Another world: Albania and "Agamemnon's Daughter"

Ismail Kadare wrote Agamemnon's Daughter circa 1985, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the beginning end of what we once called Eastern Europe.  It is simultaneously a depiction of the banality of political repression -- the way it seeps into every human interaction, even just seeing someone across a crowd -- and an evocation of the extreme horrors (sacrificing their own children) that those in power will enact to preserve and extend their grip.

The setting is Albania. If you need help to locate it on a map, look just above Greece, across from Italy's "heel." Maybe this will help.

Albania was Communist from 1942 to 1992. You can read more about the contemporary history of the country and its current governmental and "transition economic" systems at Wikipedia or other resources online. 

My recollections are that as Communist country, it was even more extremely controlled than most of the Eastern Bloc, with almost no contact with "the west." Kadare's manuscript was smuggled out bits at a time, in part because exporting works about Albania was prohibited. That tale is told in the preface to this volume.

Because I hope you will read the novella, I won't recap the story, although this site does a good job of doing so. This review is by Australian expatriate Geoff Pound, then living in the United Arab Emirates. 

Ismail Kadare is my father's age and lives now in France and continues to write and publish in French. I will be looking for more of his work, as the writing is lovely, even at he confronts the brutality of humanity.

Around the world in 365 days - by book

So, I heard about this project "A Year of Reading the World" last week and decided to give it a go. But of course, it isn't enough to read what Alexandra read ... so I added some additional constraints, or opportunities, depending on how you think about things.  If you want to join me, please do, with your own lists, or suggest things below.

Firstly, I'm in the U.S., so we have different works available than U.K.-based Alexandra found, and possibly more are in translation here.  Secondly, I read in English and French, which opens some doors, especially for works from writers from countries in West and Central Africa and parts of Micronesia. If you  have more than one language, do your own challenge with works available. Thirdly, I'm most interested in works by women, although not exclusively. So I thought I'd try for at least 50 percent by women -- you've heard that we "Hold up half the sky," right?  Then I decided I should stick to things published in my lifetime, so last half of the 20th century until now. Sound fair?

Today I checked out the list of countries at Member States of the UN, but it didn't include places that I think of as having separate cultures, such as Scotland and Northern Ireland.  So instead of 193 nations, the starting list is 195. Perhaps we'll add more, too ...

Also, at our house, we already have books from about 45 of the countries listed, and in the interests of keeping the whole project manageable financially, I set a limit of $5 per additional volume. For titles not on our shelves, I'll see what I can borrow from libraries, then go for used copies, probably from Amazon or similar sites online. Although, I must say I found several works at Half Price Books in the Avon neighborhood yesterday, for $1 or less each.  What a great resource, even if the name ought to be Half Priced Books.

So, here's a global map and four pins to get started. Japan, Albania, Argentina, and Canada. Two men, two women. Mostly older titles, since -- as you might have noted above -- we have these books already at home.

To join, click on the map to open a new tab, showing this week's ideas. On the new tab, click on one of the green pins. A small tab within the map will open with author's last name and title of the book. Under that appears the word "link."  If you click that, you will see the  Amazon.com description of the book. These four are in print and used copies are available online. 



Next week four more titles, with a different color of pin. Maybe I'll figure out how to make an interactive map here, too.  Stranger things have happened.

Even if you don't read the books, please share your thoughts for authors to include!

Are you in?

Melissa