History of Albanian Literature

by Robert Elsie

This comprehensive history of Albanian literature sheds light on an aspect of European culture which has remained virtually unknown until the recent dismantling of communism.

1054 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter and specialist in Albanian studies. He studied at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1972 with a diploma in Classical Studies and Linguistics. In the following years, he continued his post-graduate studies at the Free University of Berlin, at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and at the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne, at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland, and at the University of Bonn, where he finished his doctorate on Linguistics and Celtic Studies in 1978 at the Linguistics Institute.

From 1978 on, Elsie visited Albania several times with a group of students and professors from the University of Bonn. For several years, he also attended the International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture, held in Prishtina, Kosovo. From 1982 to 1987, he worked for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn, and from 2002 to 2013 for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, in particular as an interpreter for several noted cases including the trial of Slobodan Milošević.

As a translator Robert Elsie offers the reader “a selection of songs from the best known cycle of Albanian epic verse”.