Maxhun Osmanaj: Reading Impressions

READ ALSO IN ALBANIAN JUST KLICK - LEXO NE SHQIP VETEM KLIKO

“The Cat with One Eye”, a novel with a psycho-philosophical yeast and the obsession with death

Written by Maxhun Osmanaj

(Biser Mehmeti, “The Cat with One Eye”, novel, SHB “Buzuku”, Prishtina, 2025)

(Prologue instead of biography)

“I took your book...and in order to read it comfortably, I opened it and wanted to take only a cursory look at it: but then it attracted me so much that I read it further. (Seneca, “Letter to Lucil”, Rilindja, Prishtina, 1983.f, 59), taken from “Modelime manjemëni”-studime literare, Lumnie Thaçi Halili, URA publications, Prishtina, 2025, p.105.

Biser Mehmeti (1962), is one of the most successful prose writers of his generation in the genre of prose, he proved his talent in ten novels, some awarded in literary competitions in Kosovo and Albania, three books of short stories, as well as two volumes of poetry. Mehmeti is included in the book of short stories “Nus vers l’indipendance” (Naked towards independence, published in Paris by L’Hartman (2020).

“A novel about the transition of an environment as urban as it is provincial. A rush towards pronounced paradoxes. A writer in the middle, with the vision of the consciousness of a reality that wants change” (ibid., on the front cover of the novel).

The intellectual hero facing the obsession of fear-death

The novel "The One-Eyed Cat" offers us a varied narrative with great twists, which keeps the reader in suspense with a map of post-war events in Kosovo, when the reader investigates: threats, murder, anxiety, fear, sadness, separation, chaos, nepotism, bribery, corruption. In other words, scenes of a climate not very safe from clans and mafia networks. The book is built from 27 parts or chapters, where the protagonist or main hero, an intellectual, family journalist, narrates in the first person as an experiencer of scenes in post-war Kosovo, where law is absent, justice is absent, and the free thought-speech of the intellectual is absent. The protagonist is stuck in the emotional trap of fear, he fights the battle for salvation at every opportunity, so we have that obsession of fear, death, that psychological battle.

Who to tell, what he will do, how to get out of this vicious circle of the spider web of thoughts of fear of a time that can be "eaten by the oven", the one who reveals a truth with facts. The main hero is an intellectual journalist who reports - writes events, chronicles, murders..., such as , the murder of Mayor Kron Mat. Often, two diametrically opposed thoughts come to the journalist's mind: a foreign voice tells him to tell society the truth with facts, while the other voice draws his attention, do not send the article for publication, because you will face serious consequences, so he is eroded by an internal psychological battle. As a result of this situation, the Hamletian question arises: To be or not to be?! Here lies the absurdity of life. Within this internal erosion or this storm of doubts of fear, the author, through The One-Eyed Cat, manages to keep in suspense the fear, the obsession of death and misfortune as a devouring ghost. The One-Eyed Cat appears to us in every chapter as an agent, as a spectre, as a calamity, as a misfortune. The blocking of the road by that cat creates a narrative dimension where superstition is expressed. The hero sometimes kills the cat, sometimes he injures it innocently, sometimes he runs away from it, sometimes he appears in every in-between as a symbol of the devil and evil fate. His dismissal, that is, his expulsion from his job as a journalist, by the newspaper's boss, Fred Krosi, his separation from Annika, the wife of his two children (Mona and Loni), her flight to England, puts him at the ideological peak of the protagonist's fate. So, as a result of the blackmail they make of the journalist, Annika cannot withstand this blackmail and breaks up with him. The author reveals the power of corruption and mafia people, who do not recognize power, honor or justice. They lack morality, dignity, while the destructive weapon, blackmail, is extremely dangerous. The portrait of the main character appears dignified, who tries to do his job with dignity, but three or four people from the mafia group often appear to him who threaten, follow and injure him. Now unemployment threatens his future and he often feels like he is falling into the abyss of the bad fate of life. He is devastated that there is no one to protect him, since the law does not turn its back on the victim: in one case he bursts out: "Because of that article, my life was turned upside down..." (p. 42). He sometimes gets drunk as a consolation to defeat fate, time, since fate seems to have turned its back on him and forgotten him. The journalist, the main narrator, is not the only one who experiences bad luck in society. Rambo, real name Sadik, a thirty-five-year-old young man, who has become a beggar, without a wife, without children, also experiences such a fate. "I once had a woman...Her name is Sadie...no, not Sadie, but Sevdie. I don't know what happened to her. When I went home one day I couldn't find her...I didn't leave a single place without looking for her, but I couldn't find her anywhere" (p.44). Sadik's great disappointment in people and society, due to the fact that he doesn't enjoy freedom of thought and dignified action, because they don't leave him alone. He reveals his anger in the story "I graduated from the technical faculty in record time, even with high grades! I was even declared an "Outstanding Student". I worked as an architect in the municipality for three years, and I was even very successful. My misfortune began one day when the mayor of the municipality, Saqipi, called me to his office. "Are you with us or with them?" he asked me in a slow voice, his eyes widening. I told him; I am neither with you nor with them..., I don't want to get involved in politics" (p.45). Thus Sadiku tells the journalist and continues: "They told me: 'Become a member of our intelligence service'" (p.46). One day my wife also left me, because she didn't want to live with a fool" (p.47). So here the people in power and the party manage to give people painful fates and ruin their lives and families. He experiences violence, beatings, dismissal from work and his life ends as a beggar heading towards the abyss. This character also reveals a revolt and spiritual protest against people who destroy people who are not on their side.

The fate of the journalist who fights for the truth of information

The obsession with death and threats follows the journalist step by step, like those three or four enigmatic people, as well as the cat with a sinister eye. Author Mehmeti has managed to convey the message of a time of persecution of people: intellectuals, journalists, who try to write a truth, but which the party or the party's mafia do not like. Then, their fate is also understandable. The author made a linear narrative connection that, in addition to these phenomena, the main hero is always accompanied by the fear of the cat: "This damned cat is bringing all the misfortunes in my life, I said with a voice that trembled with fear that the cat would at any moment jump on my face and cause me serious wounds" (p.77). The narrator also experiences an attempted assassination, his injury by the people who had killed his brother, Konin, 25 years old. His brother's injury is deeply felt by his sister Rita, who advises him to seek psychiatric help. The narrator hero is accompanied by dark corners of his thoughts. His wife, Annika, and children: Mona and Lona visit him in his mind, in his dreams. He is overcome by deep disappointment in life... He addresses his sister: "In this country, even a hundred years will not bring good... There is no one in this country who fights crime and corruption, much less prosecutors and judges, who are put at the service of criminal groups... It is a tragedy when the state is led by criminals" (p. 15). This is where the narrator hero's disappointment, protest, and revolt reach. He has lost faith in a complete change, in a peaceful life. The journalist's sister also suffers, she is not accepted into work. "Aha, aren't you the sister of Apollon, that crazy journalist who writes dark and gloomy about our party?!" (p. 151). The journalist's blackmailing followers try to criticize him, to attribute many weaknesses to him, but he has ideals, he does not regret the work he did. He explodes, he has courage, since his dignity still reacts, he does not remain silent "I am happy for everything I have done in life... I do not regret that I have challenged evil and ugliness. I will not give up my ideals until my last vein beats" (p. 155). So, the author carves a good spiritual portrait of the journalist, who emerges as a courageous voice that writes about the evil phenomena of people, e.g. of Professor Miroli who conditioned the girls for grades or Sara who did not accept such a thing, preserved her honor, but lost her husband due to misunderstanding. The journalist is followed by people blackmailers, such as Sahiti, a former police officer in the occupier's organs, now a police slanderer. So, in the chain system of abusers of office, we come across people without dignity, people who destroy people's lives. The professor rapes, the school principal rapes, the police rapes, the prosecutor rapes. "Maybe you don't have the courage to write about my case that has destroyed my life..." (p.170), - a raped woman addresses the journalist. So, in every case where there is a need for some service, the journalist is targeted by stalkers, threateners, blackmailers. The prose writer Mehmeti, through the narration of the main character Apollon Karadaku, who at the end is revealed to us by name and surname by the author, has managed to offer us a novel with a mirror of the dark shadows of some people, who give a gloomy picture of the time and society, who do not know law, justice, morality, but destroy souls innocent, the foundation of a dignified life. Figurative expressions that describe people in certain situations, strengthen the style and narrative intrigue as aesthetics and message. The author uses powerful expressions as well as metaphor, comparison and epithet, which strengthen the figurative language and artistic style of the work. A modern novel where reality and time intertwine and bring out people and a system where the free thought of the intellectual is killed. Every time carries on its shoulders the spiritual fractures and cracks with different twists, but this novel conveys to the reader, a traumatic time of the post-war in Kosovo, a revolt and extreme disappointment. While the mafia criminal groups try to shackle and crucify the truth of free speech and thought, to condemn it, that is, to kill the truth of the time. But the voice of truth also bursts from the corners of dark abysses, however with consequences, as is the case of the journalist narrator.

It is a modern novel that carries description, narrative, and message on every page. It does not define any locality, but the urban, civic spirit, here and there rural, is part of the environment where the narrative is built. The voice of the journalist is the voice of conscience, the voice of the intellectual, the voice of dignity, the voice of truth. In this novel, the art of the courageous spirit wins, in the face of fear, persecution, punishment, blackmail, even though the escape from the homeland and the attempt to reunite with his wife and children is another epilogue.

We wish the author continued success!