The Great Winter
The Great Winter (Albanian: Dimri i Madh) is a novel by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. It was first published in 1977.[1]
Plot
The action of the novel takes place during 1960/1961, when a crisis occurred in Albanian-Soviet relations. The protagonist of the novel is journalist Besnik Struga, who travels to Moscow as a translator for the Albanian delegation. In the capital of the USSR, he becomes a witness to the negotiations and intrigues that take place during an exceptionally harsh winter. The negotiations taking place in Moscow were largely reconstructed by Kadare based on authentic meeting protocols and witness accounts. The severance of Albanian-Soviet relations in November 1961, a consequence of the "Great Winter," becomes a surprising fact for several characters that Kadare has placed in his novel.[2][3]
The first version of the novel, published in 1973, was titled "The Winter of Great Solitude" (Albanian: "Dimri i Vetmisë së Madhe"). Based on the motifs of the novel, a film titled "Face to Face" (Ballë për ballë), directed by Kujtim Çashku and Piro Milkani, was made in 1979.
Translations
- 1980: Den hårda vintern ((in Swedish) trans. Marianne Eyre), Stockholm
- 1988: Le Grand hiver ((in French) trans. Jusuf Vrioni), Paris
- 1989: Der große Winter ((in German)), Munich
- 1990: Uzun kış ((in Turkish) trans. Hüseyin Kahverengi), Istanbul
- 1991: El gran invierno ((in Spanish) trans. Jesús Hernández), Madrid
- 1992: Surowaja zima ((in Russian) trans. M. Modestow, I. Woronina), Moscow
- 1995: زمستان سخت ((in Persian) trans. Mahastī Baḥraynī), Teheran
See also
- Ismail Kadare bibliography
References
- ^ "Kadare: The Great Winter". The Modern Novel. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
- ^ Dibra, Vjollca (2019). "Absurdity in the Novel "The Great Winter" by Ismail Kadare". Балканистичен Форум (2): 244–252. ISSN 1310-3970.
- ^ "Ismail Kadare: A bright light in Albania's darkest days". France 24. 2024-07-01. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
- v
- t
- e
- The General of the Dead Army (1963)
- The Siege (1970)
- Chronicle in Stone (1971)
- The Great Winter (1977)
- Twilight of the Eastern Gods (1978)
- The Traitor's Niche (1978)
- The Three-Arched Bridge (1978)
- Broken April (1980)
- The Ghost Rider (1980)
- The File on H. (1981)
- The Palace of Dreams (1981)
- The Concert (1988)
- The Blinding Order (1991)
- The Pyramid (1992)
- Spiritus (1996)
- Elegy for Kosovo (1998)
- Spring Flowers, Spring Frost (2000)
- Agamemnon's Daughter (2003)
- The Successor (2003)
- The Fall of the Stone City (2008)
- A Girl in Exile (2009)
- The Doll (2015)