By Elisabeta Ilnica
Interview with the author Majlinda Nana Rama, after the release of her novel, “The Lady in Red”
Memorie.al / Red always attracts, even when it comes to a book title. After a series of publications in poetry, essays, literary studies, etc., Majlinda Nana Rama returns to the novel. The journalist and writer Rama, a few years ago, brought out the new book “The Lady in Red”, where at its center is a “deranged lady”, named Jasmina. Why does the author think that, who more and who less, is a little Jasmine.
Ms. Rama, after a series of publications in poetry, essays, novels, literary studies, you return to the novel. So, it comes recently for the reader “The lady in red”, that actually we already know that the lady is Jasmina. Who is this woman in the novel?
Jasmina from the novel “The Lady in Red” is the most blatant case of the trampled fate of a woman, who is not seen beyond the ragged appearance. To anyone she can be a beggar, a pauper, and no more and no less than a madwoman.But Jasmina is every one of the many women who are labeled, prejudiced, anathema by the masses, without any conscience.
It becomes a troubled world and remains so, precisely because of the traces left by the past and the present. So, Jasmina is like Jozef K., from Kafka’s “Process”, very unaware of her guilt of living in a world covered with the veil of the facade of false morality.
Almost always, even in real life, a support appears to a person that comforts him. Does Jasmina find one, or does she remain alone in the great challenge of humanity, the challenge of facing life?
The novel “The Lady in Red” is centered on a love affair, in feverish proportions, between Jasmina and Iliaz. So, in all that tumult of thirst, to humiliate a defenseless being, there appears a man, a man of the size of the Himalayas, who crosses the barbed wire of deep social prejudice and penetrates into the depths of this creature.
He uncovers, stone by stone, the treasures of a barren world… and imagine…. of the world thrown away, of the world left on the road, of the world killed every day, of the world without dreams. This is the superman, a chief prosecutor, who proves to the whole world that values between men exist.
Does this novel have a real bed, or is it a product of imagination, as is always the case with men of letters, who use imagination to deliver the message they want about the improving world?
Everything that turns into a narrative, originates partly from the reality of each of us and the reality of one, changes with the reality of the other, for various reasons, such as: placement, perception, worldview, way of life, connection with people, power, socialization, etc.
The novel “The Lady in Red” is, in fact, a realo-imaginative production, for the very reason that there was a real character, from whom it took inspiration, to continue further with the fragments of the author’s imagination. Because, after all, this is the magic of written art. It grabs you and then the author becomes a vassal of the stream. So, the writer is often found in a vicious circle, caught in the narrative trap, during the elaboration of the fable.
That’s why you gave an almost – almost tragic ending to the novel. Why this solution? Perhaps the reader would like a different, happier ending.
I said it, a little while ago, that the confession gets out of hand. You cannot control the subject, as long as our subconscious acts on the basis of what our soul, our reason, sees and wants. So, in this context, I, to give breath to this woman, with an unhappy childhood, with a youth that she never lived, therefore, with an unhappy life growing up, I have fallen into that trap of wanting to see her happy with her daughter and the things she’s been missing all her life.
I couldn’t close it with a happy ending, anyway. With this closing of the narrative, I ask that the society moves, since the closing of the novel, like the drama of the characters, are fragments of our daily life. There are thousands of those women who suffer, because the world beyond them will not recognize them, will not accept them, will not consider them. So, even when the woman is ready to lead to face social challenges, this society is not ready to accept it, because it is guided by prejudice.
How hard is it to structure a novel? I also mean your first novel “Emperors”, a novel that made a big impact a year ago and that had a lot of characters, events, situations, fables?
The novel structure, in my opinion, has no schemes, but individual ones, which distinguish one writing style from another. The novel “Emperors” was a difficult novel to write, because it was built on a central line that was the backbone of the novel and many secondary lines, which were connected to each other through an internal construction. While the novel “The Lady in Red” is completely different.
There is a line around which developments revolve. There are fewer characters. There is a simpler explanation. Feelings, emotions, experiences, nuances of the day, inspirations, desires are naturally given in it. In this novel, there is no place for decorations as long as the book itself, in its entirety, is a dedication to a reformation of social metalness, to the way it sees women, as beings, first.
In the novelistic experience, it is seen that only one character is the one who covers the whole novel. In fact, how can a name draw the reader into the book?
Each of us is One. Even the central character in the novel can be only one, who gives and takes in many circumstances, it is enough to carve detailed features of this character, i.e. paint the portrait. With a deep psychological exploration and clearly outlined relationships with others, who are the episodic or shadow characters, the whole story of the long prose comes to light. But, in my opinion, it can never follow the character modes defined by the author. Character is born and made.
So, in other words, is this book a Woman’s Novel?
In this case, I think, the motto would fit; “Woman for woman”. I have trusted the woman as a being. I have trusted her soul, the infinite world that she carries and in many cases I look for the solution to the woman. Knowing that it is a representative vocation, I want to turn it into promoters of movements and for this, the revolution must start among us (women). In a society where there are no social policies to protect the rights of everyone, but especially the weaker sex, the latter must impose their status on others, in this foggy rocky waterfall.
What do you think about literature today? What about the reader?
It is written and when it is written there is also inflation. As the Spanish poet Vicente Aleihandre said; “Through his being, the poet calls for communication… because poetry presupposes at least two people”, so literature, as such, implies the author-reader duality. I think that the “Achilles heel” should be found, first by the author, then the reader, especially the elite one, knows how to find the paths of penetration into tribal literature.
In order to avoid and not get involved in the current topics of the day, many authors consider the topics of the past, but have you thought of referring to this scheme?
I didn’t think about it, but I would have justified this work of “implication” 20 or so years ago. In socialist realist literature, it could become a literary practice to take names and personalities of the past for major reasons, which had to do with the ideologies of the time and the like (though even historical views, whatever they were, had to be interpreted in the line of inspiration of the theories of that system). However, the undocumented literature of actuality remained justified.
But today, when the democratic world is open, it would be a sin to think the same. Today, there are free ways to cultivate the literature you feel you should cultivate. I think that being afraid of the truth is like hiding from life every moment. In my belief, the idea has been embedded that, if you are conformist with what is offered to you, you cannot become a writer, nor a journalist.
Since we came to journalism, apart from the writing life, you are still connected with journalism. Do these two depend on each other? Do they help or harm?
I believe they are interacting fields. Literature, art creates opportunities for communication, while journalism becomes a bridge of communication for the community. So, basically, both are productions that communicate with the masses, becoming part of the human daily life, with everyone’s joys, feelings and pains. But it’s good when both are found together, because what you don’t say with one, you say with the other, especially in a country where absurdity really knows no bounds.
Writers and politics. How do you see these reports?
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being involved in politics and literature. They, even theoretically, do not exclude each other. I even think that a politician who writes has more chances to be a successful politician. This is due to the fact that the written world presents to its reader that part of the soul that politics does not allow to reveal.
Dealing with the art of writing is magic that firstly enriches you as an individual and secondly, makes you a protagonist of social, economic and political developments in the country. The art of speech can bring down powers. But if I were to say about politics: “After every success, there is a hidden despair”, about literature I would say: “Every achievement has a cost and a joy”. I believe that these two have a big difference.
Biography: MAJLINDA NANA RAMA
Majlinda Nana Rama was born in Tepelena, on May 27, 1980. She received her primary and secondary education in her native country. During the years 1998-2002, he completed his higher studies in Literature and Albanian Language and then, in the years 2009-2012, he completed the second faculty, that of Political Sciences, in the branch “International Relations”. Later, he completed his Master of Science studies in “Political and Legal Sciences”.She worked as a Social Service Administrator. Later she worked as a teacher of Albanian Language and Literature.
Since 2004, she currently contributes to the visual and written media, where several years of work as Information Director at Regional TV “Apollon”, Fier, is evidenced.She worked as a journalist for “Ora Neës” TV, Tirana.From 2006 and currently works as a journalist for the newspaper “Panorama”, Tirana. She is the founder and publisher of the newspaper “Ora Juaj”. She is the author, screenwriter and host of hundreds of social, cultural and political shows. From 2011, he also works in Fier Municipality. He is the President of the Cultural Foundation; “HARP”.
Bibliography:
Has published:
1- “Merrma tears hostage”, (poem, 2004), ed. Izet ÇULI
2- “Moon of my sky”, (poem, 2006), ed. Jesus CANE
3- “But the trial continues”, (prose, 2006), ed. Generous RAMA
4- “Emperors”, (novel, 2014), ed. Behar CHEST
5- “Literary Criticism”, (Studies, criticism, 2014), ed. Ali Ali
6- “Red Lady”, (novel, 2015), ed. Kim MEHMETI
There are in process:
1- “China in the global economy”, (study)
2- “The geopolitics of Kosovo, as the youngest state in the region”, (study)
3- “Literary Notes”, (criticism, essays, reviews, journalism).
4- “Erotic lyrics in popular verse”, (Studies, analysis).
Others:
It was included in the Encyclopedia of Tepelena, in 2006. Later, in the two International Poetic Anthologies “Open Lane”, with 270 authors from the country and the world, one edition of 2008 and the other edition of 2010. In 2015, in Anthology of Tepelena creators.
Majlinda is a member of Ü.P.S. (Connection of contemporary poets of the world). She is the editor and reviewer of dozens of books by different authors in prose, poetry and recently in studies.
It is a participant in several National and International Scientific Conferences. She is the founder and Director of the National Book Fair in Fier. She is the founder and director of the “Personalities of the Year” event and the “HARPA” award.
Majlinda’s creativity has been appreciated by literary critics, while it has been promoted in more than 10 European countries, such as: Kosovo, Macedonia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Holland, Hungary, Spain.
Ratings:
She is the winner of the Special Literary Award, in the “Poetic Muse 2012” International Competition.
It has been awarded with the ‘Certificate of Honor’ from the International League of Poets, Writers and Artists.
It has been awarded with a ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ from the Union of Journalists.
He won the “Man of the Year 2014” award, from a vote, organized by the Patriotic Cultural Association “Treva e Krahës”.
She is the winner of the “Naim Frashëri” High Award, awarded at the Albanian Institute, Prishtina, in 2014.
She is the winner of several trophies and Honorary Member of several organizations and literary associations in the world. Memorie.al
