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Robert Elsie
& Janice Mathie-Heck
Gjergj Fishta. The Highland Lute (Lahuta e Malcís)
The Albanian national epic
Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie & Janice Mathie-Heck
ISBN 1-84511-118-4
I.B. Tauris
in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies, London /
Palgrave
Macmillan, New York 2005
xviii + 487 pp.
 INTRODUCTION
The Highland Lute
Although Gjergj Fishta is the author
of a total of thirty-seven literary publications, his name is
indelibly linked to one great work, indeed to what is perhaps
the most astounding creation in all of Albanian literature, the
national literary epic 'The Highland Lute.'
The Highland Lute (Alb. Lahuta e Malcís)
is a 15,613-line historical verse epic, a panorama of northern
Albanian history from 1862 to 1913 which mirrors the long Albanian
struggle for freedom and independence. This literary masterpiece
was composed for the most part between 1902 and 1909, though
it was refined and amended by its author over the following quarter
of a century. The Highland Lute is a work of great significance
to the Albanian people and, at the same time, constitutes the
first Albanian-language contribution to world literature.
In 1902, Father Gjergj Fishta had
been sent to a northern Albanian mountain village to replace
the local parish priest for a time. There he met and befriended
the aged tribesman Marash Uci (1810-1914) of Hoti, whom he was
to immortalize in verse. In their evenings together, Marash Uci
told the young priest of the heroic battles between the Albanian
Highlanders and the Montenegrins, in particular of the famed
battle at the Rrzhanica Bridge in which Marash Uci had taken
part himself. The earliest parts of The Highland Lute, subtitled
'At the Bridge of Rrzhanica,' were printed in Zadar in 1905 and
1907, and were received with enthusiasm in Albania. Subsequent
and enlarged editions of The Highland Lute appeared in 1912,
1923, 1931 and 1933. The definitive edition of The Highland Lute
in thirty cantos was published in Shkodra in 1937 to mark the
twenty-fifth anniversary of Albanian independence.
Despite the success of The Highland Lute
and the preeminence of its author, this and all other works by
Gjergj Fishta were banned after the Second World War when the
Communists came to power in Albania. The epic was, however, republished
in Rome 1958 and Ljubljana 1990, and exists in German and Italian
translations.
The Highland Lute is certainly the most
powerful and effective epic to have been written in Albanian.
Gjergj Fishta chose as his subject matter what he knew best:
the heroic culture of his native northern Albanian mountains.
It was his intention with this epic, an unprecedented achievement
in Albanian letters, to present the lives of the northern Albanian
tribes and of his people in general in a heroic setting. It was
the author's fortune at the time to have been at the source of
the only intact heroic society in Europe. High Albania, in the
north of the country, differed radically from the more advanced
and 'civilized' regions of the Tosk south of Albania. What so
fascinated foreign ethnographers and visitors to northern Albania
at the turn of the last century was the tribal and staunchly
patriarchal structure of society in the Highlands, a social system
based on customs handed down for centuries by tribal law, in
particular by the Code or Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini.
The Highland Lute is strongly inspired
by northern Albanian oral verse, both by the cycles of heroic
verse, i.e. the octosyllabic Këngë kreshnikësh
(Songs of the Frontier Warriors), similar to the Serbo-Croatian
junacke pjesme, and by the equally popular cycles of historical
verse of the eighteenth century, similar to Greek klephtic verse
and to the haidutska pesen of the Bulgarians. Fishta knew
well this oral verse sung by the Gheg mountain tribes on their
one-stringed instrument, the lahuta, and relished in its
language and rhythm. The narrative of the epic is therefore replete
with the rich, archaic vocabulary and colourful imagery and figures
of speech used by the Highland tribes of the north. The language
does not make for easy reading nowadays, even for the northern
Albanians themselves. The standard metre of The Highland Lute
is a trochaic octameter or heptameter which is more in tune with
Albanian oral verse than is the classical hexameter of the Latin
and Greek epics. The influence of the great epics of classical
antiquity, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Vergil's Aeneid, is
nonetheless ubiquitous in The Highland Lute as has been pointed
out by a number of scholars, in particular Maximilian Lambertz
and Giuseppe Gradilone. Many parallels in style and content have
thus transcended the millennia. Fishta himself later translated
book five of the Iliad into Albanian.
Among the major stylistic features which
characterize The Highland Lute, and no doubt most other epics,
are metaphor, alliteration and assonance, as well as archaic
figures of speech and hyperbole. The predominantly heroic character
of the narrative with its extensive battle scenes is fortunately
counterbalanced with lyric and idyllic passages which give The
Highland Lute a lightness and poetic grace it might otherwise
lack.
The Highland Lute relies heavily on Albanian
mythology and legendry. The work is permeated with mythological
figures of oral literature who, like the gods and goddesses of
ancient Greece, observe and, where necessary, intervene in events.
Among them are the zanas, dauntless mountain spirits who dwell
near springs and torrents and who bestow their protection on
Albanian warriors; the oras, female spirits whose very
name is often taboo; the vampire-like lugats, the witch-like
shtrigas, and the drangues, semi-human figures
born with wings under their arms and with supernatural powers,
whose prime objective in life is to combat and slay the seven-headed,
fire-spewing kulshedras.
The fusion of the heroic and the mythological
is equally evident in a number of characters to whom Fishta attributes
major roles in The Highland Lute: Oso Kuka, the fierce and valiant
warrior who prefers death over surrender to his Slavic enemy;
the old shepherd Marash Uci who admonishes the young fighters
to preserve their freedom and not to forget the ancient ways
and customs; and the valiant maiden Tringa, who takes care of
her dying brother and is resolved to defend her land.
The heroic aspect of life in the mountains
is one of the many characteristics which the northern Albanian
tribes have in common with their southern Slavic, and in particular
Montenegrin, neighbours. The two peoples, divided as they are
by language and by the bitter course of history, have a largely
common culture. Although the Montenegrins serve as 'bad guys'
in the glorification of the author's native land, Fishta was
not uninfluenced or unmoved by the literary achievements of the
southern Slavs in the second half of the nineteenth century,
in particular by verse of Slavic resistance to the Turks. The
works of the Franciscan pater Grga Martic (1822-1905) served
the young Fishta as a model while the latter was studying in
Bosnia. Fishta was also influenced by the writings of an earlier
Franciscan writer, Andrija Kacic-Miošic (1704-1760), the
Dalmatian poet and publicist of the Enlightenment who is remembered
especially for his Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga,
1756 (Pleasant Talk of Slavic Folk), a collection of prose and
poetry on Serbo-Croatian history, and by the works of Croatian
poet Ivan Mažuranic (1814-1890), author of the noted romantic
epic Smrt Smail-age Cengica, 1846 (The Death of Smail
Aga). A further source of literary inspiration for Fishta was
the Montenegrin poet-prince Petar Petrovic Njegoš (1813-1851).
It is no coincidence that the title The Highland (or Mountain)
Lute is similar to Njegoš's Gorski vijenac, 1847
(The Mountain Wreath). This verse rendition of Montenegro's heroic
resistance to the Turkish occupants is now generally regarded
as the national epic of the Montenegrins and Serbs. Gjergj Fishta
proved that the Albanian language was also capable of a refined
literary epic of equally heroic proportions.
Synopsis of the Epic
The Highland Lute is divided into
thirty cantos devoted to the struggle of the Albanian people
for freedom and independence in the period from 1862 to 1913.
The first five cantos, known as the cycle
of Oso Kuka, are set in the year 1862. Canto 1(The Bandits) gives
a historical survey of Albanian suffering under the Turkish yoke,
and of the plans of Prince Nikolla of Montenegro to attack Albania.
In Canto 2 (Oso Kuka), Oso Kuka of Shkodra sets out with his
forty men to counter the attack. Canto 3 (The Booty) is an interlude
in which an Albanian shepherd, Avdi Hisa, is slain by the Montenegrins,
thus giving Oso Kuka a pretext to take revenge. Avdi's sister
bemoans the death of her brother with a traditional lament. The
figure of Oso Kuka is further developed in Canto 4 (Vranina),
in which the Montenegrin prince sends his finest men to seize
the island of Vranina in Lake Shkodra. The poet appeals to the
Albanian tribesmen to be as heroic as Oso Kuka. The cycle concludes
with Canto 5 (Death), in which Oso Kuka is defeated, takes refuge
in a powder tower, and blows himself and his foes up. The Montenegrin
flag is raised over the island.
The second section of the epic, set in
1878-1880, begins with Canto 6 (Dervish Pasha), in which a mysterious
traveller arrives in Istanbul and pleads with the sultan to save
Albania. The sultan seconds Dervish Pasha and fifty battalions
of soldiers to repulse Montenegrin forces, but the Congress of
Berlin prevents the Turks from advancing. Canto 7 (The Congress
of Berlin) focusses on the historical Congress of Berlin of 1878,
which gives Prince Nikolla free rein to occupy Hoti, Gruda, Plava
and Gucia, indeed all of northern Albania down to the Drin river.
In Canto 8 (Ali Pasha of Gucia), Ali Pasha happens upon a fairy-like
ora in the high mountain pastures who appeals to him to summon
all the Albanian Highlanders to war, and bestows on him magic
powers. Canto 9 (The League of Prizren) describes the events
of the historical meeting of Albanian nobles in 1878, who gather
to counter the Treaty of San Stefano and the resolutions of the
Congress of Berlin. They are observed from the high mountains
by the ora of Albania and the zana of Sharri, who
delight in listening to the fiery speeches of Abdul Frashëri,
Shan Deda, Mar Lula, and Ali Pasha. The noblemen resolve to write
a letter of protest to the Congress of Berlin. In Canto 10 (Mehmet
Ali Pasha), a new Turkish pasha staying at the house of Abdullah
Dreni, invites tribal leaders to Gjakova and deceitfully takes
them prisoner. Friends besiege the house in order to free their
leaders. Dreni is duty bound by the prerequisites of Albanian
hospitality to defend his unwanted guest, and both he and the
pasha perish in the fighting.
Canto 11 (The Vampire) provides some
good comic relief. Prince Nikolla is at home drinking wine. He
chides his wife Milena for believing in ghosts. When she retires,
however, Nikolla is himself confronted with the ghost of the
slain Mehmet Ali Pasha, who demands that he send forces against
Albania. Nikolla discusses war plans with his general, Mark Milani.
Canto 12 (Marash Uci), the first to have been written and still
perhaps the best known, introduces another protagonist of the
epic, the aged Marash Uci. Marash hastens to Çun Mula
in Hoti and asks him to summon the tribal leaders of Hoti and
Gruda to the Church of Saint John's without delay for a council
meeting. Marash Uci speaks before the leaders in Canto 13 (At
the Church of Saint John's). The men resolve to take to arms
to defend their land, and make Çun Mula their commander.
In Canto 14 (At the Bridge of Rrzhanica), the Highlanders of
Hoti and Gruda do battle with the forces of Mark Milani. The
Montenegrins are defeated at Rrzhanica Bridge and Mark Milani
is compelled to take flight. Prince Nikolla in Cetinje is informed
of the defeat in Canto 15 (The Herald) and is told that Albanian
forces are massing at the border.
Canto 16 (The Kulshedra) forms another
interlude with a mythological analogy to the main conflict. The
Albanian warriors are introduced as mythological beings called
drangues, in battle with a dragon-like kulshedra.
Also interwoven into this canto is the song of the maid Eufrozina
of Janina. In Canto 17 (At the Grapevine Pass), two of the drangue
heroes, on their way home through the mountains, are surprised
by the advancing army of Mark Milani. They manage to hold the
pass with the help of nearby shepherds, and Milani withdraws,
sending his men to attack Sutjeska. The zanas take up
residence over Sutjeska, and then wait and observe. The battle
of Sutjeska is described in Canto 18 (At the Sutjeska Bridge),
in which Mark Milani's forces endeavour to take Gucia. The grim
scenes of battle are interrupted by a lament on the death of
Smajl Arifi. In a long and patriotic invective in Canto 19 (Father
Gjon), the priest of Kelmendi, no doubt a personification of
Fishta himself, bemoans the Albanians' sufferings at the hands
of their Slav neighbours. He then sets off for Sutjeska with
the men of Kelmendi behind him. Canto 20 (The Lekas) offers more
grim scenes of battle at Sutjeska. In the midst of the fighting,
Bec Patani recognizes his Slavic blood brother Milo Spasi and
brings him to safety. The story of their friendship is narrated
as an interlude. Night falls over the bloodbath. Father Gjon
reappears in Canto 21 (Mediation). He visits Mark Milani to arrange
for a truce in order to bury the dead.
In Canto 22 (Tringa), savage fighting
continues in nearby Nokshiq, where the maiden Tringa is devotedly
caring for her dying brother, Curr Ula. When the Slav warrior
Gjur Kokoti approaches, she shoots him in the chest, only to
be shot in the head herself. Canto 23 (At the Farmhouse of Curr
Ula) continues with more scenes of bloody battle. Tringa's death
is avenged. Mark Milani resolves to call in the army to assist
his fighters.
Canto 24 (The Zana of Mount Vizitor)
provides an idyllic interlude to the fighting. The Great Zana
is outraged at witnessing the murder of her childhood companion
Tringa. She brings the body back to the alpine pastures where
it is buried ceremoniously at the foot of a linden tree. In a
spirit of vengeance, the Great Zana calls upon all good
men to hasten to the battlefield of Nokshiq. Canto 25 (Blood
Vengeance Exacted), the longest of the cantos, is devoted once
again to the savagery of battle, observed from on high by the
Great Zana of Mount Vizitor and by the Ora of Montenegro.
Other figures of Albanian mythology are introduced, as vengeance
is exacted for the murder of Tringa.
In Canto 26 (The New Age), another interlude,
the poet, spending the spring at the Franciscan convent in Lezha,
invites the zana, his muse, to visit him. The long history
of Lezha and Albania are portrayed. After much suffering, a new
day has dawned. Freedom is at hand. In Canto 27 (The Committee),
we find ourselves in the twentieth century. In 1908, a committee
of Turkish pashas gathers in Istanbul to decide the fate of Albania.
Hardliner Turgut Pasha resolves to lead a military expedition
to Albania to stifle the independence movement. Canto 28 (Dedë
Gjo' Luli), set in 1910-1911, focusses on the figure of Dedë
Gjo' Luli, champion of the Albanian cause against the Turks.
Another hero, Llesh Nik Daka, is betrayed, mortally wounded,
and taken, according to his last wish, to the monastery of Rubik
to be buried. Turkish forces win the day. In Canto 29 (The Balkan
War), set in 1912, the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef warns the
sultan to leave the Albanians alone. The King of England invites
the Great Powers to London to settle the matter. The final Canto
30 (The Conference of London) provides a humorous description
of the gathering of the Seven Kings in London. After much dispute,
they agree to recognize Albania's independence. The red and black
flag of Albania finally flutters in the breeze over the land
of Scanderbeg "like the wings of all God's angels."
The author, Gjergj Fishta
Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) was by far
the greatest and most influential figure of Albanian literature
in the first half of the twentieth century. It was he more than
any other writer who gave artistic expression to the searching
soul of the sovereign Albanian nation. Lauded and celebrated
up until the Second World War as the 'national poet of Albania'
and as the 'Albanian Homer,' Fishta was to fall into sudden oblivion
when the communists took power in November 1944. The very mention
of his name became taboo for forty-six years.
Fishta was born on 23 October 1871 in
the Zadrima village of Fishta near Troshan in northern Albania
where he was baptized by the Franciscan missionary and poet,
Leonardo De Martino (1830-1923). He attended Franciscan schools
in Troshan and Shkodra where as a child he was deeply influenced
both by the talented De Martino and by a Bosnian missionary,
pater Lovro Mihacevic, who instilled in the intelligent lad a
love for literature and for his native language. In 1886, when
he was fifteen, Fishta was sent by the Order of the Friars Minor
to Bosnia, as were many young Albanians destined for the priesthood
at the time. It was at Franciscan seminaries and institutions
in Sutjeska, Livno and Kreševo that the young Fishta studied
theology, philosophy and languages, in particular Latin, Italian
and Serbo-Croatian, to prepare himself for his ecclesiastical
and literary career. During his stay in Bosnia he came into contact
with Bosnian writer Grga Martic and the Croatian poet Silvije
Strahimir Kranjcevic (1865-1908) with whom he became friends
and who aroused a literary passion in him. In 1894 Gjergj Fishta
was ordained as a priest and admitted to the Franciscan order.
On his return to Albania in February
of that year, Fishta was given a teaching position at the Franciscan
college in Troshan and subsequently a posting as parish priest
in the village of Gomsiqja. In 1899, he collaborated with Preng
Doçi (1846-1917), the influential abbot of Mirdita, with
prose writer and priest Dom Ndoc Nikaj (1864-1951) and with folklorist
Pashko Bardhi (1870-1948) to found the Bashkimi (Unity)
Literary Society of Shkodra which set out to tackle the thorny
Albanian alphabet question. This society was subsequently instrumental
in the publication of a number of Albanian-language school texts
and of the Bashkimi Albanian-Italian dictionary of 1908, still
the best dictionary of Gheg dialect. By this time, Fishta had
become a leading figure of cultural and public life in northern
Albania, in particular in Shkodra.
In 1902, Gjergj Fishta was appointed
director of Franciscan schools in the district of Shkodra where
he is remembered in particular for having replaced Italian with
Albanian for the first time as the language of instruction there.
This effectively put an end to the Italian cultural domination
of northern Albanian Catholics and gave young Albanians studying
at these schools a sense of national identity. On 14-22 November
1908, he participated in the Congress of Monastir as a representative
of the Bashkimi Literary Society. This congress, attended by
Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim delegates from Albania and abroad,
was held to decide upon a definitive Albanian alphabet, a problem
to which Fishta had given much thought. Indeed, the congress
had elected Gjergj Fishta to preside over a committee of eleven
delegates who were to make the choice.
In October 1913, almost a year after
the declaration of Albanian independence in Vlora, Fishta founded
and began editing the Franciscan monthly periodical Hylli
i Dritës (The Day-Star) which was devoted to literature,
politics, folklore and history. With the exception of the turbulent
years of the First World War and its aftermath, 1915-1920, and
the early years of the dictatorship of Ahmet Zogu, 1925-1929,
this influential journal of high literary standing was published
regularly until July 1944 and became as instrumental for the
development of northern Albanian Gheg culture as Faik bey Konitza's
Brussels journal Albania had been for the Tosk culture
of the south. From December 1916 to 1918, Fishta edited the Shkodra
newspaper Posta e Shqypniës (The Albanian Post),
a political and cultural newspaper which was subsidized by Austria-Hungary
under the auspices of the Kultusprotektorat, despite the
fact that the occupying forces did not entirely trust Fishta
because of his nationalist aspirations. Also in 1916, together
with writers Luigj Gurakuqi (1879-1925), Ndre Mjeda (1866-1937)
and Mati Logoreci (1867-1941), Fishta played a leading role in
the Albanian Literary Commission (Komisija Letrare Shqype)
set up by the Austro-Hungarian authorities on the suggestion
of Consul General August Ritter von Kral (1859-1918) to decide
on questions of orthography for official use and to encourage
the publication of Albanian school texts. After some deliberation,
the Commission decided to use the central dialect of Elbasan
as a neutral compromise for a standard literary language. This
was much against the wishes of Gjergj Fishta who regarded the
Gheg dialect of Shkodra, in view of its strong contribution to
Albanian culture at the time, as best suited. Fishta hoped that
his northern Albanian koine would soon serve as a literary standard
for the whole country, much as Dante's language had served as
a guide for literary Italian. Throughout these years, Fishta
continued teaching and running the Franciscan school in Shkodra,
known from 1921 on as the Collegium Illyricum (Illyrian
College), which had become the leading educational institution
of northern Albania. He was now also an imposing figure of Albanian
literature.
In August 1919, Gjergj Fishta served
as secretary-general of the Albanian delegation attending the
Paris Peace Conference and, in this capacity, was asked by the
president of the delegation, Msgr. Luigj Bumçi (1872-1945),
to take part in a special commission to be sent to the United
States to tend to the interests of the young Albanian state.
There, he visited Boston, New York and Washington. In 1921, Fishta
represented Shkodra in the Albanian parliament and was chosen
in August of that year as vice-president of this assembly. His
talent as an orator served him well in his functions both as
a political figure and as a man of the cloth. In later years,
he attended Balkan conferences in Athens (1930), Sofia (1931)
and Bucharest (1932) before withdrawing from public life to devote
his remaining years to the Franciscan order and to his writing.
From 1935 to 1938, he held the office of provincial of the Albanian
Franciscans. These most fruitful years of his life were now spent
in the quiet seclusion of the Franciscan monastery of Gjuhadoll
in Shkodra with its cloister, church and rose garden where Fishta
would sit in the shade and reflect on his verse.
As the poet laureate of his generation,
Gjergj Fishta was honoured with various diplomas, awards and
distinctions both at home and abroad. He was awarded the Austro-Hungarian
Ritterkreuz in 1911, was decorated by Pope Pius XI with
the Al Merito award in 1925, was given the prestigious
Phoenix medal of the Greek government, was honoured with
the title Lector jubilatus honoris causae by the Franciscan
order, and was made a regular member of the Italian Academy of
Arts and Sciences in 1939. He died in Shkodra on 30 December
1940.
At the outbreak of the Second World
War, Gjergj Fishta was universally recognized as the 'national
poet of Albania.' Austrian scholar Maximilian Lambertz (1882-1963)
described him as "the most ingenious poet Albania has ever
produced," and Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938)
sent him greetings as "the great poet of the glorious people
of Albania." For others, he was the Albanian Homer.
After World War II, Fishta was nonetheless
attacked and denigrated perhaps more than any other prewar writer,
and fell into prompt oblivion. The national poet became an anathema.
The official Tirana 'History of Albanian Literature' of 1983,
which carried the blessing of the Albanian Party of Labour, restricted
its treatment of the country's 'national poet' to an absolute
minimum:
"The main representative of this clergy, Gjergj Fishta
(1871-1940), poet, publicist, teacher and politician, ran the
press of the Franciscan order and directed the cultural and educational
activities of this order for a long time. For him, the interests
of the church and of religion rose above those of the nation
and the people, something he openly declared and defended with
all his demagogy and cynicism, [a principle] upon which he based
his literary work. His main work, the epic poem, The Highland
Lute, while attacking the chauvinism of our northern neighbours,
propagates anti-Slavic feelings and makes the struggle against
the Ottoman occupants secondary. He raised a hymn to patriarchalism
and feudalism, to religious obscurantism and clericalism, and
played with patriotic sentiments wherever it was a question of
highlighting the events and figures of the national history of
our Rilindja period. His other works, such as the satirical poem
'Gomari i Babatasit' (Babatasi's Ass), in which public
schooling and democratic ideas were bitterly attacked, were characteristic
of the savage struggle undertaken by the Catholic Church to maintain
and increase its influence in the intellectual life of the country.
With his art, he endeavoured to pay service to a form close to
folklore. This was often accompanied by prolixity, far-fetched
effects, rhetoric, brutality of expression and style to the point
of vulgarity, false arguments which he intentionally endeavours
to impose, and an exceptionally conservative attitude in the
field of language. Fishta ended his days as a member of the academy
of fascist Italy."
The real reason for Fishta's fall
from grace after the 'liberation' in 1944 is to be sought, however,
not in his alleged pro-Italian or clerical proclivities, but
in the origins of the Albanian Communist Party itself. The ACP,
later to be called the Albanian Party of Labour, had been founded
during the Second World War under the auspices of the Yugoslav
envoys Dušan Mugoša (1914-1973) and Miladin Popovic
(1910-1945). In July 1946, Albania and Yugoslavia signed a Treaty
of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance and a number
of other agreements which gave Yugoslavia effective control over
all Albanian affairs, including the field of culture. Serbo-Croatian
was introduced as a compulsory subject in all Albanian high schools
and, by the spring of 1948, plans were even under way for a merger
of the two countries. It is no doubt the alleged anti-Slavic
sentiments expressed in The Highland Lute which caused the work
and its author to be proscribed by the Yugoslav Communist authorities,
even though Fishta was educated in Bosnia and inspired by Serbian
and Croatian literature. In actual fact, it is as ludicrous to
describe The Highland Lute as being anti-Slavic as it would be
to describe El Cid or the Chanson de Roland as
being anti-Arab. They are all historical epics with national
heroes and foreign foes. In fact, Fishta does not view the Montenegrin
Slavs as eternal enemies; rather he sees the hostilities as being
a result of interference from the Great Powers, in particular
from Russia. It is nonetheless the so-called anti-Slavic element
in Fishta's work which was also stressed in the first postwar
edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia of Moscow. It reads
as follows (March 1950):
"The literary activities of the Catholic priest Gjergj
Fishta reflect the role played by the Catholic clergy in preparing
for Italian aggression against Albania. As a former agent of
Austro-Hungarian imperialism, Fishta, in the early years of his
literary activity, took a position against the Slavic peoples
who opposed the rapacious plans of Austro-Hungarian imperialism
in Albania. In his chauvinistic, anti-Slavic poem The Highland
Lute, this spy extolled the hostility of the Albanians towards
the Slavic peoples, calling for an open fight against the Slavs."
After relations with Yugoslavia were
broken off in 1948, it is quite likely that expressions of anti-Montenegrin
or anti-Serb sentiment would no longer have been considered a
major sin in Party thinking. However, an official position had
been taken with regard to Fishta and, possibly with deference
to the new Slav allies in Moscow, it could not be renounced without
a scandal. Gjergj Fishta, who but a few years earlier had been
lauded as the national poet of Albania, disappeared from the
literary scene, seemingly without a trace. Such was the fear
of him that his home was razed to the ground and, in later years,
his bones were dug up and secretly thrown into the river.
Yet despite four decades of unrelenting
Party harping and propaganda attempting to reduce Fishta to the
rank of a minor 'clerical poet,' the people of northern Albania,
and in particular the inhabitants of his native Shkodra, did
not forget him. After almost half a century of silence, Gjergj
Fishta was commemorated openly on 5 January 1991 in Shkodra.
During this first public recital of Fishta's works in Albania
in forty-five years, the actor at one point hesitated in his
lines, and was immediately and spontaneously assisted by members
of the audience - who still knew many parts of The Highland Lute
by heart.
The Translation
The present book offers the reader
a complete English translation of The Highland Lute. Until now,
no attempt has ever been made to translate any part of this grand,
Albanian epic into English. Indeed, the translation of a work
of such 'epic' proportions presents a daunting challenge, not
only because of its scope and length, but also because of the
poet's strong Gheg dialect, his rich vocabulary, his many archaic
forms of expression and the exotic cultural setting. The heroic
culture of High Albania and of the southern Balkans in general
has its own values and ideals which cannot be easily translated
or transposed into those of the English-speaking world, nor do
they have much in common with the cultures of the well-known
European epics of centuries past. Finding an adequate language
and style for the translation has not been an easy task. The
Highland Lute has been translated and published in German and
in Italian. The German translation by Maximilian Lambertz, made
in the late 1930s with the backing of King Zog, conveys much
of the flavour of German epic verse. It is inspiring but not
interlinear. Indeed, Lambertz on occasion used up to seven lines
of German to translate and make clear one line of Albanian. The
Italian translation, published by Ignazio Parrino, on the other
hand, is interlinear, but lacks imposing epic flavour. It offers
little more than a prose rendition of the narrative. The present
translation, made over a three-year period from 2001-2004, now
attempts the impossible. It endeavours to provide an English-language
version which is basically interlinear, faithful as far as possible
to the original, and yet one which strives to mirror both the
exalted, majestic, epic style of the original and the traditional
culture of the 'wild' northern Albanians, the last surviving
heroic culture in Europe.
In conclusion, I would like to thank
Janice Mathie-Heck of Calgary, Canada, for her assiduous collaboration
and assistance with the translation. It is to be hoped with this
edition that The Highland Lute of Gjergj Fishta will now finally
take its richly deserved place among the national epics of Europe.
Robert Elsie
Eifel Mountains, Germany
October 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Map
The Highland Lute
Canto 1 The
Bandits
Canto 2 Oso
Kuka
Canto 3 The
Booty
Canto 4 Vranina
Canto 5 Death
Canto 6 Dervish
Pasha
Canto 7 The
Congress of Berlin
Canto 8 Ali
Pasha of Gucia
Canto 9 The
League of Prizren
Canto 10 Mehmet
Ali Pasha
Canto 11 The
Vampire
Canto 12 Marash
Uci
Canto 13 At
the Church of St. John's
Canto 14 At
the Bridge of Rrzhanica
Canto 15 The
Herald
Canto 16 The
Kulshedra
Canto 17 At
the Grapevine Pass
Canto 18 At
Sutjeska Bridge
Canto 19 Father
Gjon
Canto 20 The
Sons of Lekë Dukagjini
Canto 21 Mediation
Canto 22 Tringa
Canto 23 At
the Farmhouse of Curr Ula
Canto 24 The
Zana of Mount Visitor
Canto 25 Blood
Vengeance Exacted
Canto 26 The
New Age
Canto 27 The
Committee
Canto 28 Dedë
Gjo' Luli
Canto 29 The
Balkan War
Canto 30 The
Conference of London
Glossary
Bibliography
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