Lightning from the depths : an anthology of Albanian poetry / edited and translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Elsie, Robert, 1950-2017.

Mathie-Heck, Janice, 1950-

Series:

Writings from an unbound Europe

Language:

Albanian

English

Subjects (All):

Albanian poetry--Translations into English.

Albanian poetry.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 293 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 2008.

Summary:

If a people -- Have no poets -- And no poetry of their own -- For a National Anthology -- Then treachery and barking -- Will do the trick -- With these words, a challenge is laid down in this new volume of Albanian poetry. Albania, however, has a dynamic tradition of literature. Lightning from the Depths is the first English collection to present the full range of Albanian verse. Albanian literature has had many lives. The early Christian traditions disappeared as Islam and the Ottoman Empire took over. Muslim literature, too, withered when the nation strove to become an independent European country. The beginnings of a modern tradition were quashed by the Stalinists. All along this rocky path, poets have turned the political strife, poverty, and isolation their nation has often experienced into culture, both celebrating and questioning the society in which they live. Lightning from the Depths opens readers' eyes to a new political and cultural world populated artists who can spin despair into poetry.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-293).

ISBN:

9780810124622

0810124629

9780810124639

0810124637

OCLC:

154690239

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description