Orientalism in Service of Contemporary National Identity Building in Albania: the Literary Work of Ismail Kadare

There is a particular historical logic underlining the main bulk of the historical works of Ismail Kadare, the most famous Albanian author. This logic stands as a pillar of an entire theory of a deep civilizational divide between the East and the West, which Kadare upholds and subsequently applies to his work. This consists in simultaneously presenting the East as a theater of backwardness and making sure that Albania stands far from it. In this context, it intersects quite often with the system of thought exposed by Edward Said, in his influential work on Orientalism. This system of thought relies heavily on certain myths and corresponds with the main official historiographical line that goes through the educational texts and the general scholarly discourse. Only very recently a new debate is being witnessed in Albania, which by challenging the components of national identity itself, poses numerous questions to the different historical experiences and the way they are portrayed. Alba Cela joins this debate by first uncovering some of the aspects of Albanian nationalism as portrayed through literature and the interlinking with orientalist discourse.