Principles of Living
Back to the commons
Principles of Living · Bookplate
Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare

@ismail-kadare

“Ismail Kadare was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright widely regarded as one of the most important literary figures in modern European literature. He is best known for novels that blend history, myth, and political allegory to explore power, oppression, and Albanian identity.”

15
Principles
1,101
Upvotes received
523
Borrowed by others
The manifesto · 15 principles
  1. Aim for works that outlast the moment and speak across borders and generations.
  2. Understand that survival under authoritarianism often requires intelligence, caution, and indirectness.
  3. Keep faith with memory, because forgetting makes oppression easier.
  4. Remain skeptical of utopian projects that promise perfection at the cost of freedom.
  5. Value ambiguity and layered meaning over simplistic political slogans.
  6. Believe that small nations and marginalized cultures deserve a universal literary voice.
  7. Accept exile, distance, or displacement as a way to see one’s homeland and its history more clearly.
  8. Protect the dignity of the individual against collective pressure and ideological conformity.
  9. Let the past illuminate the present, especially the recurring patterns of tyranny, fear, and resistance.
  10. Write with discipline, seriousness, and high standards of craft; literature is a demanding vocation.
  11. Stay alert to the ways power distorts language, memory, and truth.
  12. Preserve a strong personal and national identity without turning it into narrow nationalism.
  13. Use allegory, myth, and history to speak truth when direct speech is dangerous or impossible.
  14. Defend artistic independence and resist any political system that tries to command the imagination.
  15. Treat literature as a moral and civic force, not just a form of entertainment.