‘‘Kernel narrative’’ in Kadare's Fiction: An Attempt to Define a Phenomenological Norm of Reading in Albanian

Abstract

How is fictional created in Albanian? What is perceived as such, that is, as a ‘fictional state’ of language? What elements, categories, linguistic structures, and relevant meanings are put into motion? This paper attempts to measure the possible fictional threshold in language, specifically within the work of Ismail Kadare and aims to promote an integral reading influenced by a unique use of Albanian, serving as a structural archetype for interpreting this renowned Albanian author. The definition of a normative state of narrative in fiction through reading enables the construction of a stylistic index that reflects the reader's experience. This index consists of standardized interactive processes, serves as an expression of the reader's intertextual competence, and functions as a tool for judgment on the text. Facing challenges of a theoretical and practical order, involving arguments of the fictionalization of language as a pragmatics of literary discourse and a possible poetics of the boundaries where this process occurs, this work describes a “‘kernel narrative’,” a definable norm of fictional reading, which makes visible the stylistic and poetic implications of a phenomenology of reading. From here, a history of literary forms is supported by arguments of a phenomenological nature, explaining the phenomenon of literary success, literary influence, and literary value within a given social structure.