The file on I. K.: Ismail Kadaré and the Homeric Question

Authors

  • Leonardo Francisco Soares UFU – Universidade Federal de Uberlândia – Instituto de Letras e Linguística ‒ Uberlândia – MG

Keywords:

Comparative Literature Studies, Homeric Question, Ismail Kadaré, The File on H,

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate how the Albanian writer Ismail Kadaré fictionally retrieves the discussion around the “Homeric Question” in his novel The File on H (1981). Our points of support are researches in the area of Classical Studies that deal with oral tradition, more specifically with the Oral-Formulaic Composition and Oral-Formulaic Theme in the Homeric epic. The File on H is a key novel to enter the fictional universe of Ismail Kadaré, because it clearly presents one of the main characteristics of his literature, which is the dialogue with Classical Greece and, in particular, with Homeric poems. We have established a dialogue, particularly in in this article, with the studies of Milman Parry (1930) and Albert B. Lord (1971), researchers whose oralist theory served as a reference for the construction of the protagonists of Ismail Kadaré’s novel.

Author Biography

Leonardo Francisco Soares, UFU – Universidade Federal de Uberlândia – Instituto de Letras e Linguística ‒ Uberlândia – MG

Doutor em Letras (Estudos Literários) pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG); Professor Adjunto do Instituto de Letras e Linguística da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. É professor permanente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Literários da mesma universidade.

Published

21/05/2018

Issue

Section

Classics: translation and reception