League of Writers and Artists of Albania

The League of Writers and Artists of Albania (Albanian: Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve dhe Artistëve të Shqipërisë – LSHASH) is a non-profit organization founded with the goal of promoting and advancing the literary and artistic creativity of Albanian writers and artists, as well as to assess and reassess the finest works of art in the following disciplines: music, painting, sculpture and literature. The organization actively promotes the originality and inventiveness of emerging young talents, while preserving Albanian traditional and modern values, in line with the best examples of literary and artistic values throughout the world.[1]

Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve dhe Artistëve të Shqipërisë
League of Writers and Artists of Albania
AbbreviationLSHASH
Merged into
  • League of Writers (1945)
  • League of Artists (1949)
Formation1957
FounderSejfulla Malëshova
Location
Fieldsmusic, painting, sculpture, literature
Membership
~1,300
Secretary General
Albi Lushi
Main organ
  • Literatura jonë (1945)
  • Letërsia jonë (1947)
  • Nëntori (1954)
  • Drita (1961)
  • Les lettres Albanaises (1978)
  • Bota Letrare
  • Revista letrare

Overview

The League of Writers and Artists of Albania is an organization of creators, based in Tirana, that gathers writers, composers, artists, creators of visual arts and critics alike. The association is a merger of two organizations, the League of Writers established on 7 October 1945 and the League of Artists, established in 1949. The First Congress held in 1957, unified these two organizations into a single institution that came to be known as the "League of Writers and Artists of Albania".

This voluntary association initially consisted of 74 members. Some of the most prominent intellectuals that participated in the early formation of the institution included Sejfulla Malëshova – its first chairman, Fan Noli – honorary president, Lasgush Poradeci, Nonda Bulka, Skënder Luarasi, Dhimitër Shuteriqi, Ali Asllani, Mitrush Kuteli, Vinçenc Prennushi, Sterjo Spasse, Et'hem Haxhiademi and others.[2]

Activities

Communist period

The Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary of 1985 describes the functions of the league as follows:[3]

A social organization that unites creators from various disciplines: writers, visual artists, composers, singers, directors and actors. In its activity, the League is guided by the Marxist-Leninist ideology and aesthetics, by the principles of the Labour Party and the lessons of comrade Enver Hoxha. Its purpose is the unification of all creative forces, grounded on the method of socialist realism, to serve the cause of the people and the revolution, to foster inspiration and ideological education among the creators, to become acquainted in the life of the working masses and for creative works. The above mentioned as well as the duties and rights of its members are defined in the statute of LShASh.

Dritëro Agolli served as the longest tenured league president from 1973 to 1992

The highest structure of the league was the congress, which determined the direction of the literary-artistic creativity. The activity of the congress was guided by the Steering Committee, which in its meetings (plenums) dealt with issues of literary and artistic development. The working management was handled by the leadership of the committee. The league as a whole consisted of members and candidate members.

Several operating commissions were set up which covered: poetry, prose, dramaturgy, children's literature, literary criticism, music and visual arts. Local branches were established in all districts of the country, which aimed to unite creators from different fields.

The League had its own literary publications: Drita, Nëntori and a French-language magazine titled "Lettres albanaises".

Legacy

During the 1960s, the league accused writers it deemed guilty of neglecting their responsibility as communists to reflect socialist realism in their writings and thereby advance the goals of the Labour Party. Some were arrested and were either imprisoned or executed and others were hounded by the state secret police and suffered attacks.[4][5]

Among the notable dissident authors were Kasëm Trebeshina (imprisoned), Pjetër Arbnori (convicted for his literary anti-communist work and imprisoned for 28 years), Bilal Xhaferri (expelled, exiled in communist gulags, and forced to flee to the United States) and Vilson Blloshmi (executed). Others survived, such as the poet Xhevahir Spahiu and the writer Ismail Kadare (who ultimately defected to France to escape the regime).[6]

Bibliography
  • Academy of Sciences of Albania, Encyclopedic Dictionary, 2nd Edition, (2008), Tirana, ISBN 978-99956-10-28-9
  • Robert Elsie, Albanian literature: a short history, I.B.Tauris, (2005), ISBN 978-1845110314.

See also

References
  1. Robert Elsie (2005). Albanian literature: a short history. I.B.Tauris. p. 164. ISBN 978-1845110314.
  2. Shuteriqi, Mynever. "Kur krijohej Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve". Top Channel. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  3. Buda, Aleks (1985). Fjalori Enciklopedik Shqiptar. Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë. p. 1245.
  4. Morgan, Peter (5 July 2017). Ismail Kadare: The Writer and the Dictatorship 1957-1990. Routledge. ISBN 9781351562003 – via Google Books.
  5. Önder, Çak?rta? (20 March 2017). Ideological Messaging and the Role of Political Literature. IGI Global. ISBN 9781522523925 – via Google Books.
  6. Liukkonen, Petri. "Ismail Kadare". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.