Other works of that period were The general of the dead army (1963), and The Monster (first published 1965, in the pe-riodical Nëntori – September). A voluminous work is The win-ter of the great solitude, in its second version named The great winter. This book, too, deals with the break-up between Albania and the Soviet Union, and it portrays the Great Leader. In 1985, Enver Hoxha died. Like Kadare, he was born in Gjirokastër, in 1908. Kadare and Hoxha met only once, in 1971. Under Hoxha’s successor Ramiz Alia, repression tended to increase again, and in 1990 Kadare and his family moved to Paris. He now lives in both Tirana and Paris.

During Hoxha’s regime, Kadare published a large number of other works, making use of historical themes and old stories and traditions, in order to comment on the situation in his own country. This indirect approach was often viewed as an attempt not to take parts in political matters. Kadare however, had no intention to act as a hero too ostensibly: many critics of the regime ended up before the firing squad. From the early nineties on, Kadare’s work addressed the situation in Communist Albania more directly.

Kadare received many prizes, like the 2005 Man Booker Prize. During the last two decades, he had frequently been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. Most works by Kadare were published by Arthème Fayard in Paris, in both Albanian and translated into French. Kadare’s first translator was his compatriot Jusuf Vrioni; after his death, the translations were done by Tedi Papavrami. The English versions, made by David Bellos, are all based on the French texts. According to Kadare, this does, in fact, not matter, as the content of his texts should be capable of being rendered in any language. His original Albanian text are sometimes marked as ‘text for translators’.
Kadare’s style of writing is, in fact, modest and plain. This by no means implies that his syntax is always simple. He is ale to gather an enormous amount of information into long, complicated sentences. In Kadare’s works, we find some constantly recurring elements, which are all connected with his desire to comment on things that lie beyond his texts proper:

Historical motives are sometimes mixed with anachronisms, and a number of stories are situated in several historical periods simultaneously. A short story that demonstrates Kadare’s play with space and time, is Deceitful dreams, where the balance of power in the Greek pantheon seems to be inspired by the Party hierarchy in his country. Zeus is named ‘Shefi’ – the Boss; lights are burning throughout the night on Mount Olympus, and horse-carts are waiting for the Gods in much the same way as the black limousines are standing in front of the Party building, waiting for the high-ranked officials and functionaries.

Towns and villages are often named N., and personal names are frequently reduced to their initials. Istanbul and Tirana can be referred to as kryeqyteti – the Capital. The name of the Great Leader is rarely mentioned. Nonetheless, Kadare’s message is always crystal clear. His historical land- and cityscapes are often very a-typical of Albania. Weather conditions often are often dull or cold, and we often find combinations like një ditë funddhjetori – a day in December. If needed, however, he can change to a detailed de-scription of sunny weather, and of the most colourful sceneries.
A very prominent thematic element in Kadare’s works is that of ambition, fear, paranoia, zealousness en jealousness, frustration, grudge and the desire for revenge – in all possible combinations and in all conceivable periods of history.

All these characteristics serve Kadare’s ultimate goal: to comment directly or indirectly on situations and events, and to give his comments a universal value that is independent of time and place. In the course of my lecture, the presence of the abovementioned features in a number of Kadare’s works will be examined, and some text fragments will be read.