TIRANA, August 22/ATA/ The literary collection of the late great writer Ismail Kadare will be kept in a special pavilion of the General Directorate of the Archives.
Prime Minister Edi Rama announced today that the family members of the great writer have handed over his entire literary collection, including manuscripts, sketches of ideas, manuscripts of unpublished works as well as initial drafts of his works, for preservation, administration, restoration and digitization.
General Director of the Archives Ardit Bido and the daughter of the great writer Gresa Kadare spoke today about the significance of preserving this archive at the General Directorate of the Archives.
Bido said that, “It is an honor and pleasure for the General Directorate of the Archives; it has already been enriched with a special collection of Ismail Kadare, rare manuscripts which our great national writer kept in his house and have accompanied him everywhere he went to France, in Durrës or Tirana”.
“I want to especially thank the family of the great writer Gresa, Helena and Besiana who decided to entrust General Directorate of the Archives with the preservation of this property until they decide what to do”, said Bido.
According to him, “All these manuscripts are now part of the General Directorate of Archives for preservation, restoration and digitization, as an important step to avoid any kind of problem with the loss of great national assets”.
Bido thanked especially Gresa Kadare, who initiated the submission of the archive for the procedure of preservation, restoration and digitization of these documents to the General Directorate of Archives.
For her part, Gresa Kadare spoke about the reasons that led her to the decision to hand over Ismail Kadare’s archive to the General Directorate of the Archives, while adding that earlier there was interest in this archive from foreign institutions.
“I would like to thank you personally for the understanding we found and the mutual trust because it is not an easy thing to take such an initiative. A few years ago, Ismail had offers from many foreign institutions in Paris, whether French, such as the University of Sorbonne, the Academy of France, the “François Miteran” Library. They wanted to take, in whole or in part, a part of the archives, certainly with Ismail’s opinion. A very interesting proposal came from Princeton University in New York, too,” she said.
Gresa remembers that Ismaili hesitated, was confused and something was holding him back.
“He did not give a clear answer. I asked him in the discussion between us: What did you think, what exactly will be done with your archive, why don’t you express yourself and why don’t you make a decision, because things get lost for various reasons? -“I don’t know what I want to do, because I want the archive to return to Albania, but I don’t know which institution to trust,” said Ismaili. And it remained that way. He did not give a definite answer, but I, on my own initiative, decided to complete his will by giving you my total trust,” she said.
Gresa emphasized that it is very difficult to trust, even if it is a serious institution, such valuable things.
“I was personally very touched when I saw that the Codices of Berat rest here, as well. I am excited by the idea that Ismail’s manuscripts will be in good company next to the Codices of Berat and in a way, maybe I am exaggerating, but it seems to me that these are the columns of our common temple which is the Albanian cultural heritage, which must be preserved. And not just preserved as an embalmed being. I hope that in a second time, the Archive will allow access of researchers, literary critics, students, to come to consult, study and keep the archive alive”, stressed Gresa Kadare.
