Ag Apolloni

Ag Apolloni (Albanian pronunciation: [ag apo'ɫoni]; born 13 June 1982) is an Albanian writer, poet, playwright, scholar, and essay writer. He is a professor at the University of Prishtina, Kosovo. His literary works are widely acclaimed for their dramatic dimension, philosophical treatment, and critical attitude towards history, politics, and society.

Ag Apolloni
Apolloni in 2019
Born	(1982-06-13) 13 June 1982 Kaçanik, Kosovo
Occupation	Novelist poet essayist playwright
Nationality	Kosovar; Albanian
Citizenship	Kosovo; Albania
Alma mater	University of Pristina
Period	2003–present
Notable works	The Howl of the Wolf (2013) Red Riding Hood: Fairytale for Grown Ups (2022)

Early life

Ag Apolloni was born on 13 June 1982 in Kaçanik, Kosovo. He attended both elementary school and gymnasium in his hometown, finishing in 2001. In 2005, he successfully concluded his studies in Dramaturgy and Literature at the University of Prishtina. However, due to financial constraints, he made the decision to abandon his philosophy studies in 2006.

In the following years, Ag Apolloni devoted a significant amount of his time to caring for his unwell father, who passed away in 2007. Despite these challenges, Apolloni persisted in his academic pursuits and by 2008, he had attained the title of Master of Philological Sciences, demonstrating his dedication to scholarly achievements. In 2012, he further solidified his academic credentials by earning the title of Doctor of Philological Sciences. In 2020 he was granted citizenship of Albania.

Career

Journalism

Apolloni has worked as a journalist, editor, and editor-in-chief in several daily newspapers, and literary and cultural magazines within Pristina. In 2010 he reactivated New Life (Albanian: 'Jeta e Re'), the oldest literary magazine in Kosovo having been founded in 1949 and closed in 2006. He ran the magazine for three years.

In 2013, he founded the cultural journal 'Symbol', in which he conducted interviews with notable figures. His guests have included the likes of Linda Hutcheon, Jonathan Culler, Rita Dove, Gottfried Helnwein, Andreas Huyssen, DM Thomas, Javier Cercas, Ann Jefferson, Peter Singer, Stephen Greenblatt, Stanley Fish, and David Damrosch. Apolloni's works have been translated into several languages, including English, Dutch, German, Czech, Macedonian, and Montenegrin. He has received national awards multiple times for his fictional and scholarly works. Since 2008, Ag Apolloni has been a professor at the University of Pristina.

Writing career

Ag Apolloni started writing regularly in 2003, when he began to write a poetical diary called Zomb, and wrote a monodramma The Story of an Eyes Collector, which was published first in Kosovo journals in 2006 and 2009, then in a volum with his three other plays in 2010, and after that, in the Austrian Journal 'Lichtungen'. During his studies, Apolloni maintained a poetic journal, which he published in 2009 under the title 'Zomb.'

In 2013, he began writing novels, starting with 'The Howl of the Wolf' (Albanian 'Ulurima e ujkut'). In this work, he combines pain with fury through a postmodern form, critiquing various aspects of life, including himself, family, society, and God. Following 'The Howl of the Wolf,' Apolloni penned the novel 'Zazen' as a homage to a friend who, disillusioned after completing Philosophy studies and failing to find work in his homeland, chose to disappear and commit suicide.

While Apolloni's plays evoke fear and compassion, his poetry transforms intimate life into art, and his prose exudes awe and rage. Additionally, his academic pursuits are evident in works such as Postmodern Parable (Albanian: 'Parabola postmoderne'; 2010) and The Paradigm of Proteus (Albanian 'Paradigma e Proteut'; 2012).

Literary works

Novels

His first novel, The Howl of the Wolf (2013), addresses many themes from different angles. The novel also deals with the painful separation between the living and the dead. The novel is rife with despair and fury, yet accompanied by humour, with references to music, painting, film, and theatre. Events are set in Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Italy and Austria, where the novel was completed. It has been translated into Macedonian, Czech and Montenegrin.

Apolloni's second novel Zazen was released in 2014 and explores the plight of a young Kosovar, a friend of the author, who faces tragedy upon returning to his homeland after graduating. Unfortunately, his homecoming takes a tragic turn as he is neglected by the municipality, misunderstood by the village, and declared insane by his own family. Zazen explores a range of themes, including social, philosophical, political, national, and religious aspects. The narrative delves into the anxiety and tragicomic life of the protagonist, Zen Zabel, portraying a character with abundant ideas, minimal demands, and limited possibilities. It was written in Skopje.

In 2020, Apolloni released his third novel, Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame, a documentary novel about the real life tragedy of two Kosovar mothers from Gjakova after the war of 1999: one lost her whole family - her husband and four sons - and continues to wait for them more than twenty years later; the other burned herself to death after the remains of two of her sons were returned to her. The novel discuses the ill-fortunes of war and the painful consequences of peace, similar to ancient Greek tragedy, but with twentieth century human horrors; it explores the meaning of motherhood, family, and home. In 2022, it was translated into Dutch. The novel was praised by the Dutch theorist Mieke Bal as "a literary masterpiece worth being turned into a film". The novel was promoted in The Hague on the fifteenth anniversary of Kosovo’s independence.

Red Riding Hood: Fairytale for Grown Ups (2022) is about a flirtatious Red Riding Hood and a sick Wolf. novel combines prose with poetry and drama, and the narrative uses cartoon logic within combinatorial art, where theatrical, film, and musical elements are combined. It is set mainly in Kosovo, but also other European countries. It was written in Debrecen, Hungary, where one chapter of the book is set, and published in Albania and Kosovo simultaneously.

If I Were a Devil is an autofiction about a love story and a story of loving a city like Vienna, when the author wrote his first novel and started to write this fifth one. This novel has deep relations to Plautus’ Menaechmi, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Goethe’s Faust, and blues music as well. It was written in Vienna and Bucharest, between 2023-2024. 

Plays

Drama: The story of an Eyes Collector, Halloween, Judith, Mat (2010) contains three tragic dramas, which show the origin of Greek drama and antique theatre. Apolloni wrote this work at the age of 21 as "an elegy for the last decade of the last century, namely a reminder of the crimes that shocked the world."

Hamlet according to Horatio is a psychoanalytic tragedy embodying Freud's theoretical ideas to give a possible story of Hamlet, touching on themes of incest and betrayal. The play is a pastiche, or dramatic hypertext, built on Shakespeare's Hamlet and on Freud's interpretations of Hamlet as an imperfect Oedipus. Thematically, the play is an alternate story echoed by Oresteia, Oedipus Rex, and Hamlet. The drama was called My Hamlet as a working title, and was the winner of the annual "Katarina Josipi" Drama Award.

Scanderbeg: Marlowe's Manuscript is a play written according to the postmodern principle of manuscript, to find an Elizabethan drama of the 16th century which is considered a lost drama: "The True History of George Scanderbeg" by Christopher Marlowe..

Poetry

In 2009, Apolloni published Zomb, his anthropology of 100 of his poems. The book begins with a provocative dedication titled 'My Friend's Wife', with two verses from English poet John Milton, It contains six sections: Overture, Edenic Waltz, Dionysian Sonata, Siren Symphony, Requiem Eros and Coda. "Zomb" is an erotic-themed book built on the principles of the medieval madrigal. It is a book that contains many elements of all kinds of western music; from world cinema; from ancient, medieval, modernist, and contemporary literature; and also, from religions such as Buddhism, Totemism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

"The Sandals of Seneca" (2020) is an itinerary poetic book written after the poet's visit to the historical and cultural sites in Greece, Italy, France, Austria, and Germany. The first poem is about the tragic end of the great Roman philosopher Seneca sentenced to death by Nero. The poem relates ancient political corruption to the political reality of Kosovo.

"The Rhetoric of Silence" (2021) was printed as an eighteen-poem chapbook. It is a monothematic book about love.

"Notes from the Cave" (2023) is a collection of poems about politics, ethics, the meaning of life, and love. The first poem, titled “The Heresy of Heraclites,” relates the despair of the Greek philosopher with the dismay of a modern Kosovan intellectual.

Non-fiction

My Middle Ages (2019) is a book of autobiographical essays, also referred to as narrative-essayist autobiography. The book consists of 10 essays, all with Latin titles: Obscura, Vulgus, Doctrina, Pelegrin, Allegoria, Persona, Schisma, Templarius, Inquisitio and Memento. The essays cover the life of the author and present-day Kosovar actuality.

Critical books

As well as fiction, Ag Apolloni also writes literary studies. He has so far published two study books: Postmodern Parable and The Paradigm of Proteus. The first study, an extension of his master's thesis, is a monograph on the first postmodern Albanian writer, Rexhep Qosja. The second study, which is his doctoral thesis, is a monograph on the most translated Albanian novel, The General of the Dead Army, by Ismail Kadare. In 2016 he published the book Konica's Suitcase, which is a collection of essays dealing with various issues of Albanian literature, such as its language, and values. It discusses the main authors, works, and phenomena of this literature. In 2019 he published a critical book called Commentum, a major project in several volumes.

Bibliography

Novels

• The Howl of the Wolf (Ulurima e ujkut), (2013)
• Zazen (2014)
• Glimmer of hope, glimmer of flame (Një fije shprese, një fije shkrepëse), (2020)
• Red Riding Hood: Fairytale for Grown Ups (Kësulëkuqja: përrallë për të rritur), (2022)
• If I Were a Devil (Sikur t’isha djall), (2024)

Poetry

• Zomb (2009)
• The Sandals of Seneca (Sandalet e Senekës), (2020)
• The Rhetoric of Silence (Retorika e heshtjes), (2021)
• Notes from the Cave (Shënime nga shpella), (2023)

Plays

• The Story of An Eyes Collector, Halloween, Judith, Mat, (2010)
• Hamlet according to Horatio (Hamleti simbas Horacit), (2017)
• Skanderbeg: Manuscript of Marlowe (Skenderbeu, manuskripti i Marlout), (2018)

Studies, essays

• The Postmodern Parable (Parabola postmoderne), (2010)
• The Paradigm of Proteus (Paradigma e Proteut), (2012)
• Konitza's Suitcase (Koferi i Konicës), (2016)
• Commentum (2019)

Autobiography

• My Middle Age(s) (Mesjeta ime), (2019)

In other languages

English

Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame, translated by Robert Wilton. Cornwall: Elbow, 2023.

German

Ein Funke Hoffnung, ein zündender Funke, translated by Zuzana Finger. Zürich: Xanthippe, 2023.

Dutch

Een sprankje hoop, een lont, translated by Jan Jansen. Utrecht: Het Wereldvenster, 2022.

Montenegrin

Vučji urlik, translated by Danilo Brajović. Podgorica: Zavoda za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, 2022.

Czech

Vytí vlka, vlka vytí, translated by Orkida Backus Borshi. Prague: Kniha Zlín, 2019.

Macedonian

Завивањето на волкот, translated by Mirjana Ilieva Jashari. Skopje: Goten, 2015.