Vetetime nga Thellesite: Nje Koleksion i Poezise Shqiptare

Northwestern University Press,  Evanston,  Illinois 2008

www.amazon.com   ose 1-800-621-2736 ; www.nupress.northwestern.edu

Permbledhja nga A.E.Liolin

Botuesi e ka per detyre te vendosi se cfare te perfshije ne nje koleksion poetik. Koleksioni duhet qe te permbledhe veprat me te mira te perfaqesuesit.

Dikush mund te mendoje se shqiptaret e pagdhendur nuk mumd te ofrojne shume ne kete drejtim. Nje popull qe gjysme shekulli me pare nuk kishte as arkive shteterore dhe as universitet, konsiderohet si i pashkolluar me qe ka qene i pushtuar, i varfer, i izoluar dhe i shtypur. Po mendohuni prape dhe mendohuni mire.

Elsie dhe Mathie-Heck kane botuar nje koleksion poetik te pesedhjete poeteve Shqiptare qe i perkasin gjashte shekujve te ndryshem, me stile aq te paparashikuara, por dhe aq kuptimplote sa edhe imazhi i drites-vetetime qe kane zgjedhur si titull per librin.

Lexuesi do te gjeje delikatese, sofistikim, dhe force ne faqet e librit, me nje poezi qe te ben per vete me gjerat famijare dhe ato jo aq familjare.

 Pas nje hyrje koncize dhe intelektuale, perkthyesi dhe botuesi kane botuar nje koleksion poemash origjinale te krishtere dhe myslimane, te pasuruara me iluzione klasike, motive bizantike dhe tema patriotike.

Ky koleksion perfshin poema nga prifterinj mesjetare dhe heronj epike, poema qe i jane lene trashegim brezave te rinj nga me te moshuarit. Tradita qe jane mbajtur te gjalla gjate nje sundimi te gjate Otoman, flasin per virtytet misterioze te kafese, por me shume per nje dashuri patriotike qe nuk vdes kurre.

Nga ana tjeter a Adriatikut dhe nga nje tradite kulturore e larget vijne kenget e poeteve Italo-Shqiptare qe vajtojne per vendlindjen, dhe qe tregojne per lidhjet e forta te nje populli qe ruan nje dialekt i cili eshte me i vjeter se forma origjinale qe flitet sot ne Shqiperi.

 Kuptohet qe Romanticizmi i viteve te para te shekullit te XIX-te dhe Nacionalizmi i viteve te para te shekullit te XX-te, i frymezuan poetet qe jetonin ne hekura, ndersa adhuronin bukurine natyrore te vendit te tyre me zjarrin e nje dashurie te pare dhe sensuale. 

Mamaja e viktimizuar, i dashuri ose e dashura qe vajton, bashkeshorti besnik jane disa nga temat tipike te atyre koheve. Megjithate eshte madheshtore te veresh se si idealizmi i tyre eshte transfiguruar nga pasione te flakta qe unifikojne lirine, kanunet, luftrat e brendshme dhe profecite e te kaluares.

Kapitulli i poezive bahkekohore eshte me i gjate, gje qe perputhet me ngritjen e nivelit letrar, dhe pasqyron problemet e veshtira te kohes, te nje shoqerie qe e zhveshi dhe e zbuloi shpirtin e njeriut para vuajtjeve qe shume nga ne preferojme te mos i konfrontojme nga e keqja. Ne keto poezi i kendohet sakrifices, tradhetise dhe brutalitetit, por gjithashtu edhe humorit, dhe nderit, mbijeteses dhe shpresave delikate te fshehura. Nje bibliografi e gjate e ben edhe me terheqes fundin e librit.

Sic ndodhe shpesh me koleksionet poetike te nje kombi, aty perfshihen tradita qe mund te lidhen edhe me kombe te tjere, por edhe tradita qe i perkasin vetem atij kombi.

Elsie dhe Mathie-Heck kane paraqitur nje tablo te pasur te nje kombi te tille.

Sic shkruan Geteja: "ai qe deshiron te kuptoje nje poet, duhet te shkoje ne vendin e atij poeti."

 "Drite nga Thellesite" na transporton ne nje vend te panjohur qe pret syrin, veshin, dhe zemren e lexuesit ta kuptoje. "Ata duan qe njerezit t'i kuptojne", shkruan poeti kosovar Eqrem Basha. "Ata nuk insistojne qe njerezit t'i duan".

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Lightning from the Depths: An Anthology of Albanian Poetry

translated and edited by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck

Northwestern University Press,  Evanston, Illinois 2008

Book Review by A.E.Liolin

An anthology purports to make selective decisions on what to include. It presupposes a grand tradition of the medium.  One would think then, that the hard-scrabble Albanians would present a meagre offering for such a task. A people who until only a half-century ago had neither a national archive nor a university, they were deemed largely illiterate due to invasion, poverty, isolation and marginalization.  Think again and otherwise.

Elsie and Mathie-Heck provide a compendium of fifty poets spanning six centuries, with an unexpected range of styles that is as startling as the image of lightning chosen for the title of their book. The reader will find subtlety, sophistication and strength in its pages, and as with all poetry the seduction of the strange and the familiar.

Following a concise and erudite introduction, the translator and editor include descriptive selections of indigenous Christian and Muslim verse, laced with classical allusions, byzantine motifs and patriotic longings. We hear from medieval monks and from heroic epics,transmitted by elder bards who chanted refrains to beguiled youngsters. Traditions made vivid through staid and stagnant centuries of Ottoman suzerainty speak of coffee's arcane virtues but more of undying and pantheistic love.

Across narrow Adriatic straits and distant cultural experiences,  come the songs of Italo-Albanian poets, of longings for a homeland and of the bond of folks who retain a dialect arguably older than the original form spoken in Albania today. 

Understandably, 19th-century Romanticism and early 20th-century nationalism inspire poets who grieve in bondage, while adoring their country's topography as if it were a first and only carnal love. Victimized mother, suffering lover and loyal spouse are themes common for those times. Yet how indeed their idealizations are transfigured by gripping passions that conflate freedom, governance, internecine war and oracles of days gone by, ever rising to haunt and to frighten, if not to inspire.       

The chapter of contemporary verse is the longest, owing to the increase of literacy, just as it reflects the tribulations of the time's harsh environment; of a societal order that stripped the soul down to a bruised core most of us would rather not confront. One finds there themes of sacrifice, duplicity and brutality, but also of humor and of honor, of survival's nuances and of delicate hidden hopes. An ample bibliography further entices at the end of the book.

As with a people's collective poetry,there are ties that relate to others as well as only to itself. Elsie and Mathie-Heck have provided a rich tableau of one such people. As Goethe wrote: "he who wishes to understand the poet, must go to the poet's land."  Lightning from the Depths transports us to an unknown place awaiting the eye, ear and heart of the reader to fathom. "They want to be understood," writes Kosovar poet Eqrem Basha. "They do not insist on love."

available through www.amazon.com  or 1-800-621-2736 or www.nupress.northwestern.edu