Robert Elsie | AL Art | AL History | AL Language | AL Literature | AL Photography | Contact |

 

Robert Elsie
Albanian Literature

Albanian Authors

 

BACK

Rrahman DEDAJ

Rrahman DEDAJ

Datenschutz

Rrahman DEDAJ

 

Rrahman Dedaj (b. 1939) is a poet in constant evolution and one who has contributed substantially to the modernization of Albanian verse in Kosova. Dedaj was born near Podujeva and studied Albanian language and literature in Prishtina before becoming executive editor of Rilindja Publishing Company. He moved to London during the 1999 Kosova war and died there on 21 August 2005.

Dedaj’s poetic works are characterized by rich, emotive expression, by an almost mathematical precision in structure and semantics and by a search for a balance between tradition and modernity. His first collection Me sy kange, Prishtina 1962 (With eyes of song) evinced both personal and social motifs. In Simfonia e fjalës, Prishtina 1968 (Word symphony), his sensitive lyrics took on more neo-romantic tones, with an Orphean world of blossoms and butterflies. Later volumes, in particular Baladë e fshehur, Prishtina 1970 (Hidden ballad), Etje, Prishtina 1973 (Thirst) and Gjërat që s'preken, Prishtina 1980 (Things intangible), inaugurated a new stage in Kosovo verse, more attuned to contextual symbols and myths. This neosymbolist verse often runs rampant with animal and plant metaphors caught up and preserved in disciplined, elliptical structures. Recent collections include Jeta gabon, Prishtina 1983 (Life makes mistakes), Fatkeqësia e urtisë, Prishtina 1987 (The misfortune of wisdom), and Kryqëzim hijesh, Prishtina 1997 (Crossing of shadows).