{"product_id":"essays-on-world-literature-9781632061744","title":"Essays on World Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Man Booker International–winning author of \u003ci\u003eBroken April\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Siege\u003c\/i\u003e, Albania’s most renowned novelist, and perennial Nobel Prize contender Ismail Kadare explores three giants of world literature—Aeschylus, Dante, and Shakespeare—through the lens of resisting totalitarianism. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn isolationist Albania, which suffered under a Communist dictatorship for nearly half a century, classic global literature reached Ismail Kadare across centuries and borders—and set him free. The struggles of Hamlet, Dante, and Aeschylus’s tragic figures gave him an understanding of totalitarianism that shaped his novels. In these incisive critical essays informed by personal experience, Kadare provides powerful evidence that great literature is the enemy of dictatorship and imbues these timeless stories with powerful new meaning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e With eloquent prose and the narrative drive of a great mystery novel, Kadare renews our readings of the classics and lends them a distinctly Albanian tint. Like Mark Twain’s Mississippi River, Márquez’s Macondo, and Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, Kadare’s Albania emerges as a microcosm of civilization; here, blood vengeance in mountain communities reaches the dramatic heights of Hamlet’s dilemma, funereal rites take on the air of Greek tragedy, and political repression gives life the feel of Dante’s nine circles of Hell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Like Azar Nafisi’s \u003ci\u003eReading Lolita in Tehran\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEssays on World Literature\u003c\/i\u003e casts reading itself as a daring act of resistance to artistic suppression. Kadare’s insights into the Western canon secure his own place within it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ismail Kadare","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48541409411323,"sku":"9781632061744","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/CoreSourceHub_1b8b9888-bf72-415c-a143-19dfc594480f.jpg?v=1777731136","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/essays-on-world-literature-9781632061744","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}