Gjergj Fishta

Early life and education Fishta was born in 1871 as Zef Ndoka to a Catholic Albanian family in Fishtë, which is a village located in the Zadrima region. His parents were Ndok and Prenda Kaçi, and he was the youngest of three brothers and one sister. The parish priest of Troshan - Marian Pizzochini of Palmanova - asked Gjergj's parents to make him a friar. At the expense of the parishioner, Zef went to the Franciscan school in Shkodër until 1880, which is when Troshan's College began its activity. After completing his initial education in the Franciscan colleges of Troshan and Shkodër in 1886, Fishta was sent by the Franciscan Order to Bosnia, where he came into close contact with classical Latin and modern West European literary traditions. By 1902, Fishta became the director of every Franciscan school in northern Albania, and he replaced Italian with Albanian as the language of instruction. In 1907, Fishta founded the first Albanian public library in the city of Shkodër, alongside fellow Albanian activist Shtjefën Gjeçovi. Fishta participated in the Congress of Manastir, which was held in the city of Manastir in 1908 with the intention of standardising the Albanian alphabet. Later career In 1913, Fishta founded the monthly Hylli i Drites, one of the most important cultural periodicals in Albania prior to 1944, and during 1916–1919, he edited the biweekly Posta e Shqypnis (The herald of Albania) in Shkodër. In 1921, Fishta was elected to the Albanian parliament as a representative of Shkodër, and in August of that year was made vice president of the assembly. Fishta attended numerous Balkan conferences, such as in Athens in 1930, in Sofia in 1931, and in Bucharest in 1932. However, he eventually withdrew from public life and devoted his remaining years to his literary works as well as the Franciscan order, where he held the office of provincial of the Albanian Franciscans from 1935 to 1938. He spent the later years of his life in seclusion at the Franciscan monastery of Gjuhadol in Shkodër. == Literary works ==

Fishta authored 37 literary publications during his lifetime, and he was particularly notable for his work as a lyric and satirical poet. Fishta's lyric verse is regarded to be his best; these works include the collections ''Vierrsha i perspirteshem t'kthyem shcyp'' ('Spiritual Verse Translated into Albanian', 1906); Mrizi i zâneve ('Noonday Rest of the Zanas', 1913); Vallja e Parrizit ('The Dance of Paradise', 1925), and the satirical volumes Anxat e Parnasit ('The Wasps of Parnassus', 1907) and Gomari i Babatasit ('Babatasi's Ass', 1923). According to Arshi Pipa, Fishta's satirical works are modulated after the Bejte tradition of Shkodër, which he elevated to a literary level. The literature of Shkodra produced by Catholic Albanian clergymen entered a golden age during the first decades of the 20th century, and this blossoming of Gheg Culture is largely credited to Fishta, who was universally recognised as Albania's national poet at the outbreak of World War II. The story begins with skirmishes between Albanian highlanders from the Hoti tribe and the Montenegrins who had attacked them, capturing the heroic acts of figures such as Oso Kuka. The main section of the work consists of the cantos VI-XVV, which focuses on the League of Prizren between 1878 and 1880 and covers numerous battles, duels and folkloric elements. The final cantos focus on the Young Turk Revolution, the general uprisings in northern Albania, the Balkan Wars and the Albanian declaration of independence. According to Fishta himself, the hero of The Highland Lute is the Albanian nation. after the recent massacres and expulsions of Albanians by their Slavic neighbours. The majority of The Highland Lute was composed between 1902 and 1909, but it was refined and amended by Fishta until the original 30 cantos were published in Shkodër in 1937 to mark the 25th anniversary of Albania's independence. The Highland Lute is the first major contribution to global literature written in the Albanian-language. It is arguably the most powerful epic poem written in Albanian in terms of its literary impact and the most successful in terms of public reception. == Censorship ==

After the Communist regime came to power in Albania, Fishta's literature had been taken out of circulation. Fishta was perhaps denigrated more than any other pre-Communist writer, but this was not the result of the alleged pro-Italian or clerical sympathies. Rather, Fishta's censorship was the result of the pro-Slavic sympathies of the Albanian communists that were rooted in Yugoslavian involvement in their actual establishment, and his works were wrongfully labelled as "anti-Slavic propaganda". Fishta's censorship persisted until the fall of communism in the early 1990s. == Legacy ==

"If they refuse to unite us in one state because they claim Albanians are Muslims, then we Christians will melt down our crosses to forge bullets to defend our Muslim brothers." Gjergj Fishta’s legacy is that of a priest and poet who forged an Albanian national identity through language, culture, and unity, transcending religious divides to elevate Albanian consciousness and dignity. Fishta's talent as an orator served him well as a political figure and as a member of the clergy. Awards in his lifetime In the last years of the Ottoman rule over Albania, proposed by the wali of Shkodër Hasan Riza Pasha he was awarded with the Maarif Order of 2nd class (tr. Maarif Nişanı, Order of Education) for his contribution in the local education. He was awarded with the Order of Franz Joseph from Austro-Hungarian Empire authorities, later on in 1925 with the Medaglia di Benemerenza by the Holy See. On 1931 by the Order of the Phoenix by Greece, and after the Italian invasion of Albania he was part of the Royal Academy of Italy. == Honours and awards ==

In Albania: • National Flag Order (posthumous) From other countries: • Second Class of the Order of Education (Ottoman Empire, 1912) • Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph (Austrian Empire) • Medaglia di Benemerenza (Holy See, 1925) • Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (Kingdom of Greece, 1931) == Bibliography ==