The Narrative Totalitarianism in Albanian Novels

Abstract

Albanian literature of the second half of the 20th century is a specific type of literary culture as it occurred as a result of great ideological conflict related to the Second World War. The establishment of totalitarianism in Albania as well as Kosovo consequently dictated the cultural politics of the time. Albanian literature faced a disadvantageous position as it had to bend, at times partially and at others times entirely, to the political conditions and requirements.  Contemporary Albanian literature, defined as the literature pertaining mainly to the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, is primarily an Albanian literature in terms of its themes, whereas in terms of sensibility to literary forms, it reaches a closeness to main world literatures of a greater scope. From the outset, it must be clarified that narrative totalitarianism is a story told by the officials of the dictatorial system, but also by those who experienced this harsh era, whether as real authors or as characters within the narrative. The political systems established in Albanian and in Kosova after the Second World War determined literary developments and somehow merged literary thought and literary writing with ideology by placing ubiquitously the slogan in the name of the new and in search of the new man. Regardless of the time, this period in Albania and in Kosova brought forth authors of eminent literary values, who hid themselves behind literary figures, whereas in Kosova during the 1970s, literature was exposed to more consolidated movements and to literary criticism. Consequently, the literature written under these totalitarian situations produced its own narrative, upon which idea many novels of this literature were written. Hence, this article explores the narrative on dictatorship in Albanian novels, emphasizing and viewing totalitarianism as a historical and political system and phenomenon within this literature.

Received: 22 June 2024 / Accepted: 28 August 2024 / Published: 05 September 2024