In the novel "Broken April" by Ismail Kadare, the reader witnesses a relatively static attitude

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Kishore Mehta

Q. Compare and contrast the attitudes of Bessian Vorpsi and his wife, Diana, to the Kanun. Explore whether their attitudes remain static or eventually change, and explore how their respective attitudes affect their relationship.

Ans. In the novel “Broken April” by Ismail Kadare, the reader witnesses a relatively static attitude of adulation toward the Kanun from Albanian writer Bessian Vorpsi, in stark contrast to the constantly changing attitude toward the Kanun from Diana, his wife, who towards the end, fears and loathes the Kanun. This has a tremendous impact on the relationship between Bessian and Diana, because Diana’s disgust of the Kanun contrasts with the worship that Bessian constantly heaps upon the Kanun, and this eventually leads to Diana being estranged, and distracted. She soon falls for Gjorg, and this leads to a rather distasteful experience for the honeymooning couple. As the novel progresses, the reader notices these changes in Diana’s attitude, both towards the Kanun and Bessian, and the reasons behind her subsequently strange behaviour.

        Bessian Vorpsi is introduced to the reader in Chapter 3 as an Albania writer, visiting the Northern High Plateau for the first time and yet more knowledgeable than most about the Kanun. Diana is his newly-wed bride who was notably younger than Bessian. She “was happy”, and is excited about “escaping the world of reality for the world of legend” (Pg 63). Diana notes the interest Bessian showed about the Kanun, as the author mentions, of this “part-imaginary, part-epic world”, that “he talked about [it] for days on end”. (Pg 64) Initially, Diana shares Bessian’s enthusiasm to a certain extent;

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Bessian shows her a church that Diana describes as “beautiful”. (Pg 67) However, initial cracks, or at least hints of cracks in the two-week old marriage begin to show. After Diana describes the church as beautiful, Bessian does not respond. Similarly, slightly earlier on in the chapter, when Bessian figures out what is in the sacks of two mountaineers, “corn”, Diana does not respond. These incidents may seem to be irrelevant or speculative of the future of their relationship, but they are certainly possible hints of the reasons behind the collapse, or destined collapse, of their relationship later on in ...

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