Concert at the end of winter

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Concert at the end of winter ( Albanian  Koncert në fund të dimrit ) is a novel by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare , which deals with the end of the Albanian-Chinese relations in 1978.

The work was written between 1978 and 1981 and sent to the State Publishing House in the autumn of 1981, but banned before its publication by order of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania . The novel was viewed by party and state offices as an anti-communist work, a mockery of the political system, and open resistance to communist ideology .

In 1988 the extensive book could still be published. In 1991 the German translation by Joachim Röhm was published under the title “Konzert am Ende des Winters”.

Historical context

Relations between the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the People's Republic of China deteriorated more and more between 1972 and 1978. Both countries had supported each other in the Soviet-Albanian and Sino-Soviet divisions in the early 1960s and declared the need to defend Marxism-Leninism against what they viewed as Soviet revisionism within the international communist movement. However, in the early 1970s, differences of opinion intensified as Albania did not accept certain aspects of Chinese politics.

In 1978 China broke off its trade relations with the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, signaling the end of the informal alliance between the two states.

background

The novel began in 1978 and ended three years later. The manuscript was submitted for publication in the fall of 1981. In the meantime, Mehmet Shehu , the incumbent Albanian Prime Minister and designated successor to the communist head of state Enver Hoxha , committed suicide in December 1981. In the pages of this as yet unpublished novel, Kadare described in detail how Mao Zedong murdered his successor Lin Biao and had it portrayed as an aviation accident.

Kadare was informed that its publication had been banned by order of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania . The novel was viewed by party and state offices as an anti-communist work, as a mockery of the political system and as an open resistance to communist ideology and therefore remained unpublished until several years after Enver Hoxha's death.

In a secret report from that time it says:

“[...] The novel is a satire and a mockery of communism, its principles and its ideas; from the position of a European liberal. This satire and this derision are hidden behind the idea of ​​attacking Chinese socialism. Until here it is still somehow hidden. But then it becomes evident on the pages of the novel through ambiguous ideas and sentences that are teeming with in the novel. […]
The irony and sarcasm about socialism and the terminology we use, as well as the derision of things that are sacred to us, fill the entire novel by I. Kadare. [...] It is amazing that whenever the author speaks about socialism, the party, the grassroots organization and their meetings, he expresses himself with irony and ridicule. […] In addition, there is the desolation of the situation: dismissals, arrests, imprisonments, meetings, criticism and self-criticism. These descriptions turn socialism into a darkness in which people tremble for their own fate, the fate of loved ones, and the future in general. [...] The idea of ​​human destruction, fear, fever and insecurity, which, according to the author, is caused by the class struggle in socialism, is clear [...] "

The novel is often associated with Kadare's book “The Great Winter” (1977), in which the rift between Albania and the Soviet Union is thematized and which has parallels not only in the large number of pages.

content

The story focuses on the end of Albanian-Chinese relations in 1978. Events that occur during the period of Albanian-Chinese relations in seven years from 1971 to 1978 are condensed here into just a few months. The novel speaks of the communist world without masking itself with allegories . Together with the critic Zija Shkurti, Kadare aims at Maoist China and attacks the Maoist-Chinese practices that communist Albania also practiced in 1967 when intellectuals were sent to other cities and villages to be close to the people. The methods of eavesdropping, the creation of the new human being, the fear that prevailed in the various layers of society are discussed.

Editions & translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Robert Elsie : Literature . In: Klaus-Detlev Grothusen (Hrsg.): Albanien (=  Südosteuropa-Handbuch . Volume VII ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, ISBN 3-525-36207-2 , pp. 664 .
  2. ^ Ismail Kadare: Concert at the end of winter . Residence, Salzburg / Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-7017-0715-4 , p. 2 .
  3. ↑ Elez Biberaj: Albania and China: A Study of an Unequal Alliance . Westview Press, Boulder, CO , USA 1986, p. 134-135 .
  4. ↑ a b c Eric Faye: Concert në fund të dimrit . Ed .: Ismail Kadare. Onufri, 2011, Parathënie, p. vii – xii .
  5. ^ Peter Morgan: Kadare: Shkrimtari dhe dictatura 1957-1990 . 1st edition. Shtëpia Botuese "55", Tirana 2011, ISBN 978-9928-10612-4 , p. 226 .
  6. ↑ Shaban Sinani: Letërsia në totalitarizëm dhe "Dossier K" . Naim Frashëri, 2011, p. 100 .
  7. ↑ Shaban Sinani: Letërsia në totalitarizëm dhe "Dossier K" . Naim Frashëri, Tirana 2011, p. 100, 383-394 .
  8. ^ Peter Morgan: Kadare: Shkrimtari dhe dictatura 1957-1990 . 1st edition. Shtëpia Botuese "55", Tirana 2011, ISBN 978-9928-10612-4 , p. 209 .