Hamit's "Canon..." and the collection for Gjeçov - monumental works on Albanian creativity

“The Canon – Essays on Albanian Literature” by academician Sabri Hamiti is the next work that examines and reexamines a significant part of the origins of Albanian literature. This publication of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, together with “The Creativity of Shtjefën Gjeçovit - 150th Anniversary of His Birth” which is the product of the scientific conference held last year on the figure of Gjeçovit, since their promotion on Monday, bring new perspectives on the literature and activities of the renowned cleric.

Studies on Albanian literature have also been enriched with a new work. “The Canon – Essays on Albanian Literature” authored by academician Sabri Hamiti, is the next work that examines and reexamines a significant part of the origins of Albanian literature. This publication of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, together with “The Creativity of Shtjefën Gjeçovit - 150th Anniversary of His Birth” which is a product of the scientific conference held last year on the figure of Gjeçovit, since Monday when they were promoted, bring new perspectives regarding the literature and activities of the renowned cleric. 
At the promotion held at the premises of the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts, attendees praised these works as indispensable assets in Albanian creativity. 

Academician Ali Aliu said that “The Canon...” is an extraordinary book for many reasons. “Sabriu has a vision for the entirety of Albanian literature and it is a monumental universe always in motion. Always open from all perspectives,” said Aliu. He explained that the book with four chapters, academician Hamiti, a veteran of university education, makes a broad and very specific treatment. 

"Zef Skiroi, among other works, has also written the book, 'The Return', a poem. This is perhaps among the writers who, immediately after the establishment of the Albanian state, are visited by the Arbëresh. In 1916, he wrote this book that was discovered after 50 years. The researcher Hamiti sets it in motion, as if he were moving all the shelves of the library, from all perspectives," said Aliu. He then mentioned several other authors, whose activity, according to him, Hamiti sets in motion. 

"Many authors that you will see in this 350-page book are all over the author's books but we always find them in new contexts. Sabriu examines Skior's 'Return' and reconsiders 'Father Tanush'," he said, among other things, at the event moderated by academic Bardh Rugova.

Literary scholar and academic, Nysret Krasniqi, has said that Sabri Hamiti's study book "The Canon - Essays on Albanian Literature" demonstrates the comprehensive knowledge of the Albanian literary corpus, which is linked in the chain of reading, interpretation, systematization and canonization of Albanian literary aesthetics. According to him, Hamiti's study book demonstrates the strength of the scientific-theoretical-literary argument, which starts from the root, goes through a concrete and comprehensive analysis of the aesthetics of the literary work, reveals its distinctive artistic specifics as evidence of the authorial revaluation within the general Albanian literary corpus and through the force of the conclusion is classified in the Albanian literary canon as an atemporal value, or as a permanent aesthetic presence;

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"The study book 'Canon - Essays on Albanian Literature' proves the authenticity and universality of the Albanian literary corpus, condensed and distilled in the sacred concept of the researcher Sabri Hamiti that the literary text has as its source the soul of the author who creates it and as such should never be considered with ideology, but should be appreciated and valued as poetics", he said. While talking about the first chapter of the book, "Manuscript", Krasniqi said that the manuscript is the genesis of literary creativity, but also the historical fatality of Albanian literature. According to him, in manuscripts the author-student recreates the literary aesthetic map precisely by integrating the darkened manuscript in the light of the published works of the Albanian literary canon. Krasniqi on this occasion said that this theater includes Marin Barleti with the fictionalized historical work “The Battle of Shkodra”, Anton Santori with the prose novel “Sofia of the Kominates”, Lazër Tusha with the autobiography “My Life in Albania” and several other authors. According to him, the second chapter “Idiom” has six essay-studies, in which researcher Sabri Hamiti analyzes and conceptualizes two philosophies: the authorial idiom, in the sense of the author's writing uniqueness, and the intentional-thematic idiom. 

"How the Albanian author internalizes the intricate relationship with nature where he leads his life and where he meditates on the universe and how he reflects it in the world of literary art, will be the aesthetic-philosophical preoccupation of the essay 'Poeta naturae'. Mimetic turned into poetics will be venerated in the symbolist-metaphysical Mjedja and Lasgushi, undoubtedly in subtle variations of figures and figurations, as well as in the metonymic-melancholic Migjeni, always refracting the authenticity of the figure in the face of the universality of nature where the soul and body live, and where the transcendental one-God is meditated", said Krasniqi. According to him, in this case the literary world of Pjetër Bogdani, Naim Frashëri, Ndre Mjedja and Lasgush Poradeci is treated. He explained that in the third chapter "Persona et ars" comes the thematic block of authorial monographs of historical poetics, which, whether in their evolutionary connection, or in their rejecting or reconciling influences on the Albanian literary gallery, shape the Albanian literary canon. 

"I start with the monographic treatment of Marin Barleti's humanistic literature, with the works 'The Siege of Shkodra' and 'The History of Skanderbeg', which have completely influenced the external perception of Albanians, as well as the literature of Albanian identity concepts", he said while elaborating on this chapter. Among other things, he showed that Hamiti dedicates a monographic text to Esad Mekuli's work "For You", appreciating its utopian purity that led him to delusion and disappointment. Krasniqi explained that the fourth chapter "Post Scriptum" consists of connected self-referential texts, which in testamentary form illuminate the creative poetics and study systematics of Sabri Hamiti. 

"The scholarly work 'Canon - Essays on Albanian Literature' by academic Sabri Hamiti follows the world of Albanian humanities, because as such it gives the picture emerging from the deep reassessment of the Albanian literary tradition, a reassessment which redimensions the Albanian literary and cultural organon," he said. 

Academician Hamiti himself was brief in his speech. 

"I do not intend to talk about the book because I have written a preface that crowned my manuscript. If I were to speak today, I would write an afterword. I do not want to do that. This is my ninth book with the Academy's logo," he said. He asked students studying literature to love what they do, otherwise they cannot move forward. 

Regarding the collection "The Creativity of Shtjefën Gjeçovit - 150th Anniversary of His Birth" published after the International Scientific Conference, held on October 14, 2024, academician Nysret Krasniqi spoke. He described Gjeçovit as a writer, ethnographer and priest, a friend and a culmination of basic Albanological knowledge. He elaborated that this volume published the texts of 23 scholars, in which, from a polycentric perspective, Gjeçovit's cultural heritage was treated.

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He then briefly elaborated on each text included in this work, including those by Sabri Hamiti, Mehmet Krajë, Gëzim Hoxha, Vitor Demaj and others. 

"In this dimension, we would also highlight the texts of Gëzim Gurga and Agron Camaj, in which the processes of translating the Kanun of Gjeçov are explained, in the first into Italian, even as a history of translation, and in the second, as communication with the world and the receptive Montenegrin tradition," said Krasniqi.