Product Description

The general is an Italian, sent by his government to Albania to repatriate the remains of Italian troops killed there during the war, 20 years before. Ironically, he meets a German general engaged on an identical mission, and their conversations bring into the open their horror and guilt.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #457507 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-21
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 263 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The General of the Dead Army, Ismail Kadare's meditation on the consequences of war, is a hugely moving account of duty and loss. It is 20 years since the end of the Second World War and an Italian army general is sent to Albania to search again for the bodies of those who lost their lives in the campaign. He is armed with maps, lists, measurements, dental and other records. He tours the countryside organising digs and disinternments and, as he tries to find the dead sons of forgotten families, he wonders at the sense, and scale, of his task. He discusses and argues with the curt Italian priest who is accompanying him. He finds his footsteps followed, sometimes anticipated, by a fellow general who is also looking for bodies; the bodies of his German countrymen. He struggles with the Albanian countryside, weather, labourers who work for him and peasants who watch their work. And he fights the despair that grows as the size, scope and, ultimately, the hopelessness of his task becomes ever more apparent.

Kadare's plaintive novel is a consistently heartfelt lament to all those who have died and been effected by war but it is also a beautiful work displaying the skills that make him one of the great modern European writers. --Mark Thwaite

Review
" "He has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil" - Independent on Sunday. "Kadare's first novel caught on in the West as nothing out of Albania had in living memory" - Observer. "Kadare is a novelist of dazzling mastery" PAUL BINDING - Independent"

PAUL BINDING, Independent
Kadare is a novelist of dazzling mastery

Customer Reviews

Bleak, but gripping
I read the Quartet Books edition of this book which has a preface by David Smiley, an SOE operative in Albania during WW2. He usefully points out where Kadare's text glosses over the complexities of the war in Albania. Invaded in 1939 by the Italians, possibly as a springboard to invade Greece, it was later (when the Italians had been thrown back into Albania) simultaneously occupied by the Germans, a situation made even more complex when Italy capitulated and joined the Allies in the summer of 1943. Both before and after the Italian volte face the various factions (collaborators, monarchists, Communists, partisans, SOE operatives) waged a confusing war in unforgiving terrain. That said, Kadare was writing under difficult circumstances, and the book is gripping. Written between 1962-1966 it is a bleak picture of the futility of war. Since 1994 I have visited Albania a number of times, both independently and with guided tours, and I find the country fascinating. TGOTDA was my first Kadare novel; it won't be my last.

An important book.
Kadaré's book takes us on a journey through the Albanian landscape, and through the mind of an Italian general, who has come to Albania to collect the remains of his country's soldier from the second world war. This plot allows for a lot of deep thoughts and emotions, which Kadaré examines properly. Through glimpses into the minds of Italian soldiers during the war he also delivers comments on the pointlessness of war, the loss of identity, and many other topics which could have been explored more. But that is left to the reader, and the philosophical reader may remain with these questions at hand long after finishing the book. A very moving book, and an author I simply must explore further.

Depth that makes it literature and not just a story
Kadare, in my opinion, is one of the greats in literature. This story is a classic example of deep meaning intertwined in the simple story of a general gathering his dead comrades from the mountains of Albania. Few can match the subtle messages Kadare gives in his storie. Well done.