Short stories
Shëtitje nëpër mjegull
Not translated into English
Eqrem Basha · 1971
Synopsis
Eqrem Basha's first book, a story collection published by Rilindja in Pristina in 1971, the year he completed his literature studies. The stories are not detailed; critics describe in the author an urban outlook, a taste for everyday absurdity and a cold logic that suddenly tips into a surreal world, far from the folklore of the mountains and the committed literature of his elders.
Context
Basha published this story collection and a first poetry collection in the same year, 1971. He then produced eight verse collections up to 1995, and other prose books. In French, one can read his stories of Kosovo from Fayard (1999), a collection of selected poems in 2017 and a narrative in 2018; this first book has not been translated. During his studies, he also wrote about cinema and television, before making a career in them.
Who it is for
Short stories in Albanian, with no French translation; his stories translated by Fayard give an idea of his prose.
Prizes and reception
Robert Elsie counts its author among the most respected writers of contemporary Kosovo.