A Clash of Traditions - Analyzing Albanian and Georgian Traditions in Ismail Kadare

Abstract

A Clash of Traditions – Analyzing Albanian and Georgian Traditions in Ismail Kadare’s “Broken April” and Vazha-Pshavela’s “Host and Guest” and “Aluda Ketelauri” Literature plays a significant role in cultural communication. It is a field where each culture and ethnicity voices its perspective, revealing numerous points of intersection among their ideas. Literature serves as a profound example of the collective unconscious upon which humanity thrives. Through their works, Ismail Kadare and Vazha-Pshavela open a window for readers with the Albanian and Georgian cultural perspectives and views, emphasizing deeply ingrained traditions of hospitality, the practice of blood vengeance, and the complex interplay between honor and justice. This paper examines cultural parallels manifested in the literature of seemingly different cultures, focusing on traditions that carry not only cultural significance but also express the universal experiences of individuals and societies. Specifically, it explores Ismail Kadare’s novel “Broken April” and Vazha-Pshavela’s poems “Host and Guest” and “Aluda Ketelauri”. The research delves into traditions such as blood vengeance, the Albanian gjakmarrja (blood feud), and the tradition of cutting off the right hand of the deceased, which shows ritualistic similarities with the Albanian practice of putting the gun on the back of the killed person. It also examines the fundamental aspects of hospitality traditions in the Albanian Kanun and the unwritten laws of Georgian customs. The presentation compares symbolic actions, such as the right hand of an enemy, hung on a house’s exterior, in the Georgian context, and the victim’s clothes hanging on a house balcony in Albanian villages. Beyond literary and cultural similarities and differences, the study investigates the semantic parallels between the Albanian Kanun and the Georgian Kanoni (law), emphasizing the significance of mountains as geographic topos in these traditions. Ultimately, against the backdrop of the protagonists’ chronotope, their adventures, and narrative flows, the study synthesizes the cultural, historical, and social contexts reflected in these literary monuments at both collective and universal levels. The research aims not only to identify similarities between Georgian and Albanian traditions but also to highlight shared values that emerge at the level of distinct cultural identities. As a result, this comparative analysis holds importance not only in literary terms but also from sociological and ethnological perspectives.