Balkan beauty, Balkan blood

"Although Albanian literature dates back to the 1500s, creative prose from Albania is very much a recent phenomenon. Just as the early development of literature in Albanian was interrupted by Ottoman rule and oppression, its contemporary emergence was stymied by Stalinist politics and propaganda. Thus, this collection of stories from the last three decades presents a literature at once venerable and nascent, a tradition in the making. Reflected here are some of the literary paradoxes of Eastern Europe today: the startling originality of the new uneasily coupled with the strains of history; the sophistication and self-consciousness of late modernity married to the simplicity of a literature finding its voice; a refusal of political influence and pressure expressed through frankly political subject matter." "In Balkan Beauty, Balkan Blood, English-speaking readers will find established writers alongside newer talents, providing an elucidating and entertaining overview of the history and the future of the nation's literature. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.