Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

4 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | 23 rd O ctober 2009 Apart from a brief period of friendship in the 15th century, my country, Albania, and yours, Spain, never maintained any sort of relations. Complete rupture, however, occurred in the last century when my communist country, famous for breaking relations —this was, one might say, its speciality—, cut off all links with Spain. Nonetheless, as in all things in this world, the miracle of literature also possesses a tradition. During the glacial age of which I just spoke, when no-one travelled between my country and Spain, a solitary gentleman crossed the impassable frontier as often as he wished, spurning the world’s laws. You will imagine who I am referring to: Don Quixote. He was the only one who that communist regime did not manage to detain, which was precisely the easiest thing in the world for it to do: to detain, to ban. Don Quixote, whether as a book or as a living character, was as popular in Albania as if she had engendered him herself. The following explanation might be found for this paradox: Don Quixote was deranged, and the Albanian State was no less mad; hence, it was logical for two crazy beings to understand one another. At the same time as I apologise for comparing the noble derangement of Don Quixote with the perverse insanity of my State, allow me to tell you that this was not so, and that the parallelism is related to another phenomenon. I have made this long introduction so as to arrive at the main theme of my brief speech: the independence of literature. Don Quixote crossed the Albanian border because, among other things, he was independent. When an Albanian writer, due to works writtenmainly in a communist territory and period, comes to receive an Award from a Western kingdom, this occurs because literature is —by reason of its own nature— independent. The debate is a longstanding one. It has been and, perhaps, continues to be the main concern of this art. As opposed to the independence of states, that of literature is global. Hence its defence should also be… global. This does not mean that it is any easier. Quite the contrary. The independence of literature and the arts is an ongoing process. It is difficult for our mind to capture its true proportions. Accustomed as we are to independence mainly in reference to states, nations or even human individuals, we find it difficult to take it any further. To take it further means to understand that the non-dependence of the arts is not a question of luxury, a desire to perfect the arts themselves. It is an objective conditioning factor; that is to say, it is imperative. Otherwise, this parallel universe would not remain standing; it would have collapsed a long time ago. Ismaíl Kadaré — Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 2009 Excerpt from the speech given on the occasion of receiving the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature on 23/10/2009.