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The File on H.

Ismail Kadare

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Aug 15, 2020 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: translated-fiction, historical-fiction, setting-europe, novels

The H of the title is Homer (of Odyssey and Iliad fame), and the central figures of this tragicomic satire are two Harvard researchers who arrive in Albania during the reign of King Zog (1930s) to study the oral epic tradition and its relation to Homer. Armed with the newly invented reel-to-reel tape recorder, they set themselves up a remote region where they will convince passing "rhapsodes" to recite epics into the tape recorder for later analysis. Alas, the idea of this is so preposterous to The H of the title is Homer (of Odyssey and Iliad fame), and the central figures of this tragicomic satire are two Harvard researchers who arrive in Albania during the reign of King Zog (1930s) to study the oral epic tradition and its relation to Homer. Armed with the newly invented reel-to-reel tape recorder, they set themselves up a remote region where they will convince passing "rhapsodes" to recite epics into the tape recorder for later analysis. Alas, the idea of this is so preposterous to the paranoid Albanian authorities that they assume the two researchers are spies, and so order the governor of the remote province to keep a close eye on them. He, in turn, enlists the services of his most trusted informer, Dull Baxhaja, whose florid reports are the primary enlivener of the governor's dull days.

Somewhat wacky hijinks ensue, as the governor's wife dreams of a romantic assignation with one of the researchers, and Dull's reports grow more and more darkly comic. Originally written in 1981, the book is prescient with regard to contemporary nationalist Balkan politics, as a wandering Serbian monk enters the story, takes umbrage that the researchers are not interested in Serbian epics, and stirs up trouble for them. At the same time, the theme of paranoia and emphasis on the rivalry between various informers is itself a satire on the grim nature of Communist Albania under the Hoxhas. Amidst all this, Kadare is also trying to say something about the elusive nature of art and historical memory. The overall effect is a little muddled, but not unenjoyable.

Note: The novel grew out of Kadare's 1970 meeting in the with Albert Lord, a notable scholar of oral epics who told Kadare of his travels in the former Yugoslavia as the assistant to Milman Parry during 1933-35. Affiliated with Harvard, Parry and he engaged in much the same kind of research as the two characters in the novel -- albeit with rather more successful results. In fact, part of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature at Harvard has been digitized, and it is now possible to hear some of their field recordings online! ...more

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May 10, 2020 Bogdan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: central-europe

Again this shows how hard it is to write (something meaningful) under censorship.

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Sep 09, 2008 Suzanne marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: french-lit

Sep 05, 2022 Sarita rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2022, read-around-the-world

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