Ismail Kadare interview – English translation

Interview and profile: Ismail Kadare, Albanian author and winner of the inaugural
Man-Booker International Prize, in 2005

Originally appeared in LIFO weekly free press no. 52, 1 February 2007, Athens,
Greece

Available online at: http://www.lifo.gr/content/x8/31

Interview conducted in French, during Mr Kadare's visit to Athens in January 2007.

[Title]
Ismail Kadare. This is not the lives of others

[Intro]
He is the greatest Albanian author and one of the most important novelists of our
time. For him, writing is an absolute necessity, the only way to be truly free.
And when it comes to everything else, like being a symbol for his countrymen or
the fact that he succeeded in remaining creative under the totalitarian regime of
Enver Hodja, these are but petty details, compared to the call of eternity.

[Byline]
By Menelaos Tzafalias

[Caption]
A creaseless adolescence
“I don't believe all that nonsense, that in order for one to become a writer, you
have to suffer during your youth”

[Main text]
The Book Arcade's* Logos Hall, Tuesday the 23rd of January. 19:35.
To say there's no more room, would be an understatement. The lecture hall is
packed and people keep pouring in. Those left outside, are craning their necks.
It's like attending a rock concert with everyone waiting for the main attraction
to come on stage. "He's still at the entrance. He's talking to the cameras. Look,
I got an autograph. His handwriting is worse than mine", comments a young woman
from Northern Epirus**. She's so excited. Her cheeks are glowing. And it's not
because of the heat. She's almost ready to cry. "He's going to Ianos [major Athens
booksellers] tomorrow, but I'm working and I won't be able to make it. Why is he
so late? Will he be speaking in French? If he speaks in French, it won't be worth
it. Oh, where is he?" someone else asks. Most people in the room are from Albania.
Albanians or people from Northern Epirus** -does it matter? In their gaze you can
see a sense of pride, a glow that you rarely encounter when you pass them by on
the street. No bowed heads in here tonight. They're waiting for their most famous
countryman. The great and prolific author, Ismail Kadare.

This event in his honour coincides with the publication, in Greek, of the diptych
work "The Successor - Agamemnon's Daughter", by the Publications of the 21st
[Century]. Kindly sponsored by the Pireus Bank and their affiliate in Albania,
Tirana Bank. The speakers are Vanghelis Hadjivassiliou, Titika Dimitroulia and
Gazmed Kaplani, the only journalist of Albanian descent who has made it in the
Greek media establishment. In the first rows, among the guests of honour, sits Mr
Nikitas Kaklamanis, the mayor of Athens, who was sworn in last Thursday. "He
[Kadare] is the first person I welcome [to the city]", Mr. Kaklamanis says, all
happy and smiling - and not wearing a necktie. Everyone is waiting for Kadare to
speak. They fidget in their seats and mumble, waiting for when it'll be his turn
to come to the podium.

And when he does, he speaks in Albanian! Smiles of euphoria spread across the
floor. A clumsy translator struggles to keep up and is constantly corrected by the
adoring crowd. The scene resembles a family gathering, with Kadare assuming the
role of the wise, grandfatherly figure telling the story in front of the
fireplace. He talks about Hodja's inhuman regime. The fact that he had no choice
but to become a writer. "Communism is the enemy of literature", he says. Yet, it
was under Communism that he forged his talent and developed the multiple meaning
and the complexity of his prose. He talks about his influences: Joyce. Kafka.
Shakespeare. Cervantes. And the Ancient Greek playwrights, of course, albeit
through the prism of German Materialism. The crowd clings to his every word. He
also mentions the Balkans. The European dream [accession to the EU]. He'll refer
to FYROM as "Macedonia" [a political no no in Greece]. The mayor of Athens seems
to turn into stone. But Kadare will offer his sincere apologies to the prominent
Greek politician, stating how sorry he is for his mistake, although much later and
in private.

When the audience is invited to voice their views in accordance to the author's
wishes ("the only way to make this event interesting for me"), the initial sense
of frustration that was present in the hall finally evapourates. The crowd's
questions have mostly to do with the dream of a better future. "Are Albanians in
Greece truly free?" someone asks. Kadare replies diplomatically, not wanting to
offend neither his countrymen nor his hosts. "If we don't succeed in creating a
sound economy in our own country, then we cannot be free". He leaves, smiling ever
so discreetly. It has more to do with being polite, than feeling triumphant. As he
descends from the podium, he becomes human again: he is of medium stature and
wears glasses with a thick frame. His face is absolutely expressionless.

The lobby of the Athens Palace hotel, Wednesday the 24th of January. It's 19:35,
again. Kadare's publisher in Greece, Giannis Nikolopoulos, is chatting with Katia
Sabathianakis, a young editor-translator. "Your appointment is at eight but they
are still upstairs". He is referring to Christos Homenidis [famous Greek author]
and Gazmed Kaplani, who are interviewing Kadare on behalf of Tahidromos magazine,
for the Nea newspaper [Greece's biggest daily].

A while later, as I am standing in the dark corridor outside Kadare's suite, where
the other interview is taking place, I try to eavesdrop through the half-open
door. It feels like being present at an interrogation.

They are late. It's already 20:15 and Mr. Kadare will have to depart at 20:45
sharp, since he is expected at the French ambassador's residence. For an official
dinner in his honour. Kadare keeps a house in Paris, the city where his books were
published for the first time, bravely smuggled out of Stalinist Albania.

The other interviewers are finally finished. Christos Homenidis hands Kadare a
copy of his novel "The Voice", [La Voix], translated into French. Homenidis
realizes that in his biography, which graces the book's jacket, there is a
reference to the fact that his grandfather was one of the founders of the Greek
Communist Party. He blushes, possibly realizing how Kadare must have suffered at
the hands of Hodja's Communists. "Oh, do come and see me in Paris," Kadare
insists. "But how?" Homenidis wants to know. "Call my publisher and instruct him
to give you my telephone number. I live nearby. Oh, yes. I know that Costa Gavra
[famous Greek film director] also lives in that neighbourhood. We know each other
well," he adds. Homenidis and Kaplani depart, deeply enchanted, like schoolboys.

"We have but a few minutes. I shall have to leave, as you understand," Mr. Kadare
politely informs me, in heavily accented but perfect French. Despite his age (he
just turned 71), he doesn't seem at all tired. We discuss his role as Albania's
national writer. "I despise that title. I find it annoying. In the Balkans, people
ask too much of their authors". We talk about where he grew up: "In a big house. I
had a happy childhood. And as an adolescent, I was equally happy. I don't believe
in all that nonsense, that in order for one to become a writer, you have to suffer
during your youth". Does he ever feel guilty about having survived and not ending
up in front of a firing squad, like the ones he describes in his books? "I did
what I could. You cannot feel guilty for surviving. I find that grotesque! I am
neither an optimist, nor a pessimist, in the way I see the world. Life is not one
or the other. It's both". And how about the strange relationship between Albania
and China, in the fairly recent past? He laughs. "You know, back then, for the
Chinese, we were the West! They looked up to us! Isn't it odd? Yes, I did visit
China during the Cultural Revolution... There are many Chinese in Albania today.
They were the first foreigners to come when the borders were opened. They are
model citizens!" And his views on the Albanian ethnic minority in Greece? "I am
not here to defend the criminal element. But I believe that the rest are not
treated well [by the Greeks]. There is a permanent misunderstanding." Does he
prefer Paris or Albania? "When I'm in Albania, I have lots of fun and do not get
as much work done as I would like. It's interesting. The unexpected is always just
around the corner."

He seems to be getting anxious. The phone rings. Time's up! He laughs nervously. I
didn't ask him if he believes that he'll receive the Nobel Prize for literature.
His wife, the tall and blonde Elena is waiting for him in the hotel lobby. They
exit.

==ENDS==

Translation notes:

*A mall in central Athens, with many Greek publishers’ retail outlets under one
roof

**Greeks refer to Albanian immigrants of Albanian ethnic origin as ‘Alvanoi’

(Albanians). Albanians of Greek ethnic origin are referred to as ‘Vorio-Ipirotes’,
i.e. ‘people of Northern Epirus’.

This is a reflection on the region’s history and the latent racism Greeks feel
towards immigrants. Hence the nuanced question “Albanians or people of Northern
Epirus -does it matter?”

Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force in Greece and immigrants
originally from Albania make up more than one-half of that number.
(Major source: CIA World Factbook)