The Pyramid

In THE PYRAMID, the Albanian author, Ismail Kadare, tells the story of a pharaoh who desired to build a gigantic pyramid despite his initially opposing the idea of building it as the tomb to house him after death. The pyramid was so large that it would drain the prosperity of Egypt. It is said that the pyramid is metaphoric for it is symbolic of Communism that the Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha “built” in Albania. In this dark and hypnotic political fable, there are indeed suppressed uprisings, arrests, and numerous deaths during the long years that the pyramid was being built.

This is a highly recommended reading for connoisseurs of world literature.

{October 28, 2009}