The Traitor's Niche

Langue : English

ISBN :
978-1-84655-845-0
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5 étoiles (1 critique)

The Traitor's Niche (Albanian: Kamarja e turpit) is a historical novel by the Albanian author Ismail Kadare. It was first published in Tirana, Albania in 1978. The English translation by John Hodgson was published in 2017. It is part of a loose trilogy that includes The Three-Arched Bridge and The Palace of Dreams.

2 éditions

Brilliant historical fiction

5 étoiles

Apparently banned in Albania shortly after its original publication because Enver Hoxha, the country's ruler at that time, didn't approve of Ismail Kadare's depiction of Ottoman authoritarianism - Hoxha himself, of course, led a similarly strict regime - The Traitor's Niche is set some 150 years previously in 1822, during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Albania, and recounts the quashing of an attempted Albanian rebellion.

Kadare tells most of his story from inside the minds of a series of men involved in various ways in maintaining the Empire's power. It's an inspired device which allowed me to understand not only what the Empire wanted to achieve, but also the effects of its callous, arbitrary violence on its citizens. From Abdulla, the lowly guard who stands watch over each decapitated head as they are displayed in the Niche, to Tundj Hata, a courier charged with the decapitations themselves and racing those …