Sterjo Spasse

Portrait of Sterjo Spasse.

Sterjo Spasse (1914–1989) was an Albanian writer.

Life

Sterjo Spasse was born in 1914 in Gollomboç, Liqenas Municipality, Korçë District, Albania, of Macedonian descent.^[1] Spasse pursued the elementary school in Korçë, and later, the Shkolla Normale e Elbasanit. He worked as a teacher in Derviçan, in the Dropull region,^[2] and then went to the University of Florence, Italy to study Pedagogy. He also pursued a master in literature in the Soviet Union. After World War II he worked as a literary critic and writer in the pedagogic magazines The new school (Albanian: Shkolla e re), and The popular education (Albanian: Arsimi popullor), as well as Our Literature (Albanian: Literatura jonë), and November (Albanian: Nëntori). He was a member of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists.^[3] Spasse died in Tirana, Albania in 1989.

Along his various contributions in the pedagogic field and translations, his main fieldwork was creative writing, which started in the 1930s. He published four collections of short stories and 10 novels:^[3]

Spasse's novel Pse? is considered to be perhaps one of the greatest Albanian novels of the early 20th century.^[2]

Short stories

• "Kuror rinie" (Youth crown), 1934.
• "Në krahët e një femre" (In the arms of a woman), 1934.
• "Nusja pa duvak" (Bride without veil), 1944.
• "Të fala nga fshati", (Regards from the village), 1958.

Novels

• "Pse ?" (Why ?), 1935.
• "Afërdita" (Afërdita), 1944.
• "Ata nuk ishin vetëm" (They were not alone), 1952.
• "Afërdita përsëri në fshat" (Afërdita back in the village), 1954.
• "Buzë liqenit" (Lakeside), 1965.
• "Zjarre..." (Fires...), 1972.
• "Zgjimi" (Awakening), 1973.
• "Pishtarë" (Beacons), 1975.
• "Ja vdekje ja liri" (Death of freedom), 1978.
• "Kryengritësit" (Rebels), 1983.

References

1. https://books.google.al/books?id=haFlGXIg8uoC&pg=PA427&dq=sterjo+spasse+elsie&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAGoVChMIxt-1p9GIyQIVAvsOCh14iQNr#v=onepage&q=sterjo%20spasse%20elsie&f=false
2. Biography of Sterjo Spasse, Robert Elsie, retrieved 2013-09-22
3. "Shënime për autorin (Notes on the author)", STERJO SPASSE Nga jeta në jetë PSE ?!... (in Albanian) (2 ed.), Prishtina: Redaksia e Botimeve "RILINDJA", 1986, p. 211