Albania
226
Lamaj, Ferit
Mikrofabula (Microfables)
Tiranë : Uegen, 2003. – 163 p.
ISBN 99927-54-23-0
Fable
Ferit Lamaj is probably one of the most prolific contemporary writers of
fables world-wide. He has won various international awards and published more
than 2,000 fables in 50 books. Some of his works have also been translated
into English, French, Italian, Romanian, and Greek. At first sight, the author
seems to resort to merely describing everyday events from life in Albania. His
main concern, however – just like that of his great predecessors such as
Aesop, Lafontaine, Krylov, and others – is to uncover human weaknesses and
criticise them with a lot of humour and irony. (8+)
227
Tukaj, Mustafa (text)
Ayers, Joanne M. (ed./transl.)
Faith and fairies : tales based on Albanian legends and ballads (English orig. edition)
Shkodër : Skodrinon, 2002. – 56 p.
ISBN 99927-848-0-6
Epic poetry
With the exception of a few early literary works, written literature in
Albania only began to develop towards the end of the 19th
century. Before that time, Albanians mainly had rich folk epics with motifs
from the Balkans. Usually, these epic poems were recited by blind bards who
played the one-string Lahuta, a kind of knee-violin, to accompany their
recitative. Mustafa Tukaj has now gathered a selection of these epics about
topics such as »besa« (word of honour; faith), sacrifice, fight, or
metamorphosis, and retold them in a convincing prose form, which still enables
readers to feel the style of the original texts. (12+)