What effects does Kadare’s choice to construct the “emotional electricity” between Diana and Gjorg have on his novel Broken April?
The carriage began to move. The stranger’s eyes, that seemed very dark, perhaps because of the paleness of his face, followed the square of window where Diana’s face appeared. She too, even though she knew that she should not be looking at him still, did not have the strength to turn her eyes from the wayfarer who had loomed up suddenly at the side of the road. 1
The physical crossing of Diana’s and Gjorg’s paths in “Broken April” is but a fleeting occurrence, and yet also the turning point of the novel. They meet before the inn as Diana and Bessian are travelling, visitors on their honeymoon towards the Kulla of Orosh, and Gjorg, having paid his blood tax, is returning from it. Following this point, the experiences of each of the three main characters – Bessian, Diana and Gjorg – and their dynamics take an about turn. Diana and Gjorg grow epic in each other’s eyes, even as they will never touch or converse, the former bound to leave the region and the latter bound for death under the laws of the Kanun, a circumstance which Kadare encapsulates within the image of the mist of Diana’s breath that clouds up the window of carriage separating her from Gjorg “as if anxious to draw a curtain between them (p. 110) What are Kadare’s intended effects in constructing the “emotional electricity” between Diana and Gjorg under this circumstance? An examination of the finer details of the shift in dynamics provides us with insight into this choice.
The “emotional electricity” between Diana and Gjorg affects each of them differently. For Diana, neglected emotionally by her new husband, Bessian, on their honeymoon into the depths of the Albanian High Plateau, a source of infinite fascination to him yet so dreary to her perception that she “almost cries aloud” (p. 75) at a rare sign of life and has difficulty falling asleep in the night, her feelings for Gjorg are empowering in many ways. Through them, she comes to acknowledge the inadequate connection between herself and Bessian, and to behave truer to her innermost feelings about their trip and his ideas. Up to this point, Kadare has portrayed her as a loving wife who tries her utmost to understand her husband’s perspectives, looking at him “kindly”, for instance, and seeing in his eyes “the deep brilliance that bursts out after unbearable waiting” (p. 69) even as she personally finds that which fuels his enthusiasm - the concept of the blood feud – “horrible”. (p. 69) Following this point however, we see decreasing instances of Diana setting her feelings aside, containing her questions or remaining silent about her opinions in order to to affirm Bessian. Instead of “look(ing) into his (eyes) with...kindness” (p. 72) or “leaning against him” (p. 66) as she has previously done, she ceases to respond to his words and touch. The climax of her questioning and repulsion for the system of the blood feud is seen when she shocks everyone by entering a tower of refuge. It is also soon apparent that Kadare transforms her from being one who tolerates Bessian’s focus on the High Plateau instead of their relationship, her feelings and her welfare, to one who is herself single-mindedly focused on the High Plateau whilst Bessian grows increasingly troubled about their relationship. Diana comes to think about Gjorg in words that Bessian has used in his idealising of life on the High Plateau – as a “black prince”, for example, or a “demigod.” (p.126)
In Diana’s mind’s eye, Gjorg, a young man who has been forced to kill another, for whom death by laws of vengeance in the near future is an accepted reality, “wander(s) forbidden roads, bearing omens of death in his hands, on his sleeve, in his wings,” “fac(ing) the darkness and primeval chaos of creation.” (p.126) It is with these thoughts that Kadare makes Gjorg an elevated figure in Diana’s mind. To Gjorg, too, who goes through the journey of intense emotions of a person who is fully conscious of his own impending death, from pain at the notion of his own “unfinished April,” (p. 190) to feeling “that his heart (has) leaped from his chest, and, opened up in that way, he (is) vulnerable, sensitive to anything, so that he might rejoice in anything, be cast down by anything,” (p. 34) to numbness and resignation to the fact that the “power (of the Kanun) reach(es) everywhere” (p. 27), Diana is epic. She is the final thought on his mind before he is killed, his hopes for seeing her again lifted high by another mountaineer stating that he has seen “a black carriage with a pretty woman in it.” (pg. 213) A young woman close to him in age, with eyes that are to him “at once distant and close, understandable and enigmatic, unmoved and sympathetic,” (p. 163) Diana epitomizes for Gjorg all that is precious and beautiful about life. Arranging the events such that she enters his life at the time that she does, Kadare has Diana function indirectly as an outlet for Gjorg’s emotions in the face of death. He realizes that he has “set out on the road... but to see that woman again,” that “without being aware of it, he (has) been looking for that carriage (that holds her).” (p. 162) When he witnesses “men talk(ing) about (Diana) as an everyday matter, in (a) dirty inn, in the arid smoke, with their mouths filled with bad teeth” (p., he imagines himself “jump(ing) to his feet”, “(unslinging) the rifle from his shoulder” and “kill(ing) them all.” (p. 163) In Gjorg’s surges of protectiveness for Diana and his fury towards all who he feels insults her is encompassed his regret at the brevity of his life and all the things dear to his heart with which he must soon part. Diana gives Gjorg’s last leg of life purpose, meaning and respite where his thoughts have previously been revolving endlessly around his own circumstances. For him, “(Diana’s) glance, while it aroused desire, (has) some quality that (takes) hold of (him), (carries him) away, beyond life, beyond the grave, to where (he can) look upon (himself) with serenity.”(p. 162)
Through constructing the haunting “emotional electricity” between Gjorg and Diana whilst making it impossible for the yearning of one for the other to be fulfilled, separating them with something as irreversible as death, Kadare heightens our ability to relate to and sympathize with the circumstances on the High Plateau. Firstly, he has us look at Gjorg through Diana’s eyes as her compassion for him deepens, to the likely effect that our compassion for him deepens too. Secondly, in having
Diana’s surety about her own perspective be strengthened by her crossing of paths with Gjorg – that life under the Kanun is brutal and “dreadful” (pg 116) especially for the Gjaks - Kadare turns us critical of Bessian’ overly romantic view of it. Thirdly, Kadare decreases the distance between us and Gjorg, and hence the distance between us and our capability to relate to life on the high plateau, since Gjorg puts a face to it. He does this by drawing Gjorg into the subplot of Diana and Bessian to whom we more closely share a way of life. Also extremely significant for fostering sympathy is simply making us witnesses to Gjorg having to depart from the world just as his love for Diana is in bloom. An important implication of our being able to understand more life on the High Plateau more profoundly is that we begin to see how the seemingly archaic laws of the region parallel the apathy we often have towards the laws, both official and social, that we allow to govern our ‘modern’ lives,“Broken April” was very likely intended to be, in part, a commentary on this.
This emotional connection between Diana and Gjorg against a background of almost violent despair; Diana fierce ,and yet incredibly tender, compassion for Gjorg and his yearning for her is the aspect of the novel. The “emotional electricity” established between these characters connects the us to life on the High Plateau in a way that cannot be accomplished through Gjorg alone because his experiences may seem too remote to our day-to-day experiences, Bessian alone because of his illusions around it, or Diana alone because of her lack of knowledge as an outsider. It is with the help of the “emotional electricity” he constructs between Diana and Gjorg that Kadare succeeds in engaging our emotions more intensely, deepening our understanding of the context of his novel, and furthering its partial function as a social commentary.
Bibliography
1 Kadare, Ismail. Broken April, trans. New Amsterdam Books and Saqi Books (Chicago,1990), p. 109
The carriage began to move. The stranger’s eyes, that seemed very dark, perhaps because of the paleness of his face, followed the square of window where Diana’s face appeared. She too, even though she knew that she should not be looking at him still, did not have the strength to turn her eyes from the wayfarer who had loomed up suddenly at the side of the road. 1
The physical crossing of Diana’s and Gjorg’s paths in “Broken April” is but a fleeting occurrence, and yet also the turning point of the novel. They meet before the inn as Diana and Bessian are travelling, visitors on their honeymoon towards the Kulla of Orosh, and Gjorg, having paid his blood tax, is returning from it. Following this point, the experiences of each of the three main characters – Bessian, Diana and Gjorg – and their dynamics take an about turn. Diana and Gjorg grow epic in each other’s eyes, even as they will never touch or converse, the former bound to leave the region and the latter bound for death under the laws of the Kanun, a circumstance which Kadare encapsulates within the image of the mist of Diana’s breath that clouds up the window of carriage separating her from Gjorg “as if anxious to draw a curtain between them (p. 110) What are Kadare’s intended effects in constructing the “emotional electricity” between Diana and Gjorg under this circumstance? An examination of the finer details of the shift in dynamics provides us with insight into this choice.
The “emotional electricity” between Diana and Gjorg affects each of them differently. For Diana, neglected emotionally by her new husband, Bessian, on their honeymoon into the depths of the Albanian High Plateau, a source of infinite fascination to him yet so dreary to her perception that she “almost cries aloud” (p. 75) at a rare sign of life and has difficulty falling asleep in the night, her feelings for Gjorg are empowering in many ways. Through them, she comes to acknowledge the inadequate connection between herself and Bessian, and to behave truer to her innermost feelings about their trip and his ideas. Up to this point, Kadare has portrayed her as a loving wife who tries her utmost to understand her husband’s perspectives, looking at him “kindly”, for instance, and seeing in his eyes “the deep brilliance that bursts out after unbearable waiting” (p. 69) even as she personally finds that which fuels his enthusiasm - the concept of the blood feud – “horrible”. (p. 69) Following this point however, we see decreasing instances of Diana setting her feelings aside, containing her questions or remaining silent about her opinions in order to to affirm Bessian. Instead of “look(ing) into his (eyes) with...kindness” (p. 72) or “leaning against him” (p. 66) as she has previously done, she ceases to respond to his words and touch. The climax of her questioning and repulsion for the system of the blood feud is seen when she shocks everyone by entering a tower of refuge. It is also soon apparent that Kadare transforms her from being one who tolerates Bessian’s focus on the High Plateau instead of their relationship, her feelings and her welfare, to one who is herself single-mindedly focused on the High Plateau whilst Bessian grows increasingly troubled about their relationship. Diana comes to think about Gjorg in words that Bessian has used in his idealising of life on the High Plateau – as a “black prince”, for example, or a “demigod.” (p.126)
In Diana’s mind’s eye, Gjorg, a young man who has been forced to kill another, for whom death by laws of vengeance in the near future is an accepted reality, “wander(s) forbidden roads, bearing omens of death in his hands, on his sleeve, in his wings,” “fac(ing) the darkness and primeval chaos of creation.” (p.126) It is with these thoughts that Kadare makes Gjorg an elevated figure in Diana’s mind. To Gjorg, too, who goes through the journey of intense emotions of a person who is fully conscious of his own impending death, from pain at the notion of his own “unfinished April,” (p. 190) to feeling “that his heart (has) leaped from his chest, and, opened up in that way, he (is) vulnerable, sensitive to anything, so that he might rejoice in anything, be cast down by anything,” (p. 34) to numbness and resignation to the fact that the “power (of the Kanun) reach(es) everywhere” (p. 27), Diana is epic. She is the final thought on his mind before he is killed, his hopes for seeing her again lifted high by another mountaineer stating that he has seen “a black carriage with a pretty woman in it.” (pg. 213) A young woman close to him in age, with eyes that are to him “at once distant and close, understandable and enigmatic, unmoved and sympathetic,” (p. 163) Diana epitomizes for Gjorg all that is precious and beautiful about life. Arranging the events such that she enters his life at the time that she does, Kadare has Diana function indirectly as an outlet for Gjorg’s emotions in the face of death. He realizes that he has “set out on the road... but to see that woman again,” that “without being aware of it, he (has) been looking for that carriage (that holds her).” (p. 162) When he witnesses “men talk(ing) about (Diana) as an everyday matter, in (a) dirty inn, in the arid smoke, with their mouths filled with bad teeth” (p., he imagines himself “jump(ing) to his feet”, “(unslinging) the rifle from his shoulder” and “kill(ing) them all.” (p. 163) In Gjorg’s surges of protectiveness for Diana and his fury towards all who he feels insults her is encompassed his regret at the brevity of his life and all the things dear to his heart with which he must soon part. Diana gives Gjorg’s last leg of life purpose, meaning and respite where his thoughts have previously been revolving endlessly around his own circumstances. For him, “(Diana’s) glance, while it aroused desire, (has) some quality that (takes) hold of (him), (carries him) away, beyond life, beyond the grave, to where (he can) look upon (himself) with serenity.”(p. 162)
Through constructing the haunting “emotional electricity” between Gjorg and Diana whilst making it impossible for the yearning of one for the other to be fulfilled, separating them with something as irreversible as death, Kadare heightens our ability to relate to and sympathize with the circumstances on the High Plateau. Firstly, he has us look at Gjorg through Diana’s eyes as her compassion for him deepens, to the likely effect that our compassion for him deepens too. Secondly, in having
Diana’s surety about her own perspective be strengthened by her crossing of paths with Gjorg – that life under the Kanun is brutal and “dreadful” (pg 116) especially for the Gjaks - Kadare turns us critical of Bessian’ overly romantic view of it. Thirdly, Kadare decreases the distance between us and Gjorg, and hence the distance between us and our capability to relate to life on the high plateau, since Gjorg puts a face to it. He does this by drawing Gjorg into the subplot of Diana and Bessian to whom we more closely share a way of life. Also extremely significant for fostering sympathy is simply making us witnesses to Gjorg having to depart from the world just as his love for Diana is in bloom. An important implication of our being able to understand more life on the High Plateau more profoundly is that we begin to see how the seemingly archaic laws of the region parallel the apathy we often have towards the laws, both official and social, that we allow to govern our ‘modern’ lives,“Broken April” was very likely intended to be, in part, a commentary on this.
This emotional connection between Diana and Gjorg against a background of almost violent despair; Diana fierce ,and yet incredibly tender, compassion for Gjorg and his yearning for her is the aspect of the novel. The “emotional electricity” established between these characters connects the us to life on the High Plateau in a way that cannot be accomplished through Gjorg alone because his experiences may seem too remote to our day-to-day experiences, Bessian alone because of his illusions around it, or Diana alone because of her lack of knowledge as an outsider. It is with the help of the “emotional electricity” he constructs between Diana and Gjorg that Kadare succeeds in engaging our emotions more intensely, deepening our understanding of the context of his novel, and furthering its partial function as a social commentary.
Bibliography
1 Kadare, Ismail. Broken April, trans. New Amsterdam Books and Saqi Books (Chicago,1990), p. 109