The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother

The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother (Albanian: Kukulla) is an autobiographical novel sketching author Ismail Kadare's relationship with his mother.[1] It dwells upon the family's life in Gjirokastër and later in Tirana, "full of compelling details of life in a changing Albania",[2] as well as on the author's own time as a student at the Gorky Institute in Moscow.[3] While the portrait of his mother remains insubstantial, there are reflections upon the author's own youthful literary ambitions,[4] and the nature of autocracy.[5]

First edition (publ. Onufri)

The work was first published in Albanian in 2015, and was translated into English by John Hodgson for publication by Harvill Secker in 2020.[1]

References
  1. Nilanjana Roy (17 January 2020). "The Doll by Ismail Kadare: A mesmerising autobiographical novel". The Financial Times.
  2. John Burnside (9 January 2020). "The Doll by Ismail Kadare Review: a fascinating study of difficult love". The Guardian.
  3. Leo Robson (1 March 2020). "The Doll by Ismail Kadare. Review: A slippery study of maternal obsession". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. Kevin Brazil (20 March 2020). "Childish Things: The narcissism of being a son". The Times Literary Supplement.
  5. Boyd Tonkin (1 February 2020). "Albanian literary icon Ismail Kadare revisits 'home'". The Spectator.
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