It is well known that in the Communist countries, and especially in my own, Albania, readers were often called upon to demonstrate their vigilance by detecting and denouncing the ‘errors’ of authors. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
In antiquity, there were three regions in southern Europe: Greece, Rome, and Ilyria. Albanian is the only survivor of the Ilyrian languages. That is why it has always intrigued the great linguists of the past. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
We cannot deny that 80 or even 90 percent of the spiritual treasures from the past 3,000 years have come from Europe. There is no other Greek theatre anywhere else in the world. There is no other Shakespeare, Dante or Cervantes. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
If I manage to write something that I consider good and valuable in a particular place, that spot automatically has a special aura for me. In Albania, there are two cities where I have written the majority of my work: Gjirokaster, my home city, and Tirana. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
For me as a writer, Albanian is simply an extraordinary means of expression – rich, malleable, adaptable. As I have said in my latest novel, ‘Spiritus,’ it has modalities that exist only in classical Greek, which puts one in touch with the mentality of antiquity. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
I first came across the script for ‘Macbeth’ between the ages of 11 and 12; it was the first book that shook my life. Because I did not yet understand that I could simply purchase it in a bookstore, I copied much of it by hand and took it home. My childhood imagination pushed me to feel like a co-author of the play. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
Dictatorship and authentic literature are incompatible… The writer is the natural enemy of dictatorship. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
If you are a serious writer or just a normal one, in one way or another, you are writing in the service of freedom. All writers know, understand, or dream that their work will be in the service of freedom. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
I work only in the morning from 10 to noon. I still write by hand. I interrupt my writing when I feel that I’ve discovered something beautiful or, on the contrary, when I feel discontent. Ismail Kadare Read Quote
