Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (Miloš Đoka Nikolić^[1]) (October 13, 1911 - August 26, 1938) was an Albanian poet of Montenegrin origin born in Shkodër, Albania. is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Montenegrins (Serbian/Montenegrin: Црногорци/Crnogorci) are a South Slavic people who are primarily associated with the Republic of Montenegro. ... Ãœsküdar, a district of Istanbul, was also known as Scutari. ...

Life

Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, was born October 13th, 1911 in the city of Shkodra, Albania.

His last name originated from his grandfather Nikolla Dibrani who hailed from the region of Reka (present day Macedonia) and was a member of the tiny Albanian Orthodox community in the region (the same community that gave birth to another Albanian poet, Josif Jovan Begeri). He left the region during the late 19th century and moved to Shkodra where he practiced the trade of a brickalyer and later married Stake Milani, from Kuci, Montenegro. Before he died in 1876, he had two sons. Gjergji (or Gjoka)Millosh's father and KristoSkender Luarasi. "Migjeni: Jeta" Cetis, Tirana, 2002, p.7-8..

Gjergj Nikolla was a very respected member of the community and he was chosen amogn teh orthodox community of the city to represent them in the Berat Congress in 1922 (where the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was proclaimed by Fan Noli). He married Sofia Kokoshi (Migjeni's mother) in 1900 who died in 1916 leaving behind six children (two boys and four daughters). Like her husband, Sofia Kokoshi also enjoyed a good reputation among the city's community. She was educated at the catholic seminary of Shkodra, run by Italian nunsIbid., pp, 8-9..

Among the six children, Millosh and his youngest sister, Olga, were the only ones in the family to attend the Serbian elementary school in Shkodra. From 1923 to 1925, Millosh was enrolled at a secondary school in Bar (Tivar) on the Montenegrin coast, where his eldest sister, Lenka, had moved.

In the autumn of 1925, when he was fourteen, he obtained a scholarship to attend a secondary school in Monastir (Bitola) in southern Macedonia. In Monastir he studied Old Church Slavonic, Russian, Greek, Latin and French. Graduating from school in 1927, he entered the Orthodox Seminary of St. John the Theologian, also in Monastir, where, despite incipient health problems, he continued his training and studies until June 1932. He would become one of the leading figures in Albanian literature.

On 23 April 1933, he was appointed teacher of Albanian at a school in village of Vraka, seven kilometres from Shkodra. It was during this period that he also began writing prose sketches and verse which reflect the life and anguish of an intellectual in what certainly was and has remained the most backward region of Europe. With Migjeni, contemporary Albanian poetry begins its course.

In May 1934 his first short prose piece, Sokrat i vuejtun apo derr i kënaqun (Suffering Socrates or the satisfied pig), was published in the periodical Illyria, under his new pen name Migjeni, an acronym of Millosh Gjergj Nikolla. Soon though, in the summer of 1935, the twenty-three-year-old Migjeni fell seriously ill with tuberculosis, which he had contracted earlier. He journeyed to Athens in July of that year in hope of obtaining treatment for the disease which was endemic on the marshy coastal plains of Albania at the time, but returned to Shkodra a month later with no improvement in his condition. In the autumn of 1935, he transferred for a year to a school in Shkodra itself and, again in the periodical Illyria, began publishing his first epoch-making poems.

In a letter of 12 January 1936 written to translator Skënder Luarasi (1900-1982) in Tirana, Migjeni announced, "I am about to send my songs to press. Since, while you were here, you promised that you would take charge of speaking to some publisher, ‘Gutemberg’ for instance, I would now like to remind you of this promise, informing you that I am ready." Two days later, Migjeni received the transfer he had earlier requested to the mountain village of Puka and on 18 April 1936 began his activities as the headmaster of the run-down school there. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Nickname: Coordinates: , Country Albania Founded 1614 Elevation 295 ft (90 m) Population (2005 est)[1]  - City 585,756  - Metro 700,000 Tirana (Albanian: Tiranë or Tirana) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Albania. ...

The clear mountain air did him some good, but the poverty and misery of the mountain people in and around Puka were even more overwhelming than that which he had experienced among the inhabitants of the coastal plain. Many of the children came to school barefoot and hungry, and teaching was interrupted for long periods of time because of outbreaks of contagious diseases, such as measles and mumps. After eighteen hard months in the mountains, the consumptive poet was obliged to put an end to his career as a teacher and as a writer, and to seek medical treatment in Turin in northern Italy where his sister Ollga was studying mathematics. He set out from Shkodra on 20 December 1937 and arrived in Turin before Christmas day. There he had hoped, after recovery, to register and study at the Faculty of Arts. The breakthrough in the treatment of tuberculosis, however, was to come a decade too late for Migjeni. After five months at San Luigi sanatorium near Turin, Migjeni was transferred to the Waldensian hospital in Torre Pellice where he died on 26 August 1938. His demise at the age of twenty-six was a tragic loss for modern Albanian letters. “Torino” redirects here. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Country Italy Region Piedmont Province Province of Turin (TO) Mayor Elevation 516 m Area 21. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The author chose the nom-de-plume Mi-Gje-Ni, the acronym was formed by the first two letters each of his first name, patronymic and last name. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ...

Poetry

Migjeni theatre in Shkodër (Photo by Bernard Cloutier).

His slender volume of verse (thirty-five poems) entitled Vargjet e Lira ("Free Verse") was printed by Gutenberg Press in Tirana in 1936, but was banned by the authorities. The second edition, published in 1944, was missing two old poems Parathanja e parathanjeve ("Preface of prefaces") and Blasfemi ("Blasphemy") that were deemed offensive, but it did include eight new ones. The main theme of Migjeni was misery and suffering, a reflection of the life he saw and lived. Migjeni theater in Shkodër, Albania (image under GFDL from Bernard Cloutier used with permission) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... Nickname: Coordinates: , Country Albania Founded 1614 Elevation 295 ft (90 m) Population (2005 est)[1]  - City 585,756  - Metro 700,000 Tirana (Albanian: Tiranë or Tirana) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Albania. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Migjeni made a promising start as a prose writer. He is the author of about twenty-four short prose sketches which he published in periodicals for the most part between the spring of 1933 and the spring of 1938. Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. ... A sketch is a drawing or other composition that is not intended as a finished work. ...

He possessed all the prerequisites for being a great poet. He had an inquisitive mind, a depressive pessimistic nature and a repressed sexuality. Though his verse production was no more voluminous than his prose, his success in the field of poetry was no less than spectacular in Albania at the time. It is common to feel sad, discouraged , or down once in a while, and anyone in this state might say they are suffering from depression. ... Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. ... Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individuals sexuality, normally conceived of as falling into several significant categories based around the sex or gender that the individual finds attractive. ...

The main theme of Free verse, as with Migjeni’s prose, is misery and suffering. It is a poetry of acute social awareness and despair. Previous generations of poets had sung the beauties of the Albanian mountains and the sacred traditions of the nation, whereas Migjeni now opened his eyes to the harsh realities of life, to the appalling level of misery, disease and poverty he discovered all around him. He was a poet of despair who saw no way out, who cherished no hope that anything but death could put an end to suffering. "I suffer with the child whose father cannot buy him a toy. I suffer with the young man who burns with unslaked sexual desire. I suffer with the middle-aged man drowning in the apathy of life. I suffer with the old man who trembles at the prospect of death. I suffer with the peasant struggling with the soil. I suffer with the worker crushed by iron. I suffer with the sick suffering from all the diseases of the world... I suffer with man." Typical of the suffering and of the futility of human endeavour for Migjeni is Rezignata ("Resignation"), a poem in the longest cycle of the collection, Kangët e mjerimit ("Songs of poverty"). Here the poet paints a grim portrait of our earthly existence: sombre nights, tears, smoke, thorns and mud. Rarely does a breath of fresh air or a vision of nature seep through the gloom. When nature does occur in the verse of Migjeni, then of course it is autumn. In literature, a theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message or lesson conveyed by a work. ... For other uses, see Misery (disambiguation). ... Suffering is any aversive (not necessarily unwanted) experience and the corresponding negative emotion. ... This article is about the medical term. ... A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Suffering is any aversive (not necessarily unwanted) experience and the corresponding negative emotion. ...

If there is no hope, there are at least suffocated desires and wishes. Some poems, such as Të birtë e shekullit të ri ("The sons of the new age"), Zgjimi ("Awakening"), Kanga e rinis ("Song of youth") and Kanga e të burgosunit ("The prisoner’s song"), are assertively declamatory in a left-wing revolutionary manner. Here we discover Migjeni as a precursor of socialist verse or rather, in fact, as the zenith of genuine socialist verse in Albanian letters, long before the so-called liberation and socialist period from 1944 to 1990. Migjeni was, nonetheless, not a socialist or revolutionary poet in the political sense, despite the indignation and the occasional clenched fist he shows us. For this, he lacked the optimism as well as any sense of political commitment and activity. He was a product of the thirties, an age in which Albanian intellectuals, including Migjeni, were particularly fascinated by the West and in which, in Western Europe itself, the rival ideologies of communism and fascism were colliding for the first time in the Spanish Civil War. Migjeni was not entirely uninfluenced by the nascent philosophy of the right either. In Të lindet njeriu ("May the man be born") and particularly, in the Nietzschean dithyramb Trajtat e Mbinjeriut ("The shape of the Superman"), a strangled, crushed will transforms itself into "ardent desire for a new genius," for the Superman to come. To a Trotskyist friend, André Stefi, who had warned him that the communists would not forgive for such poems, Migjeni replied, "My work has a combative character, but for practical reasons, and taking into account our particular conditions, I must manoeuvre in disguise. I cannot explain these things to the [communist] groups, they must understand them for themselves. The publication of my works is dictated by the necessities of the social situation through which we are passing. As for myself, I consider my work to be a contribution to the union of the groups. André, my work will be achieved if I manage to live a little longer." For other uses, see Hope (disambiguation). ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... This article is about letter, a written message from one party to another. ... This article briefly outlines each period in the history of Albania; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in the box and below). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... // Optimists see the world as a positive place. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The borders of Western Europe were largely defined by the Cold War. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the state, and seeks to forge a type of national unity, usually based on, but not limited to, ethnic, cultural, or racial attributes. ... It has been suggested that Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War be merged into this article or section. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... Superman is a fictional character and comic book superhero , originally created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ...

Part of the ‘establishment’ which he felt was oblivious to and indeed responsible for the sufferings of humanity was the Church. Migjeni’s religious education and his training for the Orthodox priesthood seem to have been entirely counterproductive, for he cherished neither an attachment to religion nor any particularly fond sentiments for the organized Church. God for Migjeni was a giant with granite fists crushing the will of man. Evidence of the repulsion he felt towards god and the Church are to be found in the two poems missing from the 1944 edition, Parathania e parathanieve ("Preface of prefaces") with its cry of desperation "God! Where are you?", and Blasfemi ("Blasphemy"). For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

In Kanga skandaloze ("Scandalous song"), Migjeni expresses a morbid attraction to a pale nun and at the same time his defiance and rejection of her world. This poem is one which helps throw some light not only on Migjeni’s attitude to religion but also on one of the more fascinating and least studied aspects in the life of the poet, his repressed heterosexuality. Morbid is an underground death metal band based out of Sweden. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Eroticism has certainly never been a prominent feature of Albanian literature at any period and one would be hard pressed to name any Albanian author who has expressed his intimate impulses and desires in verse or prose. Migjenis verse and his prose abound with the figures of women, many of them unhappy prostitutes, for whom Migjeni betrays both pity and an open sexual interest. It is the tearful eyes and the red lips which catch his attention; the rest of the body is rarely described.Passion and rapturous desire are ubiquitous in his verse, but equally present is the spectre of physical intimacy portrayed in terms of disgust and sorrow. It is but one of the many bestial faces of misery described in the 105-line Poema e mjerimit ("Poem of poverty"). Eroticism is an aesthetic focus on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ... Image of a woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

Though he did not publish a single book during his lifetime, Migjeni’s works, which circulated privately and in the press of the period, were an immediate success. Migjeni paved the way for a modern literature in Albania. This literature was, however, soon to be nipped in the bud. Indeed the very year of the publication of Free Verse saw the victory of Stalinism in Albania and the proclamation of the People’s Republic. For architecture, see Stalinist architecture. ...

Many have speculated as to what contribution Migjeni might have made to Albanian letters had he managed to live longer. The question remains highly hypothetical, for this individualist voice of genuine social protest would no doubt have suffered the same fate as most Albanian writers of talent in the late forties, i.e. internment, imprisonment or execution. His early demise has at least preserved the writer for us undefiled.

The fact that Migjeni did perish so young makes it difficult to provide a critical assessment of his work. Though generally admired, Migjeni is not without critics. Some have been disappointed by his prose, nor is the range of his verse sufficient to allow us to acclaim him as a universal poet.

Post-war Stalinist critics in Albania rather superficially proclaimed Migjeni as the precursor of socialist realism though they were unable to deal with many aspects of his life and work, in particular his Schopenhauerian pessimism, his sympathies with the West, his repressed sexuality, and the Nietzschean element in Trajtat e Mbinjeriut ("The shape of the Superman"), a poem conveniently left out of some post-war editions of his verse. While such critics have delighted in viewing Migjeni as a product of ‘pre-liberation’ Zogist Albania, it has become painfully evident that the poet’s ‘songs unsung,’ after half a century of communist dictatorship in Albania, are now more compelling than ever. Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher born in Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. ... Pessimists see the world as uninviting and cruel. ... In the television series Andromeda, the Nietzscheans are a race of genetically engineered humans who quite religiously follow the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Social Darwinism and Dawkinite genetic competitiveness. ... King Zog of Albania King Zog (October 8, 1895–April 9, 1961) was an Albanian politician and the first king of Albania from 1928 to 1939. ...

References

1. ^ Blagoje B. Marković: Врака и Врачани

• From the version [1] this article includes the text from the site Albanian Literature with explicit permission ([2]) to use it under GNU FDL.

Luarasi, Skender. "Migjeni:Jeta." Cetis, Tirana. 2002. GFDL redirects here. ...