Ismail Kadare will no longer live in Paris. The famous writer has decided to leave Paris, where he has lived and worked for decades, to settle in Albania, reports A2 CNN.
"It was not an immediate choice. It has been a slow, indistinguishable choice. That's how he shot. It seemed to me that here I would say better what I could say about any occasion, about happy or desperate occasions of life. In all cases, it seemed to me that I would be suitable in this form that I am ", was his comment for the journalist Luela Myftari.
Asked if he sees the best Albanians today, the writer answers: “Sometimes I believe we are, sometimes not. "But time will tell."
Kadare left Albania in October 1990, months after the embassies opened, an act he used as a blow to the communist system. The writer settled in France and since then stationed his life in Paris, but not severing his physical relationship with Albania.
Ismail Kadare also praised Arshi Pipë's contribution to the recognition of his work in the world. Kadare and Pipa have had their disagreements in the past, but that now seem to have been overcome by the great writer.
"It is usually said of the translator that in a way he betrays the work. We writers sometimes like it, sometimes we don’t like it. But we are not right… Arshi Pipa has translated "Chronicle in stone" in English. We have had our usual relationships, between writers. I have a good opinion of Arshi Pipë, although this may sound a little surprising, because we, in the literary press, have had irritations between us. But this is common, there is nothing surprising. Usually people expect that "a quarrel breaks out between the writers and we follow how interesting it is". Arshi Pipa has made a translation that has been distributed all over the world. "Thanks to this translation, but also to other translations, my work has been recognized in many countries, in all countries of the world", says Kadare.
"I have not had conflicts with my translators. I was pleased that even a translator like Arshi Pipa, with whom we have had controversy several times in the literary world, not strongly agreeing with each other on some things, I have no dissatisfaction that he has dealt with my work, much less hatred. On the contrary, I was thankful that this prominent man of Albanian culture has devoted a serious part of his life to the translation of these works. You will expect me to make some remarks about him, I tell you honestly, I do not have it out of courtesy… On the contrary, I am grateful that this gentleman has been dealing all these years with one of my novels. And he succeeded. I do not know what to say about the remarks made to him, for them everyone can give his opinion ".