Mustafaj "independentizes" Albania in 1878, says unification divides Kosovo

“False Fate” has brought the prominent writer and diplomat Besnik Mustafaj to Pristina. The novel’s theme – the declaration of independence three decades earlier than it actually happened – has been a catalyst for opening up other topics in a discussion with writer Ag Apolloni. He has spoken about the reversal of history in his work, but also about current events. He has said that national unity now means the division of Kosovo, while according to him, relations between Albanian politics are polarized. According to him, Albanians continue to be the most threatened nation, even through their own fault. He has also spoken about the fate of the writer and Artificial Intelligence

1878th-century Albania gained independence during the Congress of Berlin in XNUMX and later became one of the founding countries of the European Union as well as NATO. It has a democracy that many European countries covet and a higher welfare than the citizens of Switzerland.

This is how the Albanian state is presented in one of the works of the writer Besnik Mustafaj. It could be like this if the fate of the Albanian lands were different. In “Fati i mare”, Mustafaj overturns history. And he does this by maneuvering in three works, using, examining and commenting on them. He uses the facts, speculates with them and leads the water where his literary imagination wants. 

At a literary meeting held on Thursday at the National Library of Kosovo, where Mustafaj was hosted by writer Ag Apolloni, the pair discussed the novel "Fati i mare" (The Wrong Fate), which in 2023 was also awarded the "Best Novel" award by the Book and Reading Center in Albania. Writer Apolloni described Mustafaj's presence as a great blessing. The meeting started with a lukewarm attendance, but later students, mainly literature students, "warmed up" the BKK amphitheater. 
Mustafaj's artistic play, who served as Albania's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007, in the novel under discussion, shatters history.

Real characters and the map of Europe paper

The novel treats Albania as if it gained independence at the same time as Montenegro and Serbia, and it is about the time of the League of Prizren, where the Albanian leadership aimed for autonomy after realizing that it could not go further due to its powerlessness in relation to its neighbors. Mustafaj has said that he has read Mal Berisha's translation, 'The Fall of Iskander' by Benjamin Disraeli, published by KOHA Publishing. 

"In the novel, I have the translator MB. I dealt with many elements related to Mal Berisha, but I went further to build a literary character," Mustafaj explained. 

Benjamin Disraeli is a well-known figure in Great Britain in the 1830th century. Among other things, he was twice prime minister and also one of the founders of the Conservative Party. As a young aristocrat, he would also visit the Albanian part of the Ottoman Empire. And in XNUMX he wrote a novel that he dedicated to the national hero of the Albanians. 

"This novel is as if it were written by an Albanian. Skanderbeg rises to the top, which he deserves. There is a rivalry with a Greek prince for Hunyadi's daughter. I needed Skanderbeg because we cannot talk without the founding myth of our nation, without Skanderbeg," Mustafaj explained. He said that he took special care in treating this story in the novel. 

"I rewrote it in a folkloric way as the stories were told. I reproduced it by showing it to the translator. So technically it is written in a romantic and traditional way. But inside I believe it is not very traditional," said Mustafaj. Disraeli also traveled through northern Albania in his novel, although in fact he was in the south.

Another character in his book is the historian DD, Daut Daut, who lives in London, a diligent researcher of relations between Albanians and the British. 

The third character is BJ, the former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. In reality, Mustafaj has started working as a biographer of the famous Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Johnson is the author of the book "The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History". 

"The BBC discovered in one of the books of Churchill's library a letter about the real division of Europe between Churchill and Stalin. He made a trip to Moscow without the knowledge of President Roosevelt and proposed the division of Europe. Albania is missing from this list. He apparently left it completely to Tito in administration," Mustafaj said. In the novel he connects many threads between British politicians and crosses them with the fate of Albanians. 

He explained that Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was Chancellor of the Exchequer when Disraeli was Prime Minister of Great Britain. "At the Berlin Conference, he (Disraeli vj) was a benefactor of the Albanians. He wanted to prevent the Russians from entering the Mediterranean. But the Albanians, without being under the Empire, could not tolerate the Slavic invasion and he left Albania under the Empire," Mustafaj said. According to him, the Emperor had promised Disraeli some facilities for the Albanians, including schools.

"National unity now means the division of Kosovo"

Mustafaj, who is known for a series of novels, translated into several languages, in this case played artistically by declaring Albania's independence almost three decades earlier. 

In a conversation with Apollon, he said that Albanians continue to be the most threatened nation in the Balkans. 

"We must be realistic for reasons that depend mainly on Serbia, but also on our powerlessness as a nation to see what is essential that should unite us all and what is temporary that can divide us and can be used for the struggle for power," he said. He has shown that he is not a supporter of a national unification that could happen at this time. 
"Union now means the division of Kosovo," Mustafaj said. 

He recalled the time when he was the Foreign Minister of Albania and had a Serbian counterpart, Vuk Drashkovic. He said that Drashkovic had told him that Kosovo from the Ibar River down should join Albania and the northern part, Serbia. He supported the idea of ​​much greater cooperation between Kosovo and Albania. 

"Kosovo, which was not very polarized, now I see it very polarized. Relations between the two prime ministers are at zero, if not worse," he said, also elaborating on the divisions with the Albanian parties of North Macedonia. 

"The coherence that gives hope for tomorrow is always created by leadership, not at weddings and banquets. These people are not ready to come to an agreement with each other," Mustafaj said.

The pessimistic fate of the writer and artificial intelligence

Among other things, when asked about the fate of writers now and in the future, he said that it is determined by the reader. 

"If we don't have serious readers with taste, we won't have serious writers either. In this sense, fate is not very optimistic, but not very pessimistic either. A bestseller novel in Balzac's time had 1500 copies in France. I think people will be amazed by artificial intelligence later, just as they are amazed by a machine now," he said. 

Writer Ag Apolloni spoke with some amazement about Mustafaj's "Fate e mare". He said that when categorized as novels, it falls into alternative histories, those that speculate on facts. 

"So it is an alternative history, not a dystopian one. This novel shows us what the history of Albanians would be like if this change happened. The special thing about this novel is the intertextual connections. For those who deal with intertextual research, it is a paradise. You find connections with Naimi as a motto-quote, then you find connections with Ismail Kadare, especially with his two novels 'The Party Commission' and 'The Crosses Are Frozen'. Even a powerful intertext with 'The Degradation of Iskander', said Apolloni. 

"Fallen Fate" combines fragments of stories in an artistic use where the author plays with facts for literary purposes.