In an interview which I did more than 10 years ago, the person that I had in front of me, was faced with unimaginable things. Writer Ylljet Aliçka answered to 50 questions that I had asked him as part of the weekly section that I had as editor in chief of “Tirana Observer” newspaper and this was very uncommon. The big headline “Aliçka: I was threatened about the novel ‘A tale of foreigners’” was what the writer had said during the interview. I had not added or exaggerated anything to for the sake of selling more copies of the newspaper. Mot-a-mot, he had said that he had received threats about the novel and this was it. Being a journalist, this news was like a feast for me, given that “the bad news is good news”. But more than this was Aliçka’s courage on speaking out about the dirty things that foreigners in Tirana had done up until that moment and for which, nobody had dared to speak out.
But this was not the point. The writer, who up until then worked for international institutions in Tirana, had been threatened and the fact that now that he had admitted this publicly, was a much bigger scandal. This matter culminated with a decision more absurd than this. Aliçka says that after his novel was translated by the EU offices in Brussels, there were rumors on banning the novel and on condemning the writer! The situation could not be any worse than this.
Except Ismail Kadare, whose works are of another category, I believe that Aliçka’s novel “A tale of foreigners” is one out of the five best novels after the fall of communism. It is one of those novels which somehow symbolize post communist literature, and which seems to have some sort of form now. Through a refined language, using sarcasm, irony and humor, Ylljeti was doing everything to change the Albanian mentality, pointing out that foreigners who work in Albania are not the Messiah and that their vices and their way of living are similar to ours. They too could not escape to the narration of a writer. Through his humor, Ylljeti goes as far as mocking them and if one starts to read the novel, one is sucked into it.
It is impossible not to laugh your head off with the wife of an ambassador in the book, who reported to the police that her handbag had been stolen. The police operation also saw the involvement of the Special Forces, which carried out tens of raids and arrested tens of suspects and stopped only when the ambassador’s wife said that she had forgotten her bag at home.
I also laughed with the part when a diplomat who tore his trousers on the edge of a table, had the shop that repaired them, issue him an invoice, saying that he had torn them at work.
Ten years later, publishing house “Tirana Times” said that the novel was published in English and that Ylljet Aliçka had all the rights in the world to be proud of it and along with him, those who had faith in him. But during the promotion of the book in English a few days ago, one of Ylljeti’s colleagues said that after the publication of the novel, the new work contract had seen an extra clause put into it, stating that nobody was allowed to write articles, books and novels of a work related content, during the time that they work there or even after leaving that place.
In a way, the history Aliçka’s post novel is even more interesting than the subject of the novel. What kind of foreigners are they and why have we, Albanians, treated them as gods? Are they like other diplomats, good and bad, competent and incompetent, honest and dishonest? Why must we be so quick to unveil a scandal that has to do with an Albanian, but when the scandal relates to a foreigner, we don’t do anything?
How have relations between Albanians and foreign diplomats evolved? Of course, foreigners, especially westerners and Americans, have been allies and they have protected the Albanian cause throughout the decades and centuries. Today, this state would not exist without Americans such as Woodrow Wilson, or the Austrians and Hungarians. We would not have democratic processes without the support of Italy, France and England and we would not have an independent Kosovo without their support and the support of many others. But this is not a good reason to treat foreigners as governors of our state and not to write and publish the scandals in which they are involved while serving here.
I believe that EU and US institutions that help our country, would want Albania to solve its problems on its own, in order for their diplomats to act as mere mechanisms in the relations between respective countries.
Out of all this, the most beautiful part is the post novel period. By all means, “Tirana Times” suggested Aliçka to write the epilogue and for someone else to write a second novel. But the form and the content are not important. Aliçka must continue where he left it and we must all encourage him to write a novel about his novel. Write it please, Ylljet!
