Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
Commentary 2 in LCPJ
Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating
“Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
[Paper submitted at the International Symposium “Shakespeare’s Romeo
and Juliet in European Culture” held at the University of Murcia (Spain)
from 19 to 21 November 2014.]
The tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” was first translated into Albanian some
sixty years ago by Alqi Kristo. Until October 2014 it was the only translation
of “Romeo and Juliet” that existed in Albanian. Although Kristo was not
an English graduate and was basically self-taught in English, this first
translation has certainly undeniable merits. The Albanian text was used
for reading by the university students for several decades. It was used
as the basic text for the production of this tragedy on stage. It was first
produced in 1964 by the students of the Drama School of the Academy of
Arts in Tirana. It was then produced in March 2011 by Teatri Metropolitan
“Shekspir” in Tirana. This first translation was published several times in
separate and collected editions in Albania and Kosova (Kosovo).
Reassessment of Shakespeare’s Works in Albania
I started the retranslation of the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
in January 2014 and finished it on July 5th 2014. This second Albanian
translation of “Romeo and Juliet” was published in October 2014. The
retranslation of the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” was undertaken for several
reasons:
Volume 7/2, 2014
79
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
• I have been teaching English Literature for more than forty-five
years at Albanian universities. So, I thought I might have something
new to say about this play to the Albanian reader as well as to the
English-speaking reader.
• The Albanian language has evolved during the last sixty years.
Therefore, I thought I might advance something fresh, sociolinguistically thinking, in this new translation.
• After a close reading of the original and of the first Albanian
translation of “Romeo and Juliet”, I noticed that there was room for
improvement and development.
• In 2014 the world celebrated the 450th anniversary of William
Shakespeare’s birthday. Here was an opportunity for me to give
a modest contribution to the commemoration of Shakespeare’s
birthday. And in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death
will be commemorated.
• Fifty years ago I was an undergraduate student of English at
Tirana University. The teaching staff and students of English
celebrated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday. Our
professor of English Literature, Prof. Skender Luarasi, also one
of the best translators of Shakespeare’s plays in Albania, held a
commemorative speech. The students of English staged “Romeo
and Juliet”. I played the role of Romeo and also recited sonnet 18
“Shall I compare thee to a summer day?”, a fragment from Venus
and Adonis “What am I that thou should contempt me thus?” and
Brutus’s speech “Romans, countrymen and lovers” from “Julius
Caesar”. Now, fifty years later, in my old age, I found it appropriate
to commemorate Shakespeare with the translation of “Romeo and
Juliet” into Albanian.
During the Albanian totalitarian regime world literature was strictly
censored by communist propaganda. Many of Shakespeare’s plays
© LCPJ Publishing
80
Volume 7/2, 2014
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
were not allowed to be translated, published and produced in Albania.
Such was the case of Henry VI, Taming of the Shrew, Two Gentlemen
of Verona, etc. The production of plays was also strictly censored by
Marxist –Leninist aesthetics. Lines with erotic allusion were omitted from
the text. The actors had to lay the stress on the denunciation of kingship
and aristocratic hierarchy and had to highlight the role of the masses in
history. For instance, the production of the tragedy “Othello” had to focus
on racial discrimination. The production of Shakespeare’s plays, staging
and interpretation were generally old-fashioned, literal and declamatory.
Since the early 1950’s Shakespeare has always been taught at Albanian
high schools and universities as one of the authors of world literature.
But, the interpretation and analysis of his writing career were heavily
permeated by Marxist ideology. High school textbooks of World Literature
contained invariably only two of Shakespeare’s works for reading and
analysis: “Macbeth” and “Hamlet”. The 1993 edition of the high school
textbook of “Letërsia Botërore” (“World Literature”) widened the scope of
analysis and overcame the strict dogmas of Marxist ideology. But still the
same works of Shakespeare remained in the textbook. Only in 1998, in the
new edition of this textbook was “Macbeth” replaced with “Romeo and
Juliet”. I am a co-author of this textbook and I decided to include “Romeo
and Juliet” for reading and analysis instead of “Macbeth”, regarding the
former as more appropriate for the adolescent age of high school students.
Teachers of world literature had often complained of the dark atmosphere
and bloodshed in “Macbeth” and had often suggested to replace this play
with “Romeo and Juliet”. One argument for turning down this suggestion
was that “Romeo and Juliet” provides a bad example of the disobedience
of children to their parents, which is not a good example to the education
of the young generation (!). Another argument was that the heroine of the
play, Juliet, is only fourteen years old, so that she was regarded as legally
unfit for marriage and again was a bad example for the adolescent age of
schoolchildren.
During the 45-year communist rule in Albania there were only three official
translators of Shakespeare’s works – Skënder Luarasi, Vedat Kokona,
and Alqi Kristo. They were politically guided and motivated to translate
several Shakespearean tragedies, comedies and history plays. After 1990
Volume 7/2, 2014
81
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
there was an increasing number of translators of Shakespeare’s works. A
political motivation has also guided the contemporary translators of the
post-communist era, such as Perikli Jorgoni, Qezar Kurti, Mihal Hanxhari,
Napolon Tasi, Pashko Gjeçi, and Kristaq Traja, in their selection of
Shakespeare’s works for translation and retranslation.
The lifting of the stifling communist censorship in early 1990’s promoted
the reassessment of world literature, including Shakespeare’s works. It
was possible to provide new interpretations and new aesthetic theories
which challenged the former Marxist clichés of literary critique. For the
first time we had access to the new Freudian interpretations of Hamlet, the
new theories about eroticism and sexual language in Shakespeare, the new
critical approach to Othello’s Islamic faith, and the newest interpretations
of the authorship of Shakespearean works.
Renewed interest in the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” in Balkan
Countries*
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the tragedy of “Romeo and
Juliet” in Albania. The Ministry of Education recommended that high
schools stage scenes from this tragedy in order to commemorate the 450th
anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth in amateur theatricals. In March 2011 a
troupe of young professional actors directed by the Producer Kiço Londo
staged Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” in the new oval hall
“Shekspir” of the Metropol Theatre in Tirana. It was staged professionally
in Albania after a long break of 47 years. The performance was very
successful. From the premiere on March 3rd until April 10th, 2011 this
tragedy was performed fifteen times.
Ovid’s legend of the star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, children
of two hostile neighbouring families from Babylon, has repeated itself
thousands of times in real life in similar tragic stories of youthful lovers
whose life was ruined by patriarchal prejudice. It was present also in a
Balkan country with a population of mixed religions – in Albania. Though
it is internationally recognized as a country of religious tolerance, when
it comes to cross-religious love and marriage, the issue is not always easy
© LCPJ Publishing
82
Volume 7/2, 2014
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
and smooth. There are sad examples which demonstrate that religious
intolerance and prejudice were a serious handicap for free choice in love
and marriage of young people of different religions.
The tragic love of the famous young couple from Verona certainly has
reminiscences of Ovid’s legend, which inspired many writers and artists
of the European Renaissance and which culminated in Shakespeare’s
masterpiece “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”.
The motif of free choice in love obstructed and handicapped by prejudice
is also present in regions with a mixed ethnic population, where religious
and ethnic prejudice is mixed with political motives as in the Balkans.
More than 15 years after the bitter conflict, a staging of Shakespeare’s
tragedy Romeo and Juliet brought Kosovars and Serbians together to foster
reconciliation. It was an interesting motivation of the representatives of
the drama art from Kosova and Serbia to have initiated a joint project for
staging together the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” which was going to be
performed in Prishtina, Kosova, and Belgrade, Serbia. By this project of the
joint production of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” these artists
aimed at overcoming linguistic barriers and national hostility between
the two countries and transmitting a message of integration and harmony
among people without ethnic differences.
The play was a joint production by two theatre organizations, Belgradebased Radionica Integracije and Prishtina-based Qendra Multimedia, and
was partly aimed at showing that Serbians and Kosovans can engage and
work together, at least on stage.
With a cast chosen to reflect the deep divisions that remain in this part of
the Balkans, Romeo and the Montagues were played by Kosovan Albanians
while Juliet and the Capulets were played by Serbians. The production was
seen as a chance to push forward dialogue and reconciliation in the region.
Jeton Neziraj, a Kosovar playwright, was one of the play’s co-producers;
the other co-producer was the Serbian Miki Manojlovich, who was also the
director of the performance.
The Kosovar Albanian actor playing Romeo was Alban Ujkaj, aged 35,
who was a student in Prishtina, Kosova, during the war and experienced
the bombings first-hand, though he now lives in Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Volume 7/2, 2014
83
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
The play was performed in both Serbian and Albanian, depending on which
character was talking, with scenes involving both families interplaying the
language. No subtitles were offered to theatre-goers. Notably, Albanianspeaking Romeo (Alban Ukaj) spoke Serbian when talking to Juliet, and
Serbian-speaking Juliet (Milica Janevski) spoke Albanian when talking to
Romeo.
Before the play was performed in Belgrade the director Manojlović
explained: “There are people in Belgrade who don’t speak Albanian
but they will understand. It is easy to understand why somebody loves
somebody, or someone hates someone.”1* After a successful Belgrade
premiere in April 2015, the play also received a warm response when it
was performed in Prishtina a month later, in May 2015.
As children from the two feuding families, Romeo and Juliet struggle
with the conflict between their feelings for each other and their loyalties to
their families. Manojlović intentionally mixed the languages of the main
characters, to emphasize the miscommunication and lack of understanding
between our tragic heroes and their families. The only two characters who
understand them both are Friar Lawrence [played by Uliks Fehmiu] and
Juliet’s Nurse [played by Anita Mančić]. “But, the Nurse understands only
until rationality takes over and then she tells Juliet ‘he’s not for you, get
married, forget him, he is a mistake, he is a murderer,’ which is actually
a farewell for Juliet and their relationship,” he explained. Uliks Fehmiu, a
47-year-old actor based in New York, is the son of ethnic Albanian actor
Bekim Fehmiu and Serbian actor Branka Petrić. In 1987 Bekim Fehmiu, who
had played the title role of the Hollywood film production of “Ulysses”,
and had named his only son ‘Uliks’ after the famous Homeric mythical
hero, walked off stage in the middle of a performance in protest at the
vitriolic speeches of Slobodan Milošević, the Serbian leader later tried at
the Hague Tribunal for war crimes. Fehmiu never acted or appeared in
a public role again and died tragically.2* Of his father Uliks sadly said:
“My father suffered through this period terribly. Hatred is something that
is so dangerous and so contagious. I went through a period of looking
at myself and my generation as victims. This seeing yourself as a victim
doesn’t move you forward.” And significantly, Uliks chose the role of Friar
Lawrence who hopes to reconcile the two feuding families!
The tragic story of two lovers, destroyed by their total lack of power, was
not staged in a conventional way. Manojlović used the X-shaped mini© LCPJ Publishing
84
Volume 7/2, 2014
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
stage to develop relationships between the characters beyond those found
in Shakespeare’s original play. The X became a crossroad of love and
hate, a life and death union between Romeo and Juliet, and a division of
Montagues and Capulets. “Romeo and Juliet itself is an unsolvable formula
of existence, life, love and hate, and of all that man is and that’s why I made
that X on the stage, because X is almost always a part of every formula,”
Manojlović explained, when Kosovo 2.0 interviewed him at Prishtina’s
Grand Hotel, where he was staying. “And then I wanted at the same time
for the X to symbolize two streets that are crossed into one space.”3*
Romeo’s mother, Lady Montague (played by Edona Reshitaj), was present
throughout the vast majority of the play, watching Romeo’s actions with
concern.
Lady Capulet, on the other hand, is an obedient wife to her authoritative
husband and her relationship with her daughter can’t come close to the
relationship that Juliet has with the Nurse. Manojlović explained that he
didn’t change Shakespeare’s portrayal of Lady Capulet to raise his concern
over the consequences of subordinate-superordinate marital relationships.
“Shakespeare wrote Juliet’s mother as somebody who supports her
husband, who is actually subordinate to her husband, which is a concerning
issue, even today,” he said. “I think that marriages must at least be based
on a real human exchange. And love. Here is an authoritative father, and
his wife supports him, and that is done against her own child. And when
a child is not there anymore, it’s too late.”
Improvement and Development in the Retraslation of
“Romeo and Juliet”
In this second traslation of “Romeo and Juliet” I believe I have made
improvements in several directions.
In my new venture I have paid special attention to the accuracy of the
connotation and denotation of specific words in the original, to words and
aphorisms confused and misused in the first translation, to omissions of
words and even whole lines from the original, to additions of lines in the
first translation which might be avoided. I have also provided updated
socio-linguistic footnotes to the new translation, based on studies and
editions of Shakespeare’s works of the last twenty years.
Volume 7/2, 2014
85
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
In this new Albanian edition I have also included my analysis and
interpretation of “Romeo and Juliet” as a Preface (Parathënie e tragjedisë
“Romeo dhe Xhuljeta”), with a total of nine pages (5.161 words.). Besides the
Preface and the Albanian retranslation of the text of the tragedy “Romeo
and Juliet”, this new edition also contains an Appendix – On Shakespeare
(Mbi Shekspirin). Here I have provided my paper “William Shakespeare in
Albania” both in Albanian and in English. In addition, I have included my
research paper of about fourteen pages “Arti dramatik i Uilliam Shekspirit”
(“The Dramatic Art of William Shakespeare”) in Albanian, which might
be useful reference for the Albanian students of Shakespeare. Finally, I
have included my paper “History of Shakespeare’s Translations into Albanian
and the Stage Production of Shakespeare’s Plays in Albania” (in English). The
Appendix has a total of 40 pages A-4 (about 20.000 words).
Based on authorized editions of the 21st century, I have provided a lot of
explanatory notes of erotic or sexual connotations and meanings, which
exist in the English text but were missing in the first Albanian translation
of this tragedy. They are mostly evident in the speeches of Mercutio and
the Nurse, particularly in the dialogue between them (II, iv) as well as in
the conversation between Mercutio and Benvolio (II, i), but also Nurse’s
words in Juliet’s chamber ((IV, v), in the dialogue between the servants
Gregory and Sampson (I, i), in the conversation among Mercutio, Benvolio
and Romeo with frequent word-play, puns suggesting male and female
privates and sexual acts (II, iii), etc.
In the whole text of the first translation there are only 31 footnotes, whereas
I have provided 115 footnotes.
The first translator inserted additional 46 verses of his own, which do
not exist in the original. For instance, in Friar Lawrence’s speech (III, iii)
he added 8 verses (there are 59 verses instead of 51 verses in the original
English version). Again, in Friar Lawrence’s speech (V, iii) the original
has 41 verses, whereas the Albanian first translation has 48 verses, i.e. 7
additional verses are inserted. In this speech I added only one line and
I believe my version provides a more complete meaning of the original
text. In Act I, Scene IV, in the conversation between Romeo and Mercutio
about a dream they had dreamt, when Mercutio says “O, then, I see Queen
Mab hath been with you”, before he goes on with his long soliloquy, he is
© LCPJ Publishing
86
Volume 7/2, 2014
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
interrupted by the translator with a line of his own inserted in Romeo’s
mouth (Albanian: “M’u shfaq mbretëresha Mab, e ç’është kjo?” – English:
“Queen Mab appeared to me – what’s this?”).
There are also missing verses and sense groups of the original English text.
In Romeo’s conversation with the apothecary (V, i) there is an important
line missing: “Doing more murder in this loathsome world”. In Mercutio’s
prose speech (III, i) there is a whole sentence missing – Mercutio’s curse
on both families: “A plague o’ both your houses”. In Prince’s speech (V,
iii) there is an important line missing from the original – “Bring forth the
parties of suspicion,” although the first six lines were rendered in Albanian
to 8 lines (i.e. 2 more lines were added). In Romeo’s speech (II, ii) there are
four lines missing altogether (“And darkness fleckled like a drunkard reels
// From forth day’s pathway, made by Titan’s wheels. // Hence will I to
my ghostly friar’s close cell, // His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.)
There is a whole line missing in Tybalt’s answer to his uncle’s reproaches:
“It fits, when such a villain is a guest” (I, v). In Romeo’s dispute with Paris
(V, iii) there is an important half-line (“therefore hence, be gone”) missing
in the first translation.
In the old translation there are also misunderstood and misinterpreted
meanings of the original text, and even wrong, inaccurate words and
expressions. The expression “dried hake” (Alb. ‘merluc i thatë’) was
translated as “herring” (Alb. ‘cirua’). (Gregory, I.i). The word ‘female’
instead of ‘fennel’ (Capulet, I, 2). In the verse “A bump as big as a young
cockerel’s stone” (Nurse, I, iii), the comparison as big as a young cockerel’s
stone” was translated “as big as a hazelnut” (in Albanian: “sa një lajthi”).
Again: “thy swan a crow” was unnecessarily changed and translated as
“thy dove a raven” (in Albanian: “korb pëllumbi tënd”) (Benvolio, I, ii).
Again, Juliet’s words “My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen
unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must
love a loathed enemy.” (I, V) have been very loosely translated and miles
departed from the original: “Nga kjo urrejtje e vetme , për çudi, / M’u ngjallka
sot e vetmja dashuri! / E pritura më duket se s’do vijë, / Më pare e papritura do
mbërrijë! / Ç’e marrë dashuri që më ka hyrë, / Të dashuroj kështu një armik të
ndyrë.” (Literally, “It is strange that from this only hate / Should come
alive my only love. / It seems that the expected thing will not come. /
Sooner the unexpected one will arrive! / What a crazy love has possessed
me / That a dirty enemy should be loved so.”). Two more lines have
been added in the Albanian translation; the line “Too early . . . too late!”
has not been understood by the translator; the epithet “dirty” instead of
Volume 7/2, 2014
87
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
“loathsome” is quite inappropriate for the word “enemy.” Capulet’s words
to the Nurse “Go, nurse, go with her: we’ll to church tomorrow” (IV, ii)
was unnecessarily loosely translated: “Go, nurse, go, for the wedding is
tomorrow” (“Shko, vajë, shko, se e kemi nesër dasmën”).
There are grammar mistakes, such as, for instance, “Vonoheni martesën
për një muaj” [“vonoheni” is the passive voice of the verb “vonoj”] instead
of the active transitive form “Vonojeni” or “Ta vononi” or “E vononi”
(“Delay this marriage for a month”) [Juliet’s speech, III,v]. Or: in “fshihni
lotët” (“Dry up your tears”) the word in bold type means “hide”, whereas
the correct word should have been ‘fshijini”, which means “wipe, dry up”
(Friar Lawrence, IV, v). When Lady Capulet asked the Nurse to “fetch
more spices” (IV, iv), the word “spices” (Alb. “erëza”) was translated as
“erëra” (“winds”). Also: ‘pëllumbi tënd’ (accusative) instead of ‘pëllumbi
yt’(nominative) [Benvolio, I, ii]. Also: “Nga ty . . . / Nga ty . . . .” instead of
“Nga ti” (Paris, IV, v). There is wrong use of the accusative “ty” with the
preposition ‘nga’ (‘from’) which, in Albanian, always requires a noun in
the nominative case instead of the accusative. Again: “. . . shpëtoj” (save,
escape) instead of “. . . shpejtoj” (make haste, which is closer in meaning
to “be brief”, Juliet, V, iii). And again: in Act V, Scene III there is a bad
and inaccurate translation of Friar Lawrence’s final words to Juliet “I’ll
dispose of thee / Among a sisterhood of holy nuns” – “Tani eja / Të bëhesh
murgë e shenjtë manastiri” (literally: “Now come / To become a holy
monk of the monastery”); besides, the translator used the masculine noun
“murgë” (monk) followed by a feminine adjective (“e shenjtë”) instead of
“murgeshë” (nun); last, the masculine noun “murg” cannot take a final
“ë” (a usual suffix for feminine nouns).
The linguistic medium of the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” is 90 % verse
and 10 % prose.4 Most of the verse is in iambic pentameter, except for
the two sonnets of the Chorus. The greater part of the pentameter verse
is unrhymed. There is casual couplet rhyme, as in the speeches of Friar
Lawrence (II, ii, 1-30; 32-43, 59-65; 90-98) and Romeo (II, ii, 66-81), etc.
I have done my best to retain the sonnet pattern and rhyme of the two
sonnets of the Chorus (particularly the sonnet of the Prologue of the
tragedy) and the casual rhyme and couplet rhyme of the final verses of the
tragedy. I am aware of the shortcomings of rhyming of the verses in my
Albanian version. But I decided to sacrifice part of the rhyme for the sake
of accuracy of imagery and connotation and denotation of the original text.
© LCPJ Publishing
88
Volume 7/2, 2014
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
As for the length of lines, instead of the pentameter (five feet) of lines, I
applied the twelve-syllable lines, which is more natural for Albanian as a
tonic language and for the Albanian prosody based on syllabic counting
and not on ‘feet’ counting of line length.
The readers of this new Albanian version of the tragedy Romeo and Juliet
are most kindly and sincerely invited to make their suggestions which, I
am sure, will be of invaluable help to a future improved edition.
Endnotes
Kit Gillet in Belgrade [The Guardian, 4 April 2015, Borrowing Cupid’s wings: Romeo
and Juliet helps heal the scars of Kosovo war.]
1
Bekim Fehmiu (1936 – 2010), a famous film star and stage actor of international
recognition, was himself a victim of ethnic prejudice for loving and marrying a Serbian
actress (Branka Petric), which might have driven him to a tragic suicidal end (He shot
himself dead with his pistol in 2010 at the age of 74).
2
3
Dafne Halili, From Belgrade to Prishtina: A Tragic Love Story, Kosovo 2.0, May 28, 2015.
*Editor: This commentary section was accepted just before the postponed publication of
the issue for objective reasons.
Bates, J. and Rasmussen, E. (eds.), William Shakespeare Complete Works, Macmillan
Publishers Ltd., The RSC 2007, p. 1678.
4
Bibliography
Bates, J. and Rasmussen, E. (eds.), William Shakespeare Complete Works,
Macmillan Publishers Ltd., The RSC 2007. The Tragedy of Romeo and
Juliet, p. 1675-1743.
Halili, D 2015: From Belgrade to Prishtina: A Tragic Love Story, Kosovo
2.0.
Shekspir, U. 1982: “Vepra të Zgjedhura të U. Shekspirit” (W. Shakespeare’s
Selected Works), vol. I, “Naim Frashëri” Publishing House, Tiranë .
Volume 7/2, 2014
89
© LCPJ Publishing
Kadija, Refik 2014: Juxtaposition and Improvement in Retranslating “Romeo and Juliet” into Albanian
To be downloaded from www.lcpj.pro
Shekspir, U. 1982: “Vepra të Zgjedhura të U. Shekspirit” (W. Shakespeare’s
Selected Works), vol. II, “Naim Frashëri” Publishing House, Tiranë . Romeo
e Zhulieta, p.321 – 407.
The total number of words is 4038
© LCPJ Publishing 2014 by Refik Kadija
Prof. Dr. Emeritus Refik Kadija (Ph.D. in English Literature; Assoc.
Professor, English and American Literature; Professor, English and
American Studies; Professor Emeritus, Outstanding Merit at Full
Professorial Status in Teaching and Research; Fulbright Scholar, Boston
University Faculty Staff, and Member of the Harvard Faculty Club;
Visiting Professor, Institut für Amerikanistik, Karl-Franzens-Universität
Graz, officially selected by the Austrian Ministry for science and research,
as well as by the KFU; Chair of British and American Studies, 1993-2003;
Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Luigj Gurakuqi University of
Shkodra, 2001-2008) graduated from the Faculty of Philology, University of
Tirana, Albania, in 1965. He has been a Professor of English and American
Literature mostly at Tirana University, Albania, since 1965. He also gives
lectures in Montenegro and Macedonia. He is the Honourable President
of the Albanian-American Scientific and Cultural Association, a Member
of the ISSEI (International Society for the Study of European Ideas) since
1993, the Chairman of the Albanian Society for the Study of European Ideas
since 1994, and a member of the ESRA (European Shakespeare Research
Association) since December 2007.
© LCPJ Publishing
90
Volume 7/2, 2014