The Three-Arched Bridge – Ismail Kadare

The Three-Arched Bridge - Ismail Kadare
The Three-Arched Bridge – Ismail Kadare

Legends, history and changes from 14th century Arberia, wrought around the construction of a bridge to span the wicked waters of the Ujana, the Ujana e Keqe.

Pre trip reading, I enjoyed this far more than Ismail Kadare’s The Accident, memories of which were still rather putting me off embarking on this short novella.

The story draws on the legend of a woman being immured in the walls of Rozafa Castle in Shkodër, which is on our itinerary so I’m glad I managed to read The Three-Arched Bridge before we head off to Tirana and thence north into The Accursed Mountains.

Publisher’s page: The Three-Arched Bridge – Ismail Kadare (Translated from the Albanian by John Hodgson)

The Accident – Ismail Kadare (translated by John Hodgson)

Billed as an Albanian crime novel, I’ve struggled the time shifting and uncertainty in this novel, and in particular the seemingly disfunctional relationship between the two main characters – are they a genuine couple, or not? Is Besfort Y a war criminal, or not? Is Rovena his high class call girl, or not? Has she always been, or not? Unfortunately, I don’t care about either of them nor their obsession with one another, certainly not enough to continue reading further – I’m abandoning The Accident at the end of chapter 12.

Publisher page: The Accident – Ismail Kadare (translated by John Hodgson)