According to scholar Robert Elsie, a common feature across Kadaré's work is the depiction of "a remote and haunted Albania as seen through the eyes of the innocent or incomprehending foreigner" (585). Broken April, Kadaré's twelfth novel, is no exception.
Written in 1978 and published in 1980, Broken April follows 26-year-old protagonist Gjorg Berisha as he navigates the traditional blood feuds practiced in North Albania in the 1930s. The novel describes life under the Kanun, a real-life code of customs long practiced in Albanian customary society for centuries. While Gjorg questions the necessity of the blood feuds, he is ultimately bound to tradition and obligation to his family. In tragic detail, Kadaré depicts the final days before Gjorg is killed in a continuation of the feuds.
Upon its translation and republication into English in 1990, Broken April received critical acclaim. Writing for the New York Times, Herbert Mitgang argued that "the powerful novel clearly shows... that Albania, the most closed of all Eastern European societies, is still haunted by the deadly traditions of an Old Europe." For Mitgang, the novel brought Kadaré "to the forefront as a major international novelist." Likewise, Merle Rubin, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, made the case that "in Broken April, Kadaré achieves a precise and delicate balance of wonder and horror, simplicity and irony." Since its publication, the novel has twice been adapted into film. A Brazilian version directed by Walter Salles in 2001 titled, Behind the Sun, was nominated for several international prizes.
While Broken April's depiction of traditional life in rural Albania might not be familiar to many readers, Kadaré's incisive and impassioned examination of vengeance, violence, and obligation is entirely universal.
