Albania and albanians in foreign graphic vovels

Oltsen GRIPSHI

Abstract: Albania, in comparison to other Western countries, was late in prac­tising and developing the artistic genre of the graphic novel. It is enough to re­member that the first Albanian graphic novels were created in 1960 by the well-known painters Safo Marko and Agim Faja. In addition to this delay in the culti­vation of this artistic genre, it is worth noting that Albania and Albanians have been the central theme of many graphic novels created by foreign authors out­side Albania for many years.

The inspiration for the creation of these graphic novels with Albanian themes has been manifold, starting from the ancient history of the Illyrians, the geo­graphical location of Albania between East and West, the most famous Albanian characters who have left their mark on European history and culture, anthropol­ogy, ethnography and the wild nature that characterises the entire Albanian ge­ography.

The methodology used to conduct this scientific study is a combination of the facts of historical chronology and comparative analysis, exploring the creativity of the authors of these graphic novels who have made known to young readers around the world the temperament of Albanians and the history of Albania through visual description.

At the conclusion of this scientific study, what stands out has to do with the recognition of Albania and Albanians in a period when Albania was at the cross­roads of political, economic, social, cultural and identity systems. The variety of themes treated by foreign illustrators, the styles of graphic novels used and the impact they have had on the European and world reader in getting to know Albania and Albanians.

Keywords: Albania, foreign graphic novel, Agim Faja, visual art, children’s il­lustrations, history, art history, anthropology of art.

Introduction

Albania, compared to other West­ern countries, was late in practising and developing the artistic genre of the graphic novel. It is enough to re­member that the first Albanian graph­ic novels were created in the early 1960s by painters Agim Faja and Safo Marko. In addition to this delay in the cultivation of this artistic genre, it is worth noting that Albania and Albani­ans have been the central theme of many graphic novels created by for­eign authors over the years.

The inspiration for the creation of these graphic novels with an Albanian theme has been manifold, starting from the ancient history of the Illyrians, the geographical location of Albania be­tween East and West, the most famous Albanian characters who have left their mark on European history and culture, anthropology, ethnography and the wild nature that characterises Albanian geography as a whole.

The authors of these novels have made known to young readers all over the world the temperament of Albani­ans and the history of Albania through visual description. The graphic novels created by these authors sometimes show us stories based on reality and sometimes scenarios invented by the imagination, highlighting not only elements that belong to Albania and Albanians, but above all, they intro­duce us to characters created on paper, where the entire visual narrative ex­tends and is interpreted in Albania. Of a small country, but with a great histo­ry, located on the Balkan Peninsula, washed by the Adriatic Sea to the north and the Ionian Sea to its south. Inhabited by the Illyrians and coexist­ing for centuries with the ancient Greeks to the south, with the Dacians and Thracians to the east, in the north with the Celts, and across the Adriatic with the Romans. The land where many characters were born who wrote the history of Europe during the time they lived. The Latins have long called it “La terra delle aquile^[it]– The Land of the Eagles”.

Therefore, this scientific study opens a new chapter for the tracing and analysis of the way foreign artists have described and imagined Albania and Albanians through the artistic genre of the graphic novel. The study examines various iconographic as­pects for the decomposition of images, using the methodology of comparative analysis through research of various archival documents and the exhaus­tive consultation of the rich foreign scientific bibliography.

In the notes and impressions of foreign travellers who visited Albania at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries

Indeed, Albania has aroused the curiosity of many writers, painters, poets, historians, archaeologists, lin­guists, anthropologists and foreign travellers over the centuries, seeing the land of eagles as a mysterious place with an ancient culture and with a completely unique language similar to no other language in Europe. The land, where several great empires in­tersected, is full of traditions and col­ours and rich in cultural heritage from the Illyrian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. A land which, in the eyes of foreigners, resembled that of Arnold Böcklin’s “Island of the Dead”, or as Faik Konica called it, “The Rock Garden of Europe¹”. Plagued by silence and immersed in a past unknown to them.

But who were these strangers who stepped into the land of eagles shrouded in mystery, the breathtaking beauty of the rugged mountains and the majestic men dressed in white dresses and gold-embroidered robes, or even the women dressed in magnif­icent folk costumes, adorned with the most amazing jewellery and devoted to their family who seemed to convey a “divine” beauty, from north to south and from east to west? Undoubtedly the most prominent were Evliya Çelebi (چلیبىلېااو^[ota]), Henry Holland, François Pouqueville, William Martin Leake, George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron), John Cam Hobhouse, Thomas Smart Hughes, Edward Lear, Louis Dupré, Emilio Salgari (who wrote two stories and two novels dedicated to Albania and the Albanians, describing their clothing, traditions and life in an impressive way). All this without ever setting foot on Albanian soil but only browsing the atlases of the time in the Library of Verona, where he also worked as its librarian², Mary Edith Durham, Jan and Cora J. Gordon, Aubrey Herbert, Benjamin Disraeli, Leo Freundlich, Thomas Smart Hughes, George de la Poer Berestford, Edmund Spencer, Charles Robert Cockerell, Aleksandre Gabriel Dekamps, Justin Godart, Gabriel Louis Jaray, Franz Baron Nopcsa, Karl Otten and many others who, with their travels in Albania between the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century, aroused great curiosity for many others in Europe, turning attention towards Albania and Albani­ans. An attention that was deepened in the identification and description of how Albanians lived: what were the customs, traditions, and beliefs of this ancient and little-known people at that time? How did they dress and what was their history?

Albania and the Albanians were first described by François Pouqueville in his book of memoirs “Voyage en Moree, a Constantinople, en Albanie et dans plusieurs autres parties de l’Empire othoman, pendant les annees 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801^[fr] – Travel in Moree, in Constantinople, in Albania and in many other parts of the Ottoman Empire, during the years 1798, 1799, 1800 and 1801”, pub­lished in 1804 in Paris. In fact, the memories described in this book are not Pouqueville’s direct memories but rather the memories narrated by three of his companions who were taken prisoner by Ali Pasha Tepelena. This is because Pouqueville himself would come to live a few years later in Albania, as French consul in Ioannina between 1804 and 1813. Ioannina, which according to the well-known American newspaper “The San Francisco Call”, in its number 138, volume LXXXI (81), published on Saturday, April 17, 1897, was the cap­ital of Albania, where on the front page of this newspaper an artistic graphic with a view of Ioannina and an Albanian soldier dressed in a frock, with the description below it: “This is one of the most picturesque cities in European Turkey. It is situated on a peninsula extending into a lake of the same name. It has been reported that irregular Greeks have been observed near the walls of the city and only a few days ago the telegraphic commu­nication between Ioannina and Elassona, the Turkish headquarters, was destroyed”³.

What Pouqueville brings us as evi­dence of Albania and the Albanians of that period, thanks to the accounts of his three friends, was: “If the country ruled by Ali Pasha is still barbaric, it should nevertheless be noted that Albania is the most prosperous land of the Ottoman Empire in brave people, in fighting men and with good agricul­tural products”, describing the Alba­nians as soldiers of Alexander the Great and George Kastrioti⁴.

Among the first and most influen­tial travellers in the Western literary world to travel to the lands of southern Albania was Lord Byron. A poet of the Romantic period, who arrived in Ioannina in 1809, then the capital of Albania (according to many engrav­ings and paintings by the most promi­nent foreign artists of that time), where he was received by Ali Pasha Tepelena in his palace. The stay in southern Albania and especially in Ali Pasha’s palace left a great impression on Lord Byron, who during this stay was accompanied by his close friend John Cam Hobhouse. The stop in Albania came after a long journey that he had undertaken to get to know new countries and cultures, starting from Portugal, Spain, Malta and then Albania. A journey that would inspire the English poet of the vanguard of European literature to write his narra­tive poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”,  first published in 1812 in England. Byron was so surprised by Albania that he described it thus:

“Albania, where Iskander was born -/ Song of youth, beacon of the wise!/ And another Iskander, who crushed/ Forever his enemies with his brave cord./ Albania, let me turn my eyes/ Upon you, O stern mother of wild men!⁵”.

(Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto II, lines 334-339).

In these verses Byron describes three very important figures in the history of Albania and Albanians, re­ferring to Alexander the Great for the first Alexander, George Kastrioti for the second Alexander and Ali Pasha Tepelena when he says: – over you, stern mother of wild men. “The dawn rises: with it the shores /of Albania are rising, the rock of Suli,/and the mist-clad lark of Pindus, Washed with snow-white/roots With a masculine, reddish colour./And as the clouds begin to disperse, The highlanders’ voices are heard: /Here the wolf howls – Albanian sharpens its beak – Birds – beasts – wild men appear / Storms around shake the weather that is ending⁶”. (verses 370-379).

Undoubtedly, his verses do not on­ly describe the beauties and geograph­ical characteristics of southern Albania, but also those about the temperament, character, stereotype and ethnography of Albanians when he says, “See the strict Albanian with his frock/ And his clothes embroidered with gold,/His weapons washed with gold, how beautiful!⁷”./ “And he took the road to prolong/The prince of Albania, whose order/ Is a law without law, because with blood on his hand/He rules a rebellious, brave people;/Here and there some brave tribe/Resists him, and from the tower of the rock/He is angry and obeys no one, except gold⁸”. (verses 417-423).

Another very important figure of European culture who travelled exten­sively through Albania was the Eng­lish poet and artist Edward Lear, who made a trip between 1848 and 1849. During the discovery of Albania, Lear became acquainted with many tradi­tions, cities, costumes and the temper­ament of the Albanians, and he wrote all his impressions and experiences in a diary which was published in 1851 by Richard Bentley in London. This diary of Edward Lear comes as a liv­ing testimony of Albania in the middle of the 19th century. In this diary, the English poet describes to us in detail Albania in every aspect, where be­tween the lines he writes: “As I passed under the cliffs of the gorge and en­tered the bazaar street that runs through the middle of the city, I was struck once more by how different the dress was in this Tosk area. Instead of the purple dress, red vest, black jack­et, and short frock of the Gegë, here everything is white, or made of a light gray-green cloth, with long, pleated frocks, and most of them wear white qileshes instead of red turbans. Be­yond the numerous, crowded shops is a wide, open area near the river, from which the view of the dark gorge of Beratino, the castle, and the city, is wonderfully beautiful. On one side of this square or market is a large, new inn. There I took a room in the corner of the building, overlooking the lively scene that stretched to the foot of the hill. In the space before me there were always a hundred figures of people sitting for painted, without causing suspicion and without restrictions. There you saw dervishes with their large white or green hats; Mohammedan women, but also Christian, dressed in wide, blue veils, and with their faces covered⁹”.

The harshness of the steep Albanian mountains and the sparkling whiteness of the Albanian men’s skirts could not help but attract the attention and curiosity to step on and touch them up close during his journey through Albania, the English writer Edmund Spencer, who published his memories and impressions of this journey in the book “Travels in Euro­pean Turkey, in 1850, through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace, Albania and Epirus; with a visit to Greece and the Ionian Isles” in the year 1851 in London. The English writer remains surprised by the beauty of the Albanian geography, but he is more amazed by the beauty of the white frock worn by Albanian men from north to south, describing it as, “The dress of the old chieftain (of Mirdita) and indeed of the inhabitants of these mountains of both genders was similar to that of those tribes of the same race which we have already described during the journey to Peja and Prizren on the other side of the mountains of Upper Albania. The many-layered fistan (fistani) made of white basma had a special and pictur­esque effect when they were on horse­back and made a stunning contrast with the red vest, the red fez and the long Arnaute (Albanian) weapon¹⁰”.

A vivid narrative about Albania and the Albanians on the eve of inde­pendence comes to us from Karl Otten, who travelled to the territories of northwestern Albania in the sum­mer of 1912. A journey where the German poet describes in detail the character and life and how the Albani­ans dressed in the early 20th century. Among other things, at one point in his book “Die Reise nach Albanien^[de] – describes the appearance of two Al­banians: “Among the soldiers stood two Albanians, standing a head above them. Serious, almost sad, they sat on their knees. Their hair fell to their shoulders, which, like all Albanians, were covered by a short black cloak, as a sign of mourning for Skanderbeg, their prince, who had ruled their country hundreds of years ago¹¹”.

His memories also include the Shkodra bazaar after arriving in this city from Tivar via Buna, describing it as: “The market of Shkodra! A laby­rinth of small, broken alleys, partly roofed, so that all colours and faces suddenly blur into darkness. Then the midday sun falls perpendicularly and brightly and all colours flare up all around to the cries of people and an­imals. On the contrary, the Albanians do not care at all about us, tall and thin, with long hair, they move around without feeling, strangers to the world, and expose their superiority over others so openly that everyone avoids them. While their women are short, with cropped hair, black cloth­ing of woolen fabric, woven so thickly and densely that the short skirt stands open like a dancer’s. What is most striking in their costume is the wide belt of sheet iron, which reaches to the chest and where the dagger and to­bacco box are caught in small rings. The Albanians also smoke in street. The pure Albanians are all Catholics. In fact, they are very few compared to the others and the majority belong to the highlander tribe, which lives in the mountains above Shkodra. They are the fiercest enemies of the Turks and live according to the laws of their he­ro Skanderbeg in large families. They tell each other the bravery of Alexander the Great, they are the de­scendants of his people, the pre-Greeks, the autochthons; the Pelasgi­ans. Their language is the most an­cient and purest in Europe and per­haps even the most beautiful. They are tall as oaks, among the highlanders I did not see a single short person. Whereas the Mirdit people, whose capital is Kruja, where Skanderbeg was born, are fierce as cats, small in stature and stubborn¹²”.

The same impression of Albania and Albanians was also had by the French traveller Gabriel Louis Jaray, who first arrived in Albania in 1909. He travelled to all Albanian regions, starting from Skopje and then through Prishtina, Mitrovica, Peja, Gjakova, Prizren, Kukës, Lumë, Mirditë, Tirana, Durrës, Vlorë, Elbasan, Struga and up to Resen. A trip that would familiarize him better with the land­scape, traditions, costumes, character, temperament and life of the Albani­ans, who he describes with great truth when he says: “the Albanian fights the Montenegrin, drives away the Serb, gets rid of the Greek, skilfully plays with the opposing ambitions of the Austrian and the Italian. He stands up to everyone, everywhere, and seeks with great insistence only one thing: freedom and his “rifle in the moun­tains”. No one has been able to defeat him, subdue him and no one will be able to rule him without making ex­traordinary sacrifices, which will un­doubtedly not be rewarded. To be­come the lord, the ruler, of Albania you will have to empty its inhabitants of even the last of their eagle nests and you will even have to destroy them one by one. What a job it is!

A warlike, independent and back­ward people; impetuous, resourceful and fearless mountaineers; Muslims and Christians who above all seek to be free, to live according to their tra­ditional laws, who oppose any exter­nal authority, who are not necessarily distrustful and hostile towards for­eigners, but full of suspicion towards the actions carried out by these for­eigners; people who lived in isolation, who spoke different dialects and who until 1912 had not understood each other¹³”. Jaray’s descriptions were based on a lived and tangible reality directly experienced by him. In a close relationship with Albanians, where he learnt and recognised many unknown things about Albania and Albanians in the French culture of the time. This made him not only constantly delve into discovering many things during his trip through Albania but also amazed him with what this people represented for the history of Europe.

Jan and Cora J. Gordon were a married couple, one a painter and the other a writer from England who, in 1927, after a long trip through Albania in 1925, summarised in a publication their memories, notes, sketches, draw­ings and paintings made during that trip, entitled “Two Vagabonds in Albania.”. A journey as impressive as it was full of challenges, with many surprises and surprises that they en­countered in getting to know the Al­banians. What impressed them was the “code of living”, the social organi­sation, the social hierarchy, describing that reality as very different compared to that in England, because in their eyes “the Albanian Bey was the “scapegoat” of Albanian politics. On his shoulders are laid all the ills of the country. He is a conservative, as any landowner would be from his position, but his conservatism has much to jus­tify it. Roughly speaking, Albania is divided as follows:

First, the peasantry which has no sense of nationality, which wants nothing but private property, without any interference, without any taxes and freedom to emigrate its sons to America;

        Secondly, the conservative Muslim politicians who are strongly oriented towards Turkey, who wish to preserve all the old privileges, seek offices to benefit from them, steal as much as they can and are actually having a good time in the Oriental style;

Thirdly, the progressive Christian politicians who, being peo­ple without privileges, aim to destroy all the old privileges, to banish the old aristocracy and to model the country as much as possible on American principles (not without corruption, of course);

Fourthly, a party drawn from all faiths and classes, who, horrified by the experiments of amateur politi­cians, would be content for the coun­try to be for years under a foreign, preferably English, tutelage;

Fifthly, those despairing ones who see no salvation anywhere and who await the fearful moment when Albania will be torn apart by oli­garchs and demagogues and divided between Serbia, Greece and Italy¹⁴”.

A British couple, who were look­ing for adrenaline, adventure and get­ting to know a people far from their reality. After arriving in Albania, they were accompanied on their journey by Mislim Haxhia, an elderly local man, who travelled with them for a month through Albania. A completely ran­dom trip and without any preparation about where and what they would see with priority and more specifically! For Jan and his wife Cora, this trip was just for pleasure, to discover a territory and reality unknown to them before. This is perceived and read from the first lines of their book with memories from Albania. After arriv­ing first in Durrës, they travelled to the new Albanian capital, Tirana, where, after leaving this city, they carried with them their feelings and memories, where they express:

“Ultimately, we liked Tirana in its own way. From our point of view, it was a splendid city. We are basically lazy travellers. We let life come to us and so it approaches us sweetly in the most natural way. As for our evening entertainment, there were two cafes where the Yevgjit/Gipsy orchestras played strange and fascinating music and where the Yevgjit/Gipsy girls danced the most banal and uninspir­ing dances we have ever seen. What fascinated us about them was their panties, which could well be called “monstrous cotton balloons the col­our of red pomegranates and black plums.” Young Albanian beauties flirted with the Yevgjits/Gipsy and tried to remove their headscarves; while, sitting at the feet of the violinist, clarinettist and drummer, the haggard old women beat their tambourines and let out piercing cries in the atmos­phere of melodies interesting objects produced by stringed instruments.¹⁵”.

In this perspective, the English couple for today’s Albanian reader and scholars were not simply two adven­turous foreign travellers but two ex­traordinary witnesses to the reality and truth of how they lived and what the social, economic, cultural and anthro­pological life of Albania at that time was. What impressed them most dur­ing their stay in central Albania were the joy and fun that the locals organ­ised with the dancers of the Egyptian community dressed in panties deco­rated with tulips. The British couple liked that atmosphere so much that they made a drawing which they later reproduced with the graphic technique of woodcut. A genuine work of art, which presents a party scene with Al­banian folk music, with a dancing girl in the centre, who is surrounded by six other figures. Among them are two elderly women sitting on the ground, where the one in the foreground plays the tambourine, while the other sits silently with a stoic look towards the audience. The other two are younger in age and also sit on the ground around the table, singing and playing the tambourine. To the left of the Egyptian dancer are two men, one sitting playing the mandolin and the other standing playing the clarinet. This is a scene that testifies to the simplicity of Albanian life at that time, but above all to the joyful and melodramatic, almost seductive at­mosphere of Albanian men dressed in white robes and headscarves. In addi­tion to the captivating sounds of stringed instruments of central Albania, the Gordon couple drew and painted 42 images of Albania and Al­banians, so much so that on their trip to northern Albania they were attract­ed by another element among Albani­ans, that of large, thick moustaches and cut in the most diverse ways. An aspect so manly that they had not en­countered anywhere before in the places they had travelled in the Balkans. In the memories of the Brit­ish couple, Albanians in general, but especially those of the northern high­lands, the moustache had an important element of male pride to seduce the female gender.

Among the many drawings and paintings they made during their trip to northern Albania, where the mous­tache and the severity of the typical facial expressions of a mountaineer are most evident, is the portrait made with oil paints and coloured pencils on paper which, according to the notes of Jan and Cora Gordon is Gjeloshi, the son of the village elder of Bogë, Marashi. A very characteristic por­trait, part of a stereotype that has ac­companied the image of Albanian mountaineers to this day. Tough and tall, with a body packed with muscles, very manly and handsome.

Their trip was enriched even more with beautiful images from Albania when they visited the city of Gjirokas­tra, with its cobblestone streets and large houses like majestic towers sur­rounded by high stone walls, which immediately attracted the curiosity of the two British people. The stay in Gjirokastra amazed the artist couple, as they stated that, “There is hardly another city in the world like Gjirokastra. The city has elements of a fairyland, of a ruined fairyland that had once seen better days. The magi­cal side of Gjirokastra’s qualities is the residential part. On all the hillsides and slopes stand three-story houses surrounded by high walls.”

In the same years, the French aca­demic Jacques Bourcart also visited Albania, who, after a long stay in our country between 1917 and 1920, pub­lished in 1921 his memoirs summa­rised in a book “L’Albanie et les al­banais^[fr] – Albania and the Albani­ans”. A book that brings us an ex­traordinary testimony about Albania and the Albanians of the early 20th century. He describes the Albanians with superlatives, stating that “I can only say the best words and praise this distinguished people. In him I found the rarest qualities in the Balkans, disregard for money, respect for honour and for keeping one’s word. And these in the Albanians are combined with courage, bravery, ac­tivity and a lively and outgoing spirit.

The Albanians… belong to one of the most beautiful races in Europe and their moral virtues, among the rarest in the East, are worthy of their physical beauty. Among all the Balkan races, only the peoples of the Illyrian races have suffered foreign invasions without damage and have often put up fierce resistance to the invaders and especially, the most savage invasion, Turkish rule. Neither the Bosnians, nor the Montenegrins, nor the Albani­ans have ever been rajas. …

…for the historian, ethnographer or sociologist, Albania is a country inhabited by one of the oldest peoples of Europe, which has miraculously preserved its language and customs, which are contemporary with Greek antiquity.

…in none of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula do we encounter such manly virtues as those we ob­serve among the Albanians. The Al­banian peasant, mountaineer or sol­dier, with whom I lived and ate bread, in whose house I resided, seems like a great gentleman if we compare him with his Balkan neighbours.

…what touched us Frenchmen the most was the ardent patriotism of all the Albanians we knew. And, when the entirety of the Albanian lands was at stake, then all divisions disappeared, special interests, hostilities between families and classes, cultural, party or religious differences and contradic­tions were overcome¹⁶”.

Thanks to the impressions and memoirs published in Italy, England, France and Germany by these well-known figures who travelled through Albania, a more complete identity was formed about Albania and Albanians in European culture. Although often unconsciously, they created stereo­types and clichés^{17, 18} about the nature, character and temperament of “Homo Albanicus”. Elements that would in­spire many years later in the 20th cen­tury, various illustrators, to reflect Alba­nians and the geography of Albania in their graphic novels.

One of the most qualitative authors in terms of writing the script and tell­ing the story of the Albanian canon through the graphic novel is Jack Manini, who, together with the illus­trator Michel Chevereau, published in different years four volumes dedicated to the phenomenon of blood feud in northern Albania: “Albanie, la loi du Kanun; I. Dette de sang^[fr] – Albania, the law of Kanun; I. “La loi du Kanun; II. L’Amazone^[fr] – Kanun Law; II. Amazona”, 2006, “La loi du Kanun; III. Albanie^[fr] – Kanun Law; III. Albania, 2008, “Albanie, la loi du Kanun^[fr] – Albania, the law of Kanun, 2010. The four volumes are a true testimony of an Albanian social phe­nomenon, where within them the au­thors have interwoven the actuality of the blood feud still present among the Albanians of the north and its imagi­nation in the 1960s. The entire scenar­io of the four volumes takes place in Albania, which is confirmed by the typical Albanian landscape, where all the scenes take place, and elements of cultural heritage such as the Mesi Bridge in Shkodër and the majestic stone towers characteristic of the north.

In the first volume, “Albanie, la loi du Kanun; I. Dette de sang”, the au­thor narrates the life of a thirteen-year-old boy named Leka (who ironically shares the same name as Lekë Dukagjini, the lawmaker of the Kanun), who lives in Albania under the care of an alcoholic and violent Russian man named Nykita. Thirteen-year-old Leka’s difficult childhood is filled with various crimes, from steal­ing bicycles to kidnapping children. Nykita’s mistreatment and his wan­dering life impress the Hila family, to whom he delivers eggs every Mon­day. Given Leka’s extremely difficult situation, the Hila family shelters him in their home, separating him from Nykita’s violence and exploitation.

In the bosom of the Hila family in which he took refuge, the minor dis­covers a passion for American films and falls in love with Sosa, the daugh­ter of the family, for whom his feel­ings become stronger every day. But at the same time, little Leka also dis­covers the rules of the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini. Of a corpus of customary laws which, in his judgment, were macabre and absurd, expressing: “– These lead to ever greater blood debts…”!

The summarised narrative of the Kanun begins with a prologue by the main character of the graphic novel, which raises a series of questions about where the story takes place thir­ty years later. In fact, Leka, who is also the narrator of his life, tells us about the main moments that preceded this fatal moment, starting from the thirteenth year of his birthday.

Jack Manini writes a script where the protagonist is faced with crucial and difficult choices: to obey his step­father, risking falling even deeper into crime and losing the family principles he cherishes, or to betray him despite his presence during his childhood, unlike his biological father, who abandoned Leka at a very young age after having to flee as a result of a blood feud?

The story is perfectly constructed, and the sequences that make up the graphic novel follow each other seam­lessly. Reading this story told through the graphic novel makes you quickly fall in love with the young Leka, de­spite his actions, and with the Hila family, although their life is cantered within the fence that surrounds the house where they live. A fence, which is their confinement, precisely accord­ing to the rules of the canon.

The first volume clearly addresses the concerns of adolescents and the harsh reality of life in Albania in the 1960s. Michel Chevereau’s drawings, graphic solutions and choices for the division and structural construction of the scenes extremely highlight the time, place, temperament, character, drama and tragedy for the visual de­scription of this Albanian social phe­nomenon. The various scenes of the siege are particularly convincing. Likewise, the characters portrayed within the graphic novel reflect with great accuracy and truth the life and character of real people who were unfortunately involved in the blood feud but also of Albania as a whole at that time. The figural compositions are realised with the technique of wa­ter paints on paper. A technique which maintains a freshness with its typical stains in the painting of the characters. The pastel colours and the predomi­nance of cold blue or ochre tones, de­pending on the scene, create different atmospheres in accordance with the situation.

The second volume continues the story of the thirteen-year-old boy, delving even deeper into the presenta­tion of the rules of the canon… In northern Albania, Leka and a group of friends, not very old in age, discover the legendary library of the Dukagjin prince, hidden within the walls of the fortified tower where they live. A rare book, “The Book of Blood”, written by the prince’s guardian, contains the list of victims as a result of the rules of the canon, including the names of three members of the Hila family. The book also includes the name of Leka Golivina; he is the sole heir to the re­venge according to the canon. He re­calls the dramatic events that led to the expulsion of the Hila family, for which he is solely responsible…

The construction of the scenes in the second volume is also magnifi­cent, with a variety of plans and deep perspectives on the horizon. All the scenes of the graphic novel in this volume are coloured in monochrome with cold tones of blue. On the cover of the second volume we see Stalin portrayed, evidence of the close rela­tions until 1961 between the People’s Republic of Albania and the USSR (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик^[ru] – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The landscape remains typically Al­banian, harsh and with steep mountain slopes, as well as majestic stone tow­ers similar to mediaeval castles, inevi­tably highlighting the architectural heritage of the mountain people’s houses in northern Albania.

The narrative continues in the third volume, where screenwriter Manini asks the questions: – What do you think of Leka, the orphan boy adopted by Nykita, the Russian immigrant? That thirteen-year-old boy who some­times sells eggs to his neighbours? A sincere face, with a thin silhouette and a bright and charming look – every­thing to attract the trust of others around him. And yet… nevertheless, in that Albania of the 1960s, “socialised” to the depths of the soul, almost to excess, Leka does a strange activity…, completely reprehensible together with his stepfather Nykita. Under the violence and mistreatment of Nykita, he deals with the kidnapping of chil­dren to then sell them to rich Italian families in search of adoption! A re­ality, which travels in parallel in two different worlds, where on one side is the Albanian with the little Leka or­phaned by the death of his mother during his birth and his father, who abandoned him as a baby in the hands of his friend Nykita. While on the oth­er side is a completely different reali­ty, that of Italian society in support of life to adopt Albanian children! It must be said that Leka’s childhood was filled with great difficulties which gradually led him towards ruin and the abyss of criminality. Little Leka’s stepfather, Nykita, like all officials of the Bolshevik propaganda machine, was sent by the USSR to Albania to train the future elites of the Albanian Communist Party.

However, when Khrushchev broke off all cooperation and bilateral rela­tions with the “secessionist¹⁹” country (Albania), all these Russians returned to their homeland, with the exception of Nikita, whose homosexual morals and alcoholism had led to his expul­sion from the Russian Communist Party. Consequently, when Leka’s mother died giving birth to him, the latter, out of the friendship he had with his biological father, decided to take care of him. With the conse­quences we know. However, the meeting with Sosa, the beautiful daughter of the young doctor of the Hila family, where he later took ref­uge, could counterbalance this harm­ful influence of Nikita on Leka before it is too late. – Because here in north­ern Albania (the author writes), as in the whole country, despite the great efforts of the Albanian Communist Party to undo the rules of the canon, it still prevails over the laws of the state. A law outside the law, the law of re­venge and silence, the one that with the force of tradition makes blood flow…

The Law of the Kanun is a “seduc­tion” for the author, not only to recog­nise it as a code, which has regulated social relations among the Albanians of the north for centuries, but above all an inspiration to create a fantasy through the graphic novel. In all four volumes, the visual language used is extremely refined both in aesthetic and stylistic terms. This large series of graphic novels brings to attention, under the guise of the Kanun, the pe­riod of change experienced by future organisations, dubbed by the misun­derstanding of the Albanian mafia, as a pretext to kill their opponents. The character of Leka returns to her past, without complacency. A story that sheds light on this little-known period and region thanks to an attractive “plot” and a drawing that is both clas­sic and dynamic, which shapes and characterises the entire graphic novel.

Killing one person for another…

– Your father killed mine.

– So, I will kill you in return.

– And I know that one day some­one will come and kill me to get re­venge.

– This is the law of the canon, which has codified the honour of Al­banian families since ancient times.

A law that forced the young Sose to declare the Oath of the Virgins, the only way for a woman to participate in revenge, as long as she completely renounces her female identity and from now on will live as a man. After killing her childhood love to get re­venge while preserving the honour of her family, Sose transforms herself, from a woman to a man, moving to a small village, deep in Albania. With a boyish hairstyle, dressed as a man and with a new name, Aleks. This is a way to universally respect the Virgin’s Oath. Despite the complete transfor­mation of her being, it is still not so easy to escape the law of the canon. Part of the loss of her former traces before the Virgin’s Oath, she brought another woman closer to her, who also made the oath, welcoming the young Tomas, or rather Vesna, a woman dressed as a man, with whom Sose (Alex) will soon fall into horror again…

In this third opus^[la]20 the graphic novel develops both in the substantive aspect of the dialogues between the characters and in the graphic one. The range of colouring remains the same, monochrome, but with magnificent extensions of planes and perspectives. The composition of the protagonist characters is transformed into an ex­traordinary game of interaction full of mystery, liveliness of movements and diverse angles of view. Illustrator Chevereau follows the characters step by step, bringing them as real and close to us as possible. It seems as if our eyes observe them silently, almost as if we spy on them without seeing them. A graphic game that manages to establish direct communication be­tween the reader and the characters on paper. This is because, first, this vol­ume ended in a determined way, and everything seemed resolved. But in reality, the way Jack Manini has built the entire narrative in this graphic novel continues to surprise us, weav­ing his successive plots so that they always make us hold our breath in suspense: what will happen next?! A curiosity that never fades; on the con­trary, it increases from scene to scene.

The cover of the third volume speaks more than words, as we see Sosa, the young daughter of the Hila family, portrayed on it, who now takes on the role of the main character. Un­doubtedly, the essence of this graphic novel series is the treatment of the phenomenon of female revenge, which forces her to “abandon” herself, transforming into a “man” to achieve her goal. This is because only men can take blood according to the canon! Manini and Chevereau have master­fully intertwined the word with the image. The graphic novel series pene­trates deeply into the temperament of the two young people, embodying the psychology of the story of Sosa and Leka. Meanwhile, the illustrator does not forget at any moment the graphic elements of contrasts, clean lines and the focus of the reader’s eye in succes­sive sequences in pursuit of the char­acters. Elements were used in previ­ous volumes, but in this volume, he develops and perfects them with dy­namics and rich expressions of facial expressions.

Michel Chevereau’s drawings are nothing more than the transformation into pastel-coloured images of the text of the screenwriter Manini, where he skilfully highlights every depth and surprise of this story that is as intimate as it is violent.

The scope of the graphic novel continues in the last volume of this four-volume series, delving even deeper into the story of the phenome­non and the bloody consequences of Lekë Dukagjini’s Kanun. Albania in the 1960s… despite the Stalinist re­gime that banned the use of the Kanun, this bloody custom resurfaced from the past as a curse for Albanian society, especially in the northern re­gions. In this regard, the young boy’s story is conveyed to the reader with πάθος^[grc]-pathos²¹ a lot of pathos when he says, “At the age of thirteen, I am already a criminal. It is my “teacher” (stepfather) Nykita, that dirty Russian, who forces me to do bad things! Until I met Sosa. With her, her brother and her father, I feel like I am a real family! Sosa is my little an­gel and if one day we have to get mar­ried I will have to become honest and worthy of her. For this reason, I must kill my worst demon. Yes, I must kill Nykita!”. In fact, nothing scares the younger Leka… For Sosa and Leka, children of this country tormented and isolated by the laws of the canon and the communist regime, peace does not exist. This is because the legacy of revenge will reach them one day!

This is the bloody conclusion of a “fascinating” and horrific Albanian revenge.

Conclusions

This study presents a new and nec­essary approach to the analysis of cul­tural representations of Albania and Albanians in the increasingly present and influential medium of the graphic novel. At a time when Albania itself had a late start in the development of this artistic form – with the first texts illustrated in this genre in the early 1960s by the painter Agim Faja – it is particularly significant to note the prominent presence of Albania and its identity elements in the graphic novels of foreign authors.

The fact that these authors have found inspiration in the ancient history of the Illyrians, in the country’s unique geography, in historical figures with European influence, and in Al­banian ethnography and anthropology speaks of a sustained and very large-scale interest in this cultural space. Through visual narratives, these works have mediated the knowledge of Albania for the international public, constructing images and narratives that often combine historical truth with artistic fable. These representa­tions, although created by foreign screenwriters and illustrators, shape the way Albanians are perceived by Western culture and have played an important role in the articulation of a cultural identity in cross-cultural con­texts.

The importance of this scientific study lies in the fact that it not only offers an analytical look at the repre­sentation of Albania and Albanians in the artistic genre of the international graphic novel but also contributes to the broader academic discourse on the role of art as a means of cultural con­nection, as well as on the way in which the “other” interprets the “self” in a global context. Through an in-depth and comparative analysis of these graphic novels, this research highlights the dynamics of identity construction and the confrontation between the created image and histor­ical reality, as well as the powerful mechanisms of visual intercommuni­cation that the foreign graphic novel enabled for the image of Albania and Albanians to the foreign reader in the 21st century.

This academic reflection on the representations of Albania in foreign graphic novels not only enriches the existing literature on this artistic genre but also raises awareness of the im­portance of critically treating cultural images that circulate globally, espe­cially for peoples and cultures that are often on the periphery of world atten­tion. In this sense, the current study takes on value as a necessary act of documentation, analysis and interpre­tation of an aesthetic and cultural phe­nomenon with a significant impact on shaping contemporary identity dis­courses, thanks to the interpretation that foreign authors have made of Albania and Albanians through the artistic genre of the graphic novel.

Notes

• Konica, Shqipëria kopshti shkëmbor i Evropës Juglindore dhe shkrime të tjera, Vatra, Boston, 1957, pp. 186-187.
• Gripshi, Emilio Salgari e i suoi romanzi illustrati da Alberto Della Valle, Aemme Edizioni, Verona, 2011, p. 20.
• https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1897-04-17/ed-1/seq-1/ Publisher Charles M. Shortridge, San Francisco, California, p. 1.
• Frashëri, Bajroni në Shqipëri dhe takimet me Ali Pashë Tepelenën, Botimet Dudaj, Tiranë, 2009, p.13.
• Ibid., p. 23.
• Ibid., p.24.
• Ibid., p.25.
• Ibid., p.36.
• Lear, Edward Lear in Albania / Edward Lear në Shqipëria; travel dia­ry 1848-1849, translated by Majlind Nishku 2008, Shtëpia Botuese Plejad, Tiranë, 1851, pp. 135-136.
• Spencer, Travels in European tur­key, in 1850, through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace, Albania and Epirus; with a visit to Greece and the Ionian Isles, vol. II, Colburn and CO., Publishers, London, 1851, p. 90.
• Otten, Die Reise durch Albanien / Journey through Albania 1912, tran­slated into Albanian by Anila Omari 2005, Dituria, Tiranë, 1913, p. 31.
• Ibidem, pp.38-39
• Louis Jaray, L’Albanie inconnue / The Unknown Albania, translated into Albanian by Asti Papa, 2006, Dituria, Tiranë, 1913, pp. 12-13.
• & C. J. Gorgon, Two Vagabonds in Albania, translated by Edgar Frashëri 2014, Botimet Jozef, Durrës, 1927, pp. 186-187.
• Ibidem, pp. 26-27.
• Bourcart, L’Albanie et les albanais / Albania and the Albanians, translated into Albanian by Asti Papa 2004, (co­ver), Shtëpia Boutese Dituria, Tiranë, 1921.
• Vigini, Glossario di bibliotecono-mia, Editrice Bibliografica, Lampi di Stampa, Milano, 1999, p. 35.
• Cliché – is a term that refers to an onomatopoeic sound, or a repeated ac­tion, word and meaning. In the past, the word cliché was associated with the zincographic matrix for the serial reproduction of the image of artistic graphics. Clichés were also considered typographic blanks for printing book texts in series. A cliché is a zinc plate on the surface of which a figure is en­graved in relief in negative, used as a matrix for the typographic reproducti­on of drawings and images. This tec­hnique was invented by Scottish gol­dsmith and typographer William Ged in 1725. Over time, the word cliché has become a metaphorical term for any set of ideas repeated identically or with only minor modifications.
• Secessionist – a term derived from the Latin word secessus, secede, meaning “to separate”. A secessionist wants to secede, is associated with, or supports secession (the act of becoming inde­pendent and no longer part of a coun­try, area, organization, etc.).
• Opus [la] – a word derived from Latin and meaning “work”.
• Πάθος-pathos [grc] – term, derived from ancient Greek and meaning “suf­fering” / “pain”. Pathos according to ancient Greek thought is the force that governs the human soul. The term itself is the opposite of logos, which is the rational part of thinking. The term πάθος-pathos was first used by the Greek sculptor and architect Skopas, who through his works had the merit of conveying to the public emotions that until then were not perceived. Pathos corresponds to the irrational part of the soul. The surface of this fe­eling in a work of art shows a complex reaction that evokes emotion and at the same time makes you identify with the character or situation expressed. Pathos is one of the three elements in Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”, which identifies three artistic modes of persuasion: λόγος^[grc]–logos-tell, πάθος^[grc]-pathos-pain, and ἦθος^[grc]–ethos-temperament.

Bibliography

Books

BOURCART, J., L’Albanie et les alba­nais / Shqipëria dhe shqiptarët, trans­lated by Asti Papa 2004, (cover), Shtëpia Boutese Dituria, Tiranë, 1921.

FRASHËRI, K., Bajroni në Shqipëri dhe takimet me Ali Pashë Tepelenën, Botimet Dudaj, Tiranë, 2009.

GORGON, J. & C. J., Two Vagabonds in Albania / Dy bredharakë në Shqipëri, translated by Edgar Frashëri 2014, Botimet Jozef, Durrës, 1927.

GRIPSHI, O., (2011), Emilio Salgari e i suoi romanzi illustrati da Alberto Della Valle, Aemme Edizioni, Verona, 2011.

KONICA, F., Shqipëria kopshti shkëmbor i Evropës Juglindore dhe shkrime të tjera, Vatra, Boston, 1957.

LEAR, E., Edward Lear in Albania / Edward Lear në Shqipëri; ditar udhëtimesh 1848-1849, translated by Majlind Nishku 2008, Shtëpia Botuese Plejad, Tiranë, 1851.

LOUIS JARAY, G., L’Albanie inconnue / Shqipëria e panjohur, translated by Asti Papa, 2006, Dituria, Tiranë, 1913.

OTTEN, K., Die Reise durch Albanien / Udhëtim në Shqipëri 1912, translated by Anila Omari 2005, Dituria, Tiranë, 1913.

SPENCER, E., Travels in European turkey, in 1850, through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace, Albania and Epirus; with a visit to Greece and the Ionian Isles, vol. II, Colburn and CO., Publishers, London, 1851.

VIGINI, G., Glossario di biblioteconomia, Editrice Bibliografica, Lampi di Stampa, Milano, 1999.

Online resources

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1897-04-17/ed-1/seq-1/ Publisher Charles M. Shortridge, San Francisco, California, p. 1.

Vocabulary

Cliché – is a term that refers to an ono­matopoeic sound or a repeated action, word and meaning. In the past, the word ‘cliché’ was associated with the zinco­graphic matrix for the serial reproduction of the image of artistic graphics. Clichés were also considered typographic blanks for printing book texts in series. A cliché is a zinc plate on the surface of which a figure is engraved in relief in negative, used as a matrix for the typographic re­production of drawings and images. This technique was invented by Scottish gold­smith and typographer William Ged in 1725. Over time, the word ‘cliché’ has become a metaphorical term for any set of ideas repeated identically or with only minor modifications.

Secessionist – a term derived from the Latin word secessus, secede, meaning “to separate”. A secessionist wants to secede, is associated with or supports secession (the act of becoming independent and no longer part of a country, area, organisa­tion, etc.).

Opus [la] – a word derived from Latin and meaning “work”.

Πάθος-pathos [grc] – term, derived from ancient Greek and meaning “suffering” / “pain”. Pathos according to ancient Greek thought, is the force that governs the hu­man soul. The term itself is the opposite of logos, which is the rational part of think­ing. The term πάθος-pathos was first used by the Greek sculptor and architect Skopas, who, through his works, had the merit of conveying to the public emotions that until then were not perceived. Pathos corresponds to the irrational part of the soul. The surface of this feeling in a work of art shows a complex reaction that evokes emotion and, at the same time, makes you identify with the character or situation expressed. Pathos is one of the three elements in Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”, which identifies three artistic modes of persuasion: λόγος^[grc]–logos-tell, πάθος^[grc]-pathos-pain, and ἦθος^[grc]–ethos-temper­ament.