Lasgush Poradeci

Lasgush Poradeci
Lasgush Poradeci on a 1999 Albanian stamp
Born	Llazar Sotir Gusho December 27, 1899 Pogradec, Albania)
Died	November 12, 1987 (aged 87) Tirana, Albania
Resting place	Pogradec, Albania
Pen name	Lasgush Poradeci
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Albanian
Education	Romano-German Philology
Alma mater	University of Graz

Statue dedicated to Lasgush Poradeci in his hometown Pogradec

Llazar Sotir Gusho (27 December 1899 – 12 November 1987) was an Albanian poet and writer known by the pseudonym Lasgush Poradeci.

Biography

After Poradeci finished elementary school at Pogradec in 1908, he studied at a language school in Monastir, Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of World War I he returned to Pogradec, after which his father sent him to study at the Lycée Léonin in Athens. At the end of 1921 he enrolled at the Şcoala Naţională de Arte Frumoase, Bucharest, where he took paid work to subsidize his studies, and in 1922 joined Bucharest's association for the Albanian diaspora, the Albanian colony; later being elected its secretary. In the summer of 1924 the Romanian government awarded him a scholarship to attend the Faculty of Romano-German Philology of the University of Graz in Austria; he finished a doctorate there in 1933. He returned to Albania the following year to teach art at a secondary school in Tirana, this until 1944 when he became unemployed. In 1947 he briefly taught at Tirana's Institute of Science, then translated for the Naim Frashëri state-owned publishing house, retiring in 1974. Poradeci died in poverty in 1987.^[1]

Works

In 1933, Poradeci published the collection of verse, "Vallja e yjve" (The dance of the stars), and in 1937, "Ylli i zemrës" (The star of the heart).^[1] During the same period he contributed verses to the Albanian weekly newspaper Shqipëri' e re (New Albania). Other Poradeci works include "The theological excursion of Socrates", "About to", "Kamadeva", "Ballads of Muharrem" and "Reshit Collaku".The entire work that Lasgush Poradeci made was all about Pogradec, his birthplace.

Poradeci's complete works were published in 1989.

References

1. "Albanian Literature in Translation" Lasgush Poradeci biography by Robert Elsie. Retrieved 1 April 2011