Religion as Escape and New Shelter: Defamiliarizing History in Popular Fiction
Religion as Escape and New Shelter: Defamiliarizing History in Popular Fiction

Summary/Abstract: The downfall of Realist Socialism in the post-communist environment of the Albanian speaking countries opened the way for the development of a variety of literary genres as well as for the growth of popular fiction. This paper focuses on the best-seller by Ben Blushi Living in an island (2008) which covers four centuries of Ottoman occupa-tion of Albania. The novel has provoked profuse debates within the Albanian speech-communities in the Region and was accused by the Muslim community for endangering the religious harmony and tolerance of Albanians. This paper argues that the blame derives from the interchange between the author and the narrator and from the inabil-ity to differentiate between different points of view within the narrative. Although literary critics have generally developed negative connotations about popular fiction as a kind of literature associated with industry, entertainment and escapism, the arti-cle claims that the popular novel by Blushi raises an important public debate about vital historical concerns such as whether the acceptance of Islam by Albanians was wilful or imposed. Rather than giving simple answers to these questions, Blushi’s novel provokes alternative ways of thinking about whether Albanians agreed to banish Christianism and accept Islam due to violent intrusion or due to free will, and if the conversion into another religion was a new way of survival and a shelter of self-protection.

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