Poetry
Bulëzat
Not translated into English
Azem Shkreli · 1960
Synopsis
The first collection of a twenty-two-year-old poet, who had come up to Pristina from the heights of Rugova. His first books portray the mountain people of Rugova, their customs, their wisdom and their way of life, seen through an already urban eye; the landscape keeps something idyllic about it without making one forget moral questions. The verse is expressive without being talkative.
Context
The collection appeared in 1960; seven others followed, up to the last, published in the year of his death. Shkreli's emergence at the head of his generation is regarded as the first turning point of post-war Albanian poetry towards openness. Kosovafilm, founded in 1969, produced its best films under his direction. His poetic work then broadened to take in morality and solidarity with oppressed peoples.
Who it is for
Poems in Albanian, no French translation; to be read with the context of the Rugova mountain.
Prizes and reception
Robert Elsie described him as a poet of profound ideas; his poems have been translated into many languages.