Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro Commentary 2 in LCPJ Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian [Paper submitted at the International Symposium “Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in European Culture” held at the University of Murcia (Spain) from 19 to 21 November 2014.] The tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” was first translated into Albanian some sixty years ago by Alqi Kristo. Until October 2014 it was the only translation of “Romeo and Juliet” that existed in Albanian. Although Kristo was not an English graduate and was basically self-taught in English, this first translation has certainly undeniable merits. The Albanian text was used for reading by the university students for several decades. It was used as the basic text for the production of this tragedy on stage. It was first produced in 1964 by the students of the Drama School of the Academy of Arts in Tirana. It was then produced in March 2011 by Teatri Metropolitan “Shekspir” in Tirana. This first translation was published several times in separate and collected editions in Albania and Kosova (Kosovo). Reassessment of Shakespeare’s Works in Albania I started the retranslation of the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian in January 2014 and finished it on July 5th 2014. This second Albanian translation of “Romeo and Juliet” was published in October 2014. The retranslation of the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” was undertaken for several reasons: Volume 7/2, 2014 79 © LCPJ Publishing Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro • I have been teaching English Literature for more than forty-five years at Albanian universities. So, I thought I might have something new to say about this play to the Albanian reader as well as to the English-speaking reader. • The Albanian language has evolved during the last sixty years. Therefore, I thought I might advance something fresh, socio- linguistically thinking, in this new translation. • After a close reading of the original and of the first Albanian translation of “Romeo and Juliet”, I noticed that there was room for improvement and development. • In 2014 the world celebrated the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birthday. Here was an opportunity for me to give a modest contribution to the commemoration of Shakespeare’s birthday. And in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death will be commemorated. • Fifty years ago I was an undergraduate student of English at Tirana University. The teaching staff and students of English celebrated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday. Our professor of English Literature, Prof. Skender Luarasi, also one of the best translators of Shakespeare’s plays in Albania, held a commemorative speech. The students of English staged “Romeo and Juliet”. I played the role of Romeo and also recited sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer day?”, a fragment from Venus and Adonis “What am I that thou should contempt me thus?” and Brutus’s speech “Romans, countrymen and lovers” from “Julius Caesar”. Now, fifty years later, in my old age, I found it appropriate to commemorate Shakespeare with the translation of “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian. During the Albanian totalitarian regime world literature was strictly censored by communist propaganda. Many of Shakespeare’s plays © LCPJ Publishing 80 Volume 7/2, 2014 Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro were not allowed to be translated, published and produced in Albania. Such was the case of Henry VI, Taming of the Shrew, Two Gentlemen of Verona, etc. The production of plays was also strictly censored by Marxist –Leninist aesthetics. Lines with erotic allusion were omitted from the text. The actors had to lay the stress on the denunciation of kingship and aristocratic hierarchy and had to highlight the role of the masses in history. For instance, the production of the tragedy “Othello” had to focus on racial discrimination. The production of Shakespeare’s plays, staging and interpretation were generally old-fashioned, literal and declamatory. Since the early 1950’s Shakespeare has always been taught at Albanian high schools and universities as one of the authors of world literature. But, the interpretation and analysis of his writing career were heavily permeated by Marxist ideology. High school textbooks of World Literature contained invariably only two of Shakespeare’s works for reading and analysis: “Macbeth” and “Hamlet”. The 1993 edition of the high school textbook of “Letërsia Botërore” (“World Literature”) widened the scope of analysis and overcame the strict dogmas of Marxist ideology. But still the same works of Shakespeare remained in the textbook. Only in 1998, in the new edition of this textbook was “Macbeth” replaced with “Romeo and Juliet”. I am a co-author of this textbook and I decided to include “Romeo and Juliet” for reading and analysis instead of “Macbeth”, regarding the former as more appropriate for the adolescent age of high school students. Teachers of world literature had often complained of the dark atmosphere and bloodshed in “Macbeth” and had often suggested to replace this play with “Romeo and Juliet”. One argument for turning down this suggestion was that “Romeo and Juliet” provides a bad example of the disobedience of children to their parents, which is not a good example to the education of the young generation (!). Another argument was that the heroine of the play, Juliet, is only fourteen years old, so that she was regarded as legally unfit for marriage and again was a bad example for the adolescent age of schoolchildren. During the 45-year communist rule in Albania there were only three official translators of Shakespeare’s works – Skënder Luarasi, Vedat Kokona, and Alqi Kristo. They were politically guided and motivated to translate several Shakespearean tragedies, comedies and history plays. After 1990 Volume 7/2, 2014 81 © LCPJ Publishing Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro there was an increasing number of translators of Shakespeare’s works. A political motivation has also guided the contemporary translators of the post-communist era, such as Perikli Jorgoni, Qezar Kurti, Mihal Hanxhari, Napolon Tasi, Pashko Gjeçi, and Kristaq Traja, in their selection of Shakespeare’s works for translation and retranslation. The lifting of the stifling communist censorship in early 1990’s promoted the reassessment of world literature, including Shakespeare’s works. It was possible to provide new interpretations and new aesthetic theories which challenged the former Marxist clichés of literary critique. For the first time we had access to the new Freudian interpretations ofHamlet , the new theories about eroticism and sexual language in Shakespeare, the new critical approach to Othello’s Islamic faith, and the newest interpretations of the authorship of Shakespearean works. Renewed interest in the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” in Balkan Countries* Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” in Albania. The Ministry of Education recommended that high schools stage scenes from this tragedy in order to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth in amateur theatricals. In March 2011 a troupe of young professional actors directed by the Producer Kiço Londo staged Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” in the new oval hall “Shekspir” of the Metropol Theatre in Tirana. It was staged professionally in Albania after a long break of 47 years. The performance was very successful. From the premiere on March 3rd until April 10th, 2011 this tragedy was performed fifteen times. Ovid’s legend of the star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, children of two hostile neighbouring families from Babylon, has repeated itself thousands of times in real life in similar tragic stories of youthful lovers whose life was ruined by patriarchal prejudice. It was present also in a Balkan country with a population of mixed religions – in Albania. Though it is internationally recognized as a country of religious tolerance, when it comes to cross-religious love and marriage, the issue is not always easy © LCPJ Publishing 82 Volume 7/2, 2014 Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro and smooth. There are sad examples which demonstrate that religious intolerance and prejudice were a serious handicap for free choice in love and marriage of young people of different religions. The tragic love of the famous young couple from Verona certainly has reminiscences of Ovid’s legend, which inspired many writers and artists of the European Renaissance and which culminated in Shakespeare’s masterpiece “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”. The motif of free choice in love obstructed and handicapped by prejudice is also present in regions with a mixed ethnic population, where religious and ethnic prejudice is mixed with political motives as in the Balkans. More than 15 years after the bitter conflict, a staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet brought Kosovars and Serbians together to foster reconciliation. It was an interesting motivation of the representatives of the drama art from Kosova and Serbia to have initiated a joint project for staging together the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” which was going to be performed in Prishtina, Kosova, and Belgrade, Serbia. By this project of the joint production of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” these artists aimed at overcoming linguistic barriers and national hostility between the two countries and transmitting a message of integration and harmony among people without ethnic differences. The play was a joint production by two theatre organizations, Belgrade- based Radionica Integracije and Prishtina-based Qendra Multimedia, and was partly aimed at showing that Serbians and Kosovans can engage and work together, at least on stage.