame dei regimi totalitari attraverso una vicenda ora paradossale, ora cupamente quotidiana.

Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras 2009

Une petite ville du nord de l'Albanie a l'aube de l'an 2000. Dix ans après la chute du communisme, le traumatisme est encore la. Malgré tout, la vie va de l'avant... Même dans le hold-up perpétré contre une banque, les gens voient un signe de modernité, d'occidentalisation de la société. Des épisodes singuliers surviennent. On se reprend a évoquer des événements énigmatiques advenus deux ans, deux siècles, deux millénaires auparavant : ainsi, les noces d'une fille et d'un serpent... A la périphérie de la ville, en un lieu pratiquement désert, certains cherchent une galerie par où se faufiler dans un bunker réputé abriter les Archives secrètes. Le bruit court qu'on aurait repéré dans les parages les spectres d'Enver Hodja, de Brejnev, d'Ulbricht, de Thorez, voire d'?dipe-Roi... Passionnée, sensuelle, une histoire d'amour entre un peintre et une jeune fille se déroule dans ce cadre, sur fond de " printemps albanais ". Comme toujours chez Kadaré, légendes et traditions locales ancestrales sont partie intégrante de la vie quotidienne. Froides fleurs d'avril est un chef-d'?uvre a l'égal d'Avril brisé ou du Palais des rêves.

Il 17 marzo di un anno imprecisato (ma prima dell''avvento del comunismo in Albania) il giovane Gjorg Berisha ha dovuto uccidere l''assassino di suo fratello per obbedire alla besa, un codice antico e spieiato che fissa, senza possibilita di deroga, modo tempo e prezzo di qualsiasi delitto. Dopo l''omicidio, perpetrato fra mille dubbi e tormenti, Gjorg avra un mese di tregua. Poi, per lui, la morte sara in agguato dietro ogni pietra, ogni angolo di strada... Ma la sua storia s''intreccia con quella di Besian e Diana, uno scrittore e la sua giovane, bellissima moglie, che sono partiti da Tirana per intraprendere un singolare viaggio di nozze tra le montagne. L''incontro fra Gjorg e i due sposi avra conseguenze cruciali: mettera in gioco l''amore di Diana per suo marito e, allo scadere della fatidica tregua, indurra Gjorg predatore e preda della donna, del suo volto incantato - a un''imprudenza fatale: in un "aprile spezzato" che spezzera la sua vita.

At the heart of the Sultan's vast but fragile empire stands the mysterious Palace of Dreams: the most secret and powerful Ministry ever invented. Its task is to scour every town, village and hamlet to collect the citizens' dreams, then to sift, sort and classify them, and ultimately to interpret them, in order to identify the "master-dreams" that will provide the clues to the Empire's destinies and those of its Monarch. An entire nation's consciousness is thus tapped into and meticulously laid bare in the form of images and symbols of the dreaming mind. Kadare's "Palace of Dreams" stands as the symbol of the thought-police who have, through history, been the most effective instruments of oppression at the service of dictators.

Two Irish-American scholars from Harvard journey to Albania in the 1930s with a tape recorder (a 'new fangled' invention) in order to record the last genuinely oral epic singers. Their purpose, they say, is to show how Homer's epics might have been culled from a verbal tradition. But the local Governor believes its an elaborate spying mission and arranges for his own spy to follow them. The two dedicated scholars realise only too late that they have stumbled over an ants' nest. This simple tale by Albania's most eminent and gifted novelist serves to lift the veil on one of the most secret and mysterious countries of modern Europe.

From the moment that Gjorg's brother is killed by a neighbour, his own life is forfeit: for the Kanun, the code of the blood feud that operates in the Albanian mountains, requires Gjorg to kill his brother's murderer and then in turn to become an outcast to be hunted down by the new victim's family. After lying in ambush and shooting his brother's killer, young Gjorg is entitled to thirty days' grace - not enough to see out the month of April. While the rites of death, bereavement, mourning and vengeance are fulfilled with traditional solemnity in the village, a visiting honeymoon couple, traveling to learn about the ways of the mountain folk, cross the path of the fugitive. The bride's heart goes out to Gjorg, and even these 'civilised' strangers from the city risk becoming embroiled in the fatal mechanism of vendetta.

Twenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead. Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task. As they descend from the callous trivialities of their gruesome business, past and present, to suffering self-disgust, the author gives us glimpses of the lives of the people whose graves they are unearthing.

A fever dream of a novel where love, jealousy and obsession collide On the autobahn in Vienna a taxi leaves the carriageway and strikes the crash barrier, flinging its male and female passengers out of its back doors as it spins through the air. The driver cannot explain why he lost control; he only says that the mysterious couple in the back seat seemed to be about to kiss ...Set against the tumultuous backdrop of war and its aftermath in the Balkans, The Accident intimately documents an affair between two people caught in each other's webs. The investigation into their deaths uncovers a mutually destructive obsession that mirrors the conflicts of the region. A destabilising mixture of vivid hallucination and cold reality, Ismail Kadare's new novel is a bold and fascinating departure.