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Ismail Kadare

イスマイル・カダレ

Ismail Kadare

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1936-01-28 （Gjirokastër, Albania）
Died
2024-07-01 （Tirana, Albania） age 88
Nationality
Albania, France, Kosovo
Languages
Albanian, French, English
Religion
Atheist (born into a Muslim family)

Career

Occupations
novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, playwright
Active Years
1954-2020
Affiliations
Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (France), Academy of Albania, Berlin Academy of Arts, Académie Mallarmé
Memberships
Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (foreign associate), Academy of Albania, Berlin Academy of Arts, Académie Mallarmé
Influenced By
Franz Kafka, Nikolai Gogol, George Orwell, Gabriel García Márquez, Milan Kundera, Balzac, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Ernest Hemingway
Influenced
contemporary Albanian literature, writers across Eastern Europe and the Balkans
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 15 times)

Education

University of Tirana (Faculty of History and Philology)
Faculty of History and Philology / Languages and Literature
Period: 1954–1956
Year of Graduation: 1956
Country: Albania
Received a teacher's diploma in 1956
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
Literature
Period: 1958–1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: Soviet Union
Postgraduate study in Moscow (1958–1960)

Awards

Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
1992
Organization: Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
Result: 受賞
Herder Prize
1998
Organization: Herder Prize
Result: 受賞
Man Booker International Prize (inaugural)
2005
Work: body of work
Organization: Man Booker International Prize
Result: 受賞
Prince of Asturias Award for Literature
2009
Category: 文学
Organization: Princess of Asturias Foundation
Result: 受賞
Jerusalem Prize
2015
Organization: Jerusalem Prize
Result: 受賞
Legion of Honour (Commandeur / Grand Officer)
2016
Organization: French Republic
Result: 受章
Park Kyong-ni Prize
2019
Organization: Park Kyong-ni Prize
Result: 受賞
Neustadt International Prize for Literature
2020
Work: body of work
Organization: Neustadt Prizes
Result: 受賞
Ovid Prize
2003
Organization: Ovid Prize
Result: 受賞
International Nonino Prize
2018
Organization: Nonino
Result: 受賞
America Award in Literature
2023
Work: lifetime contribution
Organization: America Awards (Green Integer)
Result: 受賞
"Honor of the Nation" Decoration
Organization: Republic of Albania
Result: 受章
National Flag Decoration
2016
Organization: Republic of Albania
Result: 受章

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The General of the Dead Army

1963 Novel (irony, parable elements)

An Italian general and a priest return to Albania after World War II to recover the remains of fallen soldiers; the novel explores war, memory and loss.

warmemorylosshuman condition
Adaptations
  • [Film] The General of the Dead Army (film) / 複数（例：ルチアーノ・トヴォリ他） (1983)
Translations
  • Translated into many languages (French, English, etc.)

The Siege

1970 Historical novel

Set during the time of Skanderbeg, it depicts the conflict with the Ottoman Empire and explores national history and identity.

historynationresistance
Translations
  • Translated into French and other languages

Chronicle in Stone

1971 Magic realism / Novel

A boy's account of life in a stone fortress town during World War II, blending everyday detail with magical realism.

effects of warmemorylocal identity

The Palace of Dreams

1981 Dystopia / Parable

A dystopian novel satirizing totalitarianism through a gigantic bureaucracy that collects, files and analyses citizens' dreams.

totalitarianismsurveillancebureaucracydreams

Broken April

1980 Novel (tragic rural society)

Set in northern Albania, it portrays the customs of blood feud and the inevitability of violent retribution.

blood feudhonorfate
Adaptations
  • [Film (adaptation)] Behind the Sun (film) — adaptation inspired by Broken April / Walter Salles (2001)

The Pyramid

1992 Allegorical historical novel

Set in ancient Egypt, the novel is an allegory about power, hierarchy and the vanity of monuments.

critique of powerdictatorship allegorymonumentality

Spiritus

1996 Novel (fantastical elements)

Through returning ghosts and rumour, the novel addresses post-communist transformations and the persistence of surveillance.

ghostspast and presentsurveillance state

The Fall of the Stone City

2008 Semi-autobiographical novel

A novel weaving personal memory and national history, reflecting on identity and the past.

memorypersonal and national historyhomeland

The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother

2020 Memoir / Novel

A semi-autobiographical portrait of his mother and his complex ties to his country.

familymemorynostalgia

Bibliography

  • The General of the Dead Army
  • The Siege
  • Chronicle in Stone
  • The Palace of Dreams
  • Broken April
  • The Pyramid
  • Spiritus
  • The Fall of the Stone City
  • The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother

Adaptations

  • The General of the Dead Army has been adapted into several films (Italian, French, Albanian versions)
  • Broken April inspired the film Behind the Sun (2001)

Translations of Works

  • Works translated into over 45 languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
allegorical and parabolic narrationsubjective realismuse of symbolism and mythconcise, poetic prose
Recurring Motifs
power and totalitarianismdreams and symbolshistory and memoryfolktale and legendsurveillance and bureaucracy

Health

  • Prolonged ill health; cardiac disease (final cause: heart attack)
    数年〜2024年
    Suffered health problems for years; died of a heart attack in 2024

Legacy

Ismail Kadare was an internationally prominent novelist and intellectual, regarded as a universal voice against totalitarianism. He brought Albanian literature to global attention and, using allegory and history, created a literature of resistance under censorship.

Museums

  • Ismail Kadare House Museum Gjirokastër, Albania

Academic Societies

  • Academy of Albania
  • Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (France)
  • Berlin Academy of Arts
  • Académie Mallarmé

Archives

  • Personal papers in Tirana and archives at the Ismail Kadare House

In Popular Culture

  • In Albania he was a national figure; it is said there is scarcely a household without a Kadare book

Quotes

  • There is no room for literature in the Marxist vision of the future world.
    Source: 2020 Neustadt International Prize acceptance lecture (2020)
  • There is hardly an Albanian household without a Kadare book.
    Source: Statement in The New York Times feature (1990)

Trivia

  • Works have been translated into over 45 languages.
  • Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 15 times.
  • Sought political asylum in France in 1990.
  • Notable works include The General of the Dead Army, The Palace of Dreams, and The Pyramid.