Naim Frashëri

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the writer. For the actor, see Naim Frashëri (actor).
For the publishing house, see Naim Frashëri Publishing House.

Naim Frashëri
Educator Historian

Journalist Poet Politician

rilindas
translator

Albanian Renaissance
Relatives
Signature
Signature of Naim Frashëri

Naim bey Frashëri,

Albanian cultural icons of the 19th century.[3]

Frashëri's works explored themes such as

Asdreni, Gjergj Fishta and Lasgush Poradeci, among many others.[6][7]

national motto
of Albania. It speaks to unity, freedom and it embodies in its words a sense of pride towards the country and people.

Life

Family

The family house of Naim Frashëri in Frashër.

Naim Frashëri was born on 25 May 1846

ancestry back to the 15th century.[11]

Naim and his brothers

Tomorr Mountains. He became acquainted with numerous cultures and languages such as Arabic, Ancient and Modern Greek, French, Italian, Ottoman Turkish and Persian.[12] He was one of the few men to whom the literary culture of the Occident and Orient was equally familiar and valuable.[11]

Upon the death of his father, he and his family settled to

Albanian Renaissance in which he later became the most distinguished representative of that period.[11]

Education

His religion paved the way for much of his future accomplishments.

In the

Bektashi upbringing, he spent a part of his time in a Bektashi tekke. After the death of their parents, the family moved to Ioannina in 1865. The eldest brother, Abdyl (b. 1839), became the family head at the age of 22 and started working as a merchant. That year Naim and Sami enrolled in the Zosimaia secondary school.[13] The education there provided Naim with the basics of a classical education along Western lines.[9] Apart from languages he learned in the Zosiamaia (Ancient and Modern Greek, French and Italian), Naim took private lessons in Persian, Turkish and Arabic from two important local Bektashi.[14]

After he finished his studies in 1870, Frashëri worked for a few months at the press office in Istanbul (1870) but was forced to return to his home village because of tuberculosis. The climate of Frashër helped Naim and soon he started work in the Ottoman bureaucracy as a clerk in Berat and later in Saranda (1872–1877).[15][16] However, in 1876 Frashëri left the job and went to Baden, in modern Austria to cure his problems with rheumatism in a health resort.[11][14]

Politics

In 1879, along with his brother Sami and 25 other Albanians, Naim Frashëri founded and was a member of the

Society for the Publication of Albanian Writings in Istanbul that promoted Albanian language publications.[17][18] Ottoman authorities forbid writing in Albanian in 1885 that resulted in publications being published abroad and Frashëri used his initials N.H.F. to bypass those restrictions for his works. Later on, Albanian schools were established in 1887 in Southeastern Albania.[19]

An Albanian magazine,

Faik Konitza in 1887, Frashëri expressed sentiments regarding the precarious state of the Ottoman Empire that the best outcome for Albanians was a future annexation of all of Albania by Austria-Hungary.[22]

In 1900 Naim Frashëri died in Istanbul. During the 1950s the Turkish government allowed for his remains to be sent and reburied in Albania.[23]

Career

Works

"Oh mountains of Albania
and you, oh trees so lofty,
Broad plains with all your flowers,
day and night I contemplate you,
You highlands so exquisite,
and you streams and rivers sparkling,
Oh peaks and promontories,
and you slopes, cliffs, verdant forests,
Of the herds and flocks
I'll sing out which you hold
and which you nourish.
Oh you blessed, sacred places,
you inspire and delight me!
You, Albania, give me honour,
and you name me as Albanian,
And my heart you have replenished
both with ardour and desire.
Albania! Oh my mother!
Though in exile I am longing,
My heart has ne'er forgotten
all the love you've given to me ..."

—Oh mountains of Albania
from Bagëti e Bujqësi[24]

With its literary stature and the broad range both stylistic and thematic of its content, Frashëri significantly contributed to the development of the modern

Albanian people
.

In his poem Bagëti e Bujqësi, Frashëri idyllically describes the natural and cultural beauty of Albania and the modest life of its people where nothing infringes on mystical euphoria and all conflicts find reconciliation and fascination.[25]

Frashëri saw his liberal

theological Fletore e Bektashinjet which is now a piece of national importance.[27] It contains an introductory profession of his faith and ten spiritual poems granting a contemporary perspective into the beliefs of the sect.[27]

  1. Kavâid-i farisiyye dar tarz-i nevîn (Grammar of the Persian language according to the new method), Istanbul, 1871.
  2. Ihtiraat ve kessfiyyat (Inventions and Discoveries), Istanbul, 1881.
  3. Fusuli erbea (Four Seasons), Istanbul, 1884.
  4. Tahayyülat (Dreams), Istanbul, 1884.
  5. Bagëti e Bujqësi (Herds and Crops), Bucharest, 1886.
  6. E këndimit çunavet (Reader for Boys), Bucharest, 1886.
  7. Istori e përgjithshme për mësonjëtoret të para (General history for the first grades), Bucharest, 1886.
  8. Vjersha për mësonjëtoret të para (Poetry for the first grades), Bucharest, 1886.
  9. Dituritë për mësonjëtoret të para (General knowledge for the first grades), Bucharest, 1886.
  10. O alithis pothos ton Skypetaron (The True Desire of Albanians, Greek: Ο αληθής πόθος των Σκιπετάρων), Bucharest, 1886.
  11. Luletë e Verësë (Flowers of the Summer), Bucharest, 1890.
  12. Mësime (Lessons), Bucharest, 1894.
  13. Parajsa dhe fjala fluturake (Paradise and the Flying Word), Bucharest, 1894.
  14. Gjithësia (Omneity), Bucharest, 1895.
  15. Fletore e bektashinjët (The Bektashi Notebook), Bucharest, 1895.
  16. O eros (Love, Greek: Ο Έρως), Istanbul, 1895.
  17. Iliadh' e Omirit, (Homer's Iliad), Bucharest, 1896.
  18. Histori e Skënderbeut (History of Skanderbeg), Bucharest, 1898.
  19. Qerbelaja (Qerbela), Bucharest, 1898.
  20. Istori e Shqipërisë (History of Albania), Sofia, 1899.
  21. Shqipëria (Albania), Sofia, 1902.

Legacy

A bust of Naim Frashëri in Bucharest, Romania.

The prime representative of

Albanian people in the 20th century.[28][29] He is also widely regarded as the national poet of Albania and is celebrated as such among the Albanian people in Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and other Albanian-inhabited lands in the Balkans
.

After his death, Frashëri became a great source of inspiration and a guiding light for the Albanian writers and intellectuals of the 20th century amongst them

Asdreni, Gjergj Fishta, Mitrush Kuteli and Lasgush Poradeci.[6][7]
His great work such as Bagëti e Bujqësi, Gjuha Jonë and Feja promoted national unity, consciousness, and tolerance in the breasts of his countrymen an enthusiasm for the culture and history of their ancestors.

Albanians of the Bektashi faith were in particular influenced and motivated by his work.[30] Himself a Bektashi, he desired purity of the Albanian language and had attempted in his lifetime to Albanianise hierarchical terms of the order in his work Fletore e Bektashinjët which called for an Albanian Bektashism.[31] His poem Bagëti e Bujqësi celebrated the natural beauty of Albania and the simple life of Albanian people while expressing gratitude that Albania had bestowed upon him "the name Albanian".[29] In Istori' e Skënderbeut, he celebrated his love for Albania by referring to the medieval battles between the Albanians and Ottomans while highlighting Skenderbeg's Albanian origins and his successful fight for liberation.[32][29] In Gjuha Jonë, he called for fellow Albanians to honour their nation and write in Albanian while in another poem Feja, he pleaded with Albanians not make religious distinctions among themselves as they all were of one origin that speak Albanian.[29]

Numerous organizations, monuments, schools, and streets had been founded and dedicated to his memory throughout Albania, Kosovo as well as to a lesser extent in North Macedonia and Romania. His family's house, where he was born and raised, in Frashër of Gjirokastër County is today a museum and was declared a monument of important cultural heritage.[33] It houses numerous artefacts including handwritten manuscripts, portraits, clothing and the busts of him and his brothers Abdyl and Sami.[34]

Frashëri's portrait is depicted on the

order of merit that bears his name which was awarded to, amongst others, the Albanian nun and missionary Mother Teresa.[37]

Gallery

  • Frashëri (up right) on the reverse of a 1964 10 Lekë banknote
    Frashëri (up right) on the reverse of a 1964 10 Lekë banknote
  • Frashëri on the obverse of a 1994 500 Lekë banknote
    Frashëri on the obverse of a 1994 500 Lekë banknote
  • Frashëri on the obverse of a 2012 200 Lekë banknote
    Frashëri on the obverse of a 2012 200 Lekë banknote
  • Frashëri on the obverse of 2017 200 Lekë polymer banknote
    Frashëri on the obverse of 2017 200 Lekë polymer banknote

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3
    .
  2. ISBN 9789637326608
    .
  3. ISBN 9789027234537
    .
  4. ^ Osmani, Edlira. "God in the Eagles' Country: The Bektashi Order" (PDF). iemed.org. Quaderns de la Mediterrània 17, 2012. p. 113. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  5. OCLC 28067651
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6
    .
  9. ^ a b Gawrych 2006, p. 13.
  10. ^ Frashëri 2014, p. 385.
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4
    .
  12. ^ Robert Elsie. "Die Drei Frashëri-Brüder" (PDF). elsie.de (in German). p. 23. Hier lernte er Alt- und Neugriechisch, Französisch und Italienisch. Sein besonderes Interesse galt dem Bektaschitum, den Dichtern der persischen Klassik und dem Zeitalter der französischen Aufklärung. Mit dieser Erziehung verkörperte er den osmanischen Intellektuellen, der in beiden Kulturen, der morgenländischen und der abendländischen, gleichermaßen zu Hause war.
  13. ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 13, 26.
  14. ^
    ISBN 9789992713372
    .
  15. ^ Dhimitër S. Shuteriqi (1971). Historia e letërsisë shqipe (History of Albanian Literature).
  16. ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 14.
  17. ^ Skendi 1967, p. 119.
  18. ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 59.
  19. ^ Skendi 1967, p. 128.
  20. ^ a b Skendi 1967, p. 146.
  21. ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, p. 88.
  22. ^ Skendi 1967, p. 268.
  23. ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 200.
  24. ISBN 9781845110314
    .
  25. ISBN 9789928409096
    .
  26. S2CID 15564654. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 20 October 2019.
  27. ^
    ISBN 9781788315715
    .
  28. ISBN 1-84511-031-5
    , retrieved 18 January 2011, major source of inspiration and guiding lights for most Albanian poets and intellectuals
  29. ^
    ISBN 9781400847761
    .
  30. ^ Skendi 1967, p. 166.
  31. ^ Skendi 1967, pp. 123, 339.
  32. ISBN 9781845112875
    .
  33. Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës
    . p. 2.
  34. Ministry of Culture of Albania
    . pp. 17–18.
  35. Banka e Shqipërisë. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original
    on 26 February 2009.
  36. Banka e Shqipërisë
    .
  37. ^ Parliament of Albania. "Ligj Nr.6133, datë 12.2.1980 Për titujt e nderit dhe dekoratat e Republikës Popullore Socialiste të Shqipërisë" (in Albanian). Parliament of Albania. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2010.

Sources

  • Frashëri, Alfred; Frashëri, Neki (2014). Frashëri në historinë e Shqipërisë. Dudaj.
    ISBN 978-99943-0-051-8
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naim_Frashëri&oldid=1213483162"