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A review by veessa
Ura me tri harqe by Ismail Kadare
4.0
Nothing beats historical fiction as a genre, and no one beats Ismail Kadare in writing Albanian historical fiction. At the core of this novel is, yet again, a legend which is altered to fit the interests of people. The narrator is, of course, a literate, well-respected monk, who happens to be based on a real person, Gjon Buzuku.
In 1555 Buzuku wrote the first documented book in Albanian (not the first document); in Kadare’s novel, however, he is writing the chronicle of the three-arched bridge, so that the readers get an accurate account of how it was built. Written between 1976 and 1978, this account that our narrator was writing on paper, because the story would be in danger if it weren’t written down, mirrors the unpleasant years for writers and journalists in Albania during the communist regime. Accepting the fact that he might become a sacrifice for the chronicle’s survival, Gjon writes and shares the bitter story of the three-arched bridge. And I loved every bit of it.
In 1555 Buzuku wrote the first documented book in Albanian (not the first document); in Kadare’s novel, however, he is writing the chronicle of the three-arched bridge, so that the readers get an accurate account of how it was built. Written between 1976 and 1978, this account that our narrator was writing on paper, because the story would be in danger if it weren’t written down, mirrors the unpleasant years for writers and journalists in Albania during the communist regime. Accepting the fact that he might become a sacrifice for the chronicle’s survival, Gjon writes and shares the bitter story of the three-arched bridge. And I loved every bit of it.