The great winter
The great winter (original title: Dimri i vetmisë së madhe ) is a novel by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare from 1973. The German first edition was published in 1987 by Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel and is based on the revised edition from 1977.
background
Kadare began his career as a novelist in the early 1960s with the novel The General of the Dead Army , which communist doctrine in Albania criticized and ignored for several years. During the 1960s, two of his works were banned immediately after their publication. He was often accused of avoiding “topical issues” like building socialism . After the French edition of "The General of the Dead Army" brought him recognition in the West in 1970, he was able to publish further novels dealing with historical subjects. Shortly afterwards, Kadare began writing a novel on the subject of Albania's breakaway from the socialist camp in 1961. The novel was published in early 1973 and sold 20,000 copies on the first day.
action
The story is told by various narrators. This book deals with the subject of the break between Albania and the Soviet Union in the winter of 1960/61 and the effects on the country and the people.
One of the main characters is the journalist Besnik Struga. He works in the economic department of the central organ Zëri i Popullit in Tirana and is a party candidate. Besnik is engaged to the beautiful daughter of a deputy minister. He is a proud Albanian.
The story happens when the Soviet Union no longer wants to maintain relations with Albania. This means that Albania was no longer helped and supported by the Soviet Union.
Besnik Struga travels to the Soviet Union as a translator with a delegation. There he was one of the first to recognize how relations between Albania and the Soviet Union were deteriorating. He translates Hoxha during the talks with Khrushchev and accompanies the Albanian delegation to the gathering of 81 leaders of the Communist Parties of the world, where Hoxha turns against Khrushchev, which leads to his being heavily criticized by the other leaders, and as Judas, who "betrayed communism and the Soviet Union for 30 pieces of silver". Finally the Albanian delegation escapes from Moscow by train .
Besnik comes back from Moscow holding secrets, but does not tell anyone what happened there, which has fatal consequences for his relationship with his fiancée. He knows that Albania is about to undergo radical change, but is not allowed to speak to anyone about it. His opponents take advantage of his argument with his fiancée and accuse him of violating proletarian morality .
He breaks up with his fiancée on the same day that the break with Moscow is announced in the party cells.
criticism
Immediately after its publication in 1973, a violent smear campaign against the novel broke out, which lasted several months and in which the whole communist propaganda machine, from peasants and workers to high-ranking officials, participated. Kadare was accused of, among other things, a lack of “socialist patriotism”, ironizing socialist principles, hidden liberalism and “distortions” of the history of the break with the Soviet Union. The then Interior Minister Kadri Hazbiu said: "I read 40 pages, I had to spit 40 times."
expenditure
- The great winter. Novel. From the Albanian. New Malik Verlag, Kiel 1987, ISBN 3-89029-018-3 .
- The great winter. Novel. Unabridged edition. dtv, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-11137-2 (licensed edition).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Disidenca te "Dimri i madh" - Gazeta SHQIP Online
- ^ Peter Morgan: Ismail Kadare: shkrimtari dhe diktatura, 1957-1990 . Shtëpia botuese 55, Tirana 2011, ISBN 978-9928-10612-4 , p. 153 .