Ernest Koliqi - Besa shqiptare
Ernest Koliqi - 'Besa shqiptare'

Summary/Abstract: Topics of the Albanian environment are common to a writer like Ernest Koliqi, raised in the bosom of Shkodra's literary school. Koliqi's literary works, like "Shadow of Mountains" or "Flag Trader", treat the Albanian topics in Albanian environments, one a completely traditional environment and the other a urban, modern one. In this paper we will treate the topic of "given word” (“besa shqiptare”) regarding the hospitality and cult of the friend (“miku”) in the Albanian tradition. We encounter this topic in some of the stories of "Shadow of the Mountains", in some special forms, but as the main topic is addressed in the short story "The firend” (“Miku”). This text is the “open door” to enter to the Ernest Koliqi's stories of Albanian topics, focused on a single, simple narrative situation, which describes the ideas of a writer according to the traditional categories of behavior. This story has a simple plot: Uc Lleshi, a high-ranking officer, who expects to advance in office, while in front of him, a friend (“mikun”) in his home, a reporter from Shkodra, prossecuted politicly by Government. In another situation here is going to be a drama of handing over or not the frind to the Government people, but the Uc does not even think to hand over the friend, because the Albanian house is God's and friend's. The friend is at home and given word can not be broken by either politics or career advancements. So, we are ahead of an old code of the “Kanun” and of the Albanian life, which links its moral base to the category of traditional onesty, therefore, along with Koliqi's story, this fundamental category of traditional Albanian life should be treated in any case.

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