Mitrush Kuteli
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2011) |
Dhimitër Pasko | |
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Dhimitër Pasko during imprisonment | |
Born | Pogradec, Albania | 13 September 1907
Died | 4 May 1967 Tirana, Albania | (aged 59)
Pen name | Mitrush Kuteli |
Occupation | writer |
Period | 1933-1967 |
Genre | Novels, Translations |
Notable works | Netë shqiptare (Albanian Nights), Ago Jakupi, Kapllan Aga of Shaban Shpata (Kapllan Aga i Shaban Shpatës), The Love of Artan the Barbarian (Dashuria e Barbarit Artan), Old Albanian Tales (Tregime të Moçme Shqiptare), Attack and Tears (Sulm e Lotë), and Songs and Cries from the Burned City (Këngë e Britma nga Qyteti i Djegur), |
Spouse | Efterpi Pasko née Skendo [1] |
Dhimitër Pasko , (b. 13 September 1907, Pogradec, Albania – d. 4 May 1967 Tirana, Albania), alias Mitrush Kuteli (or Janus), was an Albanian writer and translator from Dukat.
Family
Dhimiter was the son of Pandi Pasko.Their family was from Dukat. After leaving Dukat they settled in Romania and then in Pogradeci.[2]
Career
Dhimitër Pasko studied at a foreign language school in Greece, later moving to Bucharest where, in 1934, he graduated with a doctorate in economics.
While in Bucharest he became a journalist with the Albanian weekly newspaper Shqipëri' e re (New Albania), using the pseudonym Janus. In 1937 he published Lasgush Poradeci's collection of verse, Ylli i zemrës (The Star of the heart), and the following year, the first edition of his first authored book, Nete shqipëtare (Albanian nights), a compilation of eight tales of village life from his native Pogradec. This edition was largely destroyed by a fire, and only became widely read through a second edition published in 1944.
He returned to Albania in 1942, and during World War II wrote and self-published most of his major works. At the end of the war he founded the short-lived literary periodical, Revista letrare (Literary Review), with Nexhat Hakiu, Vedat Kokona and Sterjo Spasse, joined the editorial board of Bota e re (New World), the first Albanian post-war literary journal, and became a founding member of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists.
Dhimitër Pasko died of a heart attack in 1967, leaving a novel on an Illyrian theme unfinished.[3]
Imprisonment and release
The Albanian Communist Party took power after World War II, but by 1947 was in the control of Yugoslavia. Pasko, an official Albanian delegate to Yugoslavia, disapproved of a proposed currency and customs union agreed between the two countries, and of a Serbian re-occupation of Kosovo; an earlier 1944 Pasko poem, "Poem kosovar" (Kosovar poem), asserted his criticism of Serbian actions. Upon the Albanian delegation's return from Yugoslavia, Pasko was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his criticism, during which he attempted suicide. Following the freeing of Yugoslavia's hold over Albanian party politics, Pasko was released and worked as a translator for Naim Frashëri Publishing House, the state-owned Tirana publishing company.
Pasko, as with other Albanian writers of the time, accommodated the imposed cultural doctrine of Zhdanovism by translating Soviet-approved Russian authors, although he found himself able to translate his favorite Russian, Romanian, and Spanish writers, publish tales and verse for children, and adapt Albanian oral verse to prose.[3]
Works
- Lasgush Poradeci - 1937
- Net shqiptare (Albanian nights) - 1938
- Pylli i gështenjave (The Chestnut forest) - 1958
- Ago Jakupi e të tjera rrëfime (Ago Jakupi and other stories) - 1943
- Sulm e lotë (Attack and tears) - 1943
- Shënime letrare (Literary Notes) - 1944
- Havadan më havadan (From peak to peak) - 1944
- Kapllan aga i Shaban Shpatës (Kapllan agha of Shaban Shpata) - 1944
- Dashuria e barbarit Artan (The love of Artan the Barbarian) - 1946
- Xinxifilua (Gingerman) - 1962
- Tregime të moçme shqiptare (Old Albanian tales) - 1965
- Tregime të zgjedhura (Selected stories) - 1972
- Baltë nga kjo tokë (Mud from this land) - 1973
- Në një cep të Ilirisë së poshtme (In a corner of southern Illyria) - 1983
- Këngë e britma nga qyteti i djegur (Songs and cries from the burnt city)
- E madhe është gjëma e mëkatit (Great is the lament of sin) - 1993
Translations
- A Sportsman's Sketches from Turgeniev
- St Petersburg tales and Dead Souls (Dead Souls) from Gogol
- The Golovlyov Family from Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
References
- ^ http://www.panorama.com.al/gruaja-e-shkrimtarit-brengat-qe-mori-me-vete-mitrush-kuteli/
- ^ Nazarko,M.The last war."Mitrush Kuteli rrjedh nga fisi shqiptar Kuteli, me origjine nga Arta e Çamёrisё. I ati Pandi, i biri Pasko Kutelit, u shpёrngul nё fillim tё shek 19 pёr nё Rumani, mё vonё erdhi nё Shqipёri, nё Pogradec. Kёtu lindi Mitrushi, mё 13 shtator 1907 – 4 maj dhe vdiq më 1967..."
- ^ a b Dhimitër Pasko biography, Robert Elsie; retrieved 29 March 2011
Further reading
- Dhimitër Pasko biography; Robert Elsie
- "The Fall of Xheladin Bey": Dhimitër Pasko (Mitrush Kuteli); translation in English by Robert Elsie
- Dhimitër Pasko (Mitrush Kuteli) poetry; translation in English by Robert Elsie
- "Translators to Albanian: Dhimitër Pasko, Fan S. Noli, Lasgush Poradeci, Vedat Kokona, Gjergj Fishta, Gjekë Marinaj, Kostandin Kristoforidhi". ISBN 1-156-20086-5. Retrieved 29 March 2011
- Images of Dhimitër Pasko (Mitrush Kuteli). Retrieved 29 March 2011
- Use dmy dates from March 2011
- 1907 births
- 1967 deaths
- Albanian short story writers
- Albanian translators
- Translators from Russian
- Translators to Albanian
- Albanian expatriates in Romania
- People from Pogradec
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from Albania
- 20th-century translators
- Male journalists
- Albanian journalists
- Translators from Romanian
- Translators from Spanish
- Male short story writers
- 20th-century Albanian poets
- Albanian male poets
- Albanian diplomats
- 20th-century Albanian politicians
- Albanian economists
- Albanian nationalists
- 20th-century short story writers