Arshi Pipa

{{Infobox writer

| name = Arshi Pipa

| image = Arshi Pipa.jpg

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|07|28|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Shkodër, Principality of Albania

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|07|20|1920|07|28|df=yes}}

| death_place = Washington, D.C., United States

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| occupation = Philosopher

| language = Albanian, English, French, Italian

| nationality = Albanian

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| citizenship = Albanian, United States

| education = PhD on philosophy

| alma_mater = University of Florence

| period = 1944–1995

| genre = Epic poetry, literary criticism

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| signature = Arshi Pipa (nënshkrim).svg

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Arshi Pipa (28 July 1920 – 20 July 1997) was an Albanian and American writer, philosopher, poet and literary critic.{{cite web|last=Elsie|first=Robert|title=Arshi Pipa|url=http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors_modern1/pipa.html|publisher=Robert Elsie|access-date=January 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201204412/http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors_modern1/pipa.html|archive-date=December 1, 2011|url-status=dead|quote=Writer and scholar, Arshi Pipa (1920–1997) ... studied philosophy ... published ... poetry}}

Biography

Arshi Pipa was born on 28 July 1920 in Shkodër and attended school there until 1938. Pipa received a BA equivalent degree ("Laurea") in philosophy at the University of Florence in 1942.{{cite web|last=Elsie|first=Robert|title=Arshi Pipa|url=http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors_modern1/pipa.html|publisher=Robert Elsie|access-date=January 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201204412/http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors_modern1/pipa.html|archive-date=December 1, 2011|url-status=dead|quote= in Shkodra where he attended school until 1938. ..Pipa studied philosophy at the University of Florence, where he received the degree of "dottore in filosofia" in 1942.}} After he completed his studies he was a teacher of Italian language in different schools in Albania.

He was imprisoned for ten years (1946–56) in Communist Albania{{cite web|last=Elsie |first=Robert |title=1959 Arshi Pipa: Communism and Albanian Writers |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_3/AH1959.html |access-date=January 10, 2012 |quote=Arshi Pipa (1920–1997) spent ten years in prison (1946–1956) in communist Albania |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127013416/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_3/AH1959.html |archive-date=January 27, 2012 }} because he antagonized the communist regime with his recitation of a verse from a "Song of the Flea" by Goethe found in a translation of Faust.{{Citation |title=The Columbia literary history of Eastern Europe since 1945 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VAI7O9prinMC&pg=PA151 |access-date= January 11, 2012 |year= 2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-50804-9 |oclc=174138806 |page=152|quote=...at a poetry reading ... antagonized the authorities with his recitation of lyrics...that also included ... lines from Goethe's song... }} After he was released from prison (his original sentence was 20 years, but after amnesty it was cut to 10) he escaped to Yugoslavia and lived in Sarajevo during the period 1957–9. In 1959 he emigrated to the United States where he taught at Adelphi College, Georgetown University, Columbia University, and UC Berkeley. Then, from 1966 to 1989, he was a professor of Italian literature in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Minnesota.{{cite book|title=Zeitschrift für Balkanologie|year=1984|publisher=R. Trofenik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-g1XAAAAYAAJ&q=%22arshi+pipa%22+Rusha|access-date=January 11, 2012|page=211}}{{cite web|last=Kvanbeck|first=Martha|title=1997–98 UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA (No. 1) UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES| url= http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/usen/971113sen.html|publisher=University of Minnesota|access-date=January 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714144157/http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/usen/971113sen.html|archive-date=July 14, 2010|url-status=dead|year=1997|quote=he taught at Georgetown, Columbia, and Berkeley before being appointed in 1966 to our University's Department of romance Languages}}

Pipa died in Washington DC on July 20, 1997.

Work

The first poetry Pipa composed in late 1930, Lundërtarë [Seamen], was published in Tirana in 1944. When he was in prison he thought out and actually wrote some parts of his best-known collection of poems, Libri i burgut [The Prison Book], published in 1959.{{cite book|title=Books abroad|year=1971|publisher=University of Oklahoma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czIMAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Arshi+Pipa%2C+an+Albanian+poet+now+living+in+the+United+States%2C+is+best+known+for+his+Libri+i+Burgut+%28The+Prison+Book%29%2C+a+collection+of+poems+which+were+thought+out%2C+and+in+some+cases+actually+written%2C+during+a+long+spell+of+political+%22|access-date=January 10, 2012|page=556|quote=Arshi Pipa, an Albanian poet now living in the United States, is best known for his Libri i Burgut (The Prison Book), a collection of poems which were thought out, and in some cases actually written, during a long spell of political}} His epic poem Rusha (1968), composed in 1955 during his imprisonment, describes love between Albanians and Serbs in the late 14th century.

Pipa claimed that the unification of the Albanian language was wrong because it deprived Albanian language of its richness at the expense of Gheg.{{cite book|title=Canadian review of studies in nationalism: Revue canadienne des études sur le nationalisme, Volume 19|year=1992|publisher=University of Prince Edward Island|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DnzAAAAMAAJ&q=%22leading+critic%22|access-date=January 10, 2012|page=206}} He called the unified literary Albanian language a "monstrosity" produced by the Tosk communist leadership, who conquered anti-communist north Albania and imposed their Tosk Albanian dialect on the Ghegs.{{cite book|title=Canadian review of studies in nationalism: Revue canadienne des études sur le nationalisme, Volume 19|year=1992|publisher=University of Prince Edward Island|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DnzAAAAMAAJ&q=%22leading+critic%22|access-date=January 10, 2012|page=207}}