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'The Fatal September' Named as One of Most Powerful Prose Created in Albania

By Mehdi Hyseni, PhD

"The Fatal September 11, 2001" in the Pages of a Thrilling Albanian Novel, Written by Skifter Kellici

(On the occasion of it 10 anniversary)

With the creativity of the known writer and sports commentator of  Albanian Radio-Television, Skifter Kellici, I am known in the late 60s with several volumes of short stories, and especially from the late 80s with the novel "Assassination in Paris", which is among the best novels of Albanian literature with historical subject, who then managed to break even in Kosovo to be welcomed.

The reason was because the novel exalts heroic patriot act known Avni Rustemi, who on June 13, 1920 with two shots in the middle of Paris killed the traitor with the brand, Esat Toptani  that pretendedly as a Prime Minister of Albania was ready to make territorial concessions to the ambitions of their neighbors and especially those Serbs who had occupied the town of Shkodra and other areas of  ethnic Albania.

And here, recently, after so many years I had the opportunity to read another  work of this famous Albanian writer-novel by the Albanian-American theme "The Fatal September" (published by "Albin", Tirana, 2010), the first of its kind in Albanian literature, that this time is devoted to one another historical event, but contemporary and global-scale tragedy of 11 September 2001 in the World Trade Center Twin Towers of New York, where, as cause and consequence of attack Islamic fundamentalist terrorist were killed over 3000 innocent people, of whom, three  Albanians, Rrok Camaj, Mon Gjonbalaj and Simon Dedvukaj.

Based on the motives of the life of his fellow countrymen, the author along with other American characters, or come from other parts of the world is inspired  and succeed to create three new characters, with a geographical extension and artistic generalization even greater in the dimensional sense. These are Besim Vokshi from Kosova, Rroka Camaj from the ethnic Albanian territories under Montenegro and Mark Muzaka (Arbresh-Albanian) originating of this famous Albanian feudal family, closely connected with Scanderbeg, who along with hundreds of other families Albanians forced to leave after the Turkish invasion of the homeland and moving to Italy's southern provinces.

And, if we  add to these characters  and Sokol Kama, a former journalist of Albanian Radio-Televison  (ARTV), emigrated to America after 1990, a character that reminds us the author itself of the novel "The Fatal Septembder" means that Albanian leitmotivs with the retrospectives of the characters give us the idea that within the 188 pages of this novel are not many, moving mass of stormy historical events that lead us from the tragedy of Albanian territories of Ulqin, Tivar, Hoti, Gruda, Plava, Gucia, Tuzi, that after Congress of Berlin in 1878 fell under the rule of Montenegro, to come in 1913, when after the secret Treaty of London, Kosovo Serb chauvinists  engorged out. Not only Kosovo, but also other territories Ethnic Albania.  

Took out a summary conclusion by reading the first  part of the novel titled "20 May 2001, afternoon, around 17:00 am": these characters from the Albanian world, as a result of these disasters that have hit our nation for centuries, unites exile in America, with the hope that one day will return again in the ethnic Albanian native lands. This is one side of the coin, which makes this novel to have the firstly Albanian-American theme, thanks retrospectives, though events developed  in America. And can not otherwise occur, while these Albanian  compatriots are coming from the other different rural areas of Albania that living and working in America, so between Americans. And, its the author's merit that the above Albanians link with Americans made by Steve Ferguson, a CNN journalist, this world-famous giant television.

This journalist, as reflected in the pages of the novel, is attached to the 107th floor of one of the twin towers to be familiar with Besim Vokshi and Mark Muzaka to prepare a television documentary devoted to these eagles that boldly unprecedented, insert into the cage, clean the outside of glassware high floor twin towers, at heights above 300 meters, when these baskets in winter or summer as shaken by the winds were nutshell. Hence his documentary will be titled " Eagles on the twin towers."

The lovers and curious to know the history of Albania and Kosovo, to hear from the lips of his Albanian friends and reading, especially of the  Besim, which in 60s to the twentieth century, to escape from UDB's (Serbian Secret Police) the prosecution, he has escaped from his birthplace Kosovo in Albania and there again, followed by Albanian secret polices  he was forced to flee to Greece, to be decided later in America, Steve had taken with him in the tower and fiancee, Jacqueline, an airline stewardess from Boston, invites them in their wedding will take place on September 20, 2001.

While in the  first part of the novel we see the treatment  of events, so this tragedy and tie the knot other events that will follow, in the second and third parts of the novel there is the  development of these events, because the terrorists now appear five- Muhamed Atta an architect who graduated in Egypt, Satem al Sukami, a student at the Faculty of Justice in the Royal University of Rabat in Saudi Arabia, two brothers  Vail and  Rashid al Shakri, the first a teacher and the second one hardworking laborer and finally Abdul al Omar a cottar from Saudi Arabia.

-Fabricated characters are these?  -No, not at all. These are real characters, so just five terrorists in one of the two hijacked planes into the International Airport "Logan" of Boston, who was hit with two twin towers of New York. Of course, figured handle, even with very artistic realism . They aren't black and white characters, by contrast, they have their spiritual world, have dilemmas, especially the second brother, Vali, when  he thinks  that along with the first brother, Rashid, would die in this terrorist assassination, as victims of empty promises of Bin Laden, who  also is the character in this novel, namely, that after this self-sacrifice, would go to heaven, but, on the other hand, Vali will leave his widow  disolated mother, who barely had raised  him. Or Abdul hireling who had left his young wife with a child of two years old in his village, he was trained in military camps in Afghanistan and, now, under his persuasion in vain, he's going to paradise. "Surely to heaven?" - He asks himself? And Abdul suspect in himself loses patience and confidence ghost,  being that his co-terrorists had attacked and killed two pilots, Muhammed  Atta rans the plane of the towers, Abdul break forth, clash with him, but was later, the tragedy had occurred.  

And, just pages that describe the meditations of terrorists, their unjustified hatred as fundamentalists, against America, against Christianity, that leavened crusades  period against Islam, to liberate the holy land and Jerusalem, conquered by Turks and that often resulted in crimes against the innocent Muslim population and Jewish, then hatred, also unjustified to Western civilization. These meditations on the plane have  served to give up the ghost and impetus to terrorists to commit their criminal actions  against humanity, allegedly in defense of Islam.

The anxiety of passengers, among them the tewardess Jacqueline that as she was doing last flight from Boston, then married to Steve in New York on September 20, then after a few days, this anxiety of the Passengers cheated by Muhammad Atta  who by microphone falsely tried to calm all them in  the aircraft, promising that they are coming back to Boston from where they started ... Jacqueline's suspicion, which the mobile reported in the offices of Steve CNN that the opposite was happening, the plane was heading one of the towers, passengers clash with terrorists, are the most emotional pages of this novel  that hold the reader with the spirit in limbo.

And these episodes to add morbid scenes in one of the towers already affected, where Besim worked with Mark, many floors below, and the third Albanian, Rrok Camaj, nightmare  descent of hundreds of workers from the stairs, when they will be demolished by burning, to burn and incinerating those people, wounding the Besim, Mark's efforts to save it, the last Besim's phone conversation with his son, his last will to him that with his mother one day return to free Kosovo, his death, then Mark's flight, flight of death, one of the windows of the tower, seeing no escape route, just as years ago, when a juvenile jumping from cliffs of River that flowed near his Arbersh(Albanian) village, Camaj Rrok even death, which, however, manages to get from the tower that collapsed is a small child, that to protect it from flames, was covered with jackets "in it and firefighters delivers, and other creepy scene, described  by the artistic language that we  can be found only in  Koliqi's, Pashko and Kadare prose.

Thus, we can conclude that we have read very much a thrilling novel, highly original, with a composition more accurate harmonic, where events naturally interact  within a few hours, once the Twin Towers, once the International  Logan Airport  in Boston, which was launched by terrorists and, where was working Sokol, a former journalist of the Albanian Radio-Television (ART), hereupon the author itself of this novel, who so the only Albanian of this novel that escapes from this tragedy.

Here, because Steve has commented whole story on CNN of this tragedy, which also finds the death of his fiancee Jacqueline, which will marry after a few days, when Sokol after that gave him the condolence for her loss, the estimates for Vocational shown during the live broadcast to millions of TV spectators, Steve then finds the strength to respond:  

"It's not true, Sokol, ... You can do much more than  I have  done .You can and should write a novel, because you are self-alive part of all these events that  you experienced and that we are experiencing ... And remember, dear, that as Greeks artifully invaded Troy by wooden horse, and by stealth Islamist terrorists hijacked planes hit the towers and with them. But if they are buried in the rubble fell them how many victims, with America this will  never happen more. This land blessed by God always will be the promised land for all those seeking to find the tenacity and willpower, housing, prosperity, happiness. Look, why do we Americans have a right to feel proud of yourself , although it has fallen in mort, mort in that for which you will write one day."  

Considering  that the novel "The Fatal September", written by the author Skifter Kellici, with  the Albanian-American theme, is one of the most powerful prose created in Albania over the last 20 years, given that, in its focus has a kosovar character  that carries out the Kosovo problems and concerns to our day, deserves to be published by any publishing house in Pristina, and to be translated and published in English abroad both in the United States and Europe too.