Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE "Kadare is inevitably linked to Orwell and Kundera, but he is a far deeper ironist than the first, and a better storyteller than the second. He is a compellingly ironic storyteller because he so brilliantly summons details that explode with symbolic reality." --
The New Yorker "The name of the Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare regularly comes up at Nobel Prize time, and he is still a good bet to win it one of these days... He is seemingly incapable of writing a book that fails to be interesting." --
The New York Times At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the main square of Constantinople, a niche is carved into ancient stone. Here, the sultan displays the severed heads of his adversaries. People flock to see the latest head and gossip about the state of the empire: the province of Albania is demanding independence again, and the niche awaits a new trophy...
Tundj Hata, the imperial courier, is charged with transporting heads to the capital--a task he relishes and performs with fervor. As he travels through obscure and impoverished territories, he makes money from illicit side-shows, offering villagers the spectacle of death. The head of the rebellious Albanian governor would fetch a very high price indeed.
The Traitor's Niche is a surreal tale of tyranny and rebellion, in a land where armies carry scarecrows, state officials ban entire languages, and the act of forgetting is more complicated than remembering.
Synopsis
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE "An extraordinary and complex novel whose time has come . . . 40 years after its initial publication in Albanian]." --The Herald
At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the main square of Constantinople, a niche is carved into ancient stone. Here, the sultan displays the severed heads of his adversaries. People flock to see the latest head and gossip about the state of the empire: the province of Albania is demanding independence again, and the niche awaits a new trophy.
Tundj Hata, the imperial courier, is charged with transporting heads to the capital--a task he relishes and performs with fervor. As he travels through obscure and impoverished territories, he makes money from illicit side shows, offering villagers the spectacle of death. The head of the rebellious Albanian governor would fetch a very high price indeed.
The Traitor's Niche is a surreal tale of tyranny and rebellion, in a land where armies carry scarecrows, state officials ban entire languages, and the act of forgetting is more complicated than remembering.
"The narrative unfurls with the shifting intensity of a dream, enriched by unsettlingly surreal details . . . It is a brilliant examination of the way that authoritarian structures operate: Kafka on a grander political scale." --Sunday Times "Although on the surface this is a deeply compelling historical novel, its scope is wider. At heart, what Kadare seeks to demonstrate is the terrible nature of a world in which every human element is suborned to the state . . . Kadare well deserves his growing European audience." --The Telegraph
Synopsis
Kadare is inevitably linked to Orwell and Kundera, but he is a far deeper ironist than the first, and a better storyteller than the second. He is a compellingly ironic storyteller because he so brilliantly summons details that explode with symbolic reality. --The New Yorker At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the main square of Constantinople, a niche is carved into ancient stone. Here, the sultan displays the severed heads of his adversaries. People flock to see the latest head and gossip about the state of the empire: the province of Albania is demanding independence again, and the niche awaits a new trophy . . .
Tundj Hata, the imperial courier, is charged with transporting heads to the capital--a task he relishes and performs with fervor. As he travels through obscure and impoverished territories, he makes money from illicit side-shows, offering villagers the spectacle of death. The head of the rebellious Albanian governor would fetch a very high price indeed.
The Traitor's Niche is a surreal tale of tyranny and rebellion, in a land where armies carry scarecrows, state officials ban entire languages, and the act of forgetting is more complicated than remembering.
Long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize
The name of the Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare regularly comes up at Nobel Prize time, and he is still a good bet to win it one of these days . . . He is seemingly incapable of writing a book that fails to be interesting. --The New York Times