Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arian Leka

Ben Andoni’s book “Albania from Letters” represents one of the most consistent methodological interventions in contemporary studies on the history of Albanian thought expressed through correspondence. By shifting attention from the normative discourses of official historiography towards epistolary form as an archival, discursive and cultural form, the work builds a paradigm of scientific research that treats the letter not as a secondary, complementary or illustrative source, but as an autonomous space for the production of knowledge and the shaping of collective consciousness. Correspondence in this book is conceived as a document with multiple values. It is a text, a material object and an act of communication, where the private dimension is intertwined with the public and where the individual meets the historical.

In this sense, Ben Andoni's study in the book "Albania from Letters" (Papirus, 2025) is placed in direct dialogue with the approaches of cultural history and microhistory, as well as with theories on the materiality of the text and the social practices of writing and reading, especially in the era of dyslexia and dysgraphia that is experienced today. The author presents the epistolary as an "intimate archive of thought", where ideas, in addition to being articulated in a programmatic and problematic form, also touch on areas of emotionality, doubt and negotiation of writers among themselves. Structured in eight thematic chapters, the study is based on a large and selected corpus of about 1200 letters, extracted from the Central State Archive, the Archive of the Institute of Linguistics and Literature, academic archives and other private sources carefully selected by the author.

This material positions the work within what the paleontologist Armando Petrucci has defined as the “social history of writing” where, as much as the semantic content of the text, the manner of writing, the circumstances of production, address, circulation and any other formal element of it are important. Ben Andoni shows a critical awareness of the limits of selection, avoiding totalizing claims and presenting the book as an open basis for further research in several disciplines. This methodological positioning distances the study from encyclopedic ambition and gives it a deeper exploratory character, where epistolaries are treated as nodes of communication in intellectual and cultural circles, inside and outside the national space. In this respect, the work also dialogues with the analyses carried out by the cultural historian Robert Darnton, on issues of the circulation of ideas and the functioning of informal media throughout European intellectual history, where correspondence plays a non-secondary role.

One of the most essential contributions of the book “Albania from Letters” lies in the reassessment of the epistolary as an “alternative history” in Albanian thought. From this perspective, the letter appears as a discursive form where subjectivity, the rhetoric of proximity and everyday time produce a type of knowledge that is lacking in official, programmatic or institutional texts, complementing and enriching the documentation about personalities, about the debate and the time of writing. Thanks to this treatment, the reader learns that in Albanian letters of different periods, in addition to national ideology, as a main concern, the human dimension of thought is also articulated, where the hopes, illusions, dilemmas, disappointments and rich codes or ways of addressing the letter writers appear. Such an approach by the author to the document shifts the focus of the study from the “history of ideas” to the “history of mentalities” and cultural practices exercised during the time of communications through letters. The material examined also suggests that epistolaries function as primary sources for the history of everyday life, illuminating the processes of national awakening, state formation and cultural organization and supporting the opinion of historian Peter Burke, that culture often appears most clearly in its small and unofficial forms. In this space, the Albanian letter, placed in a broader epistolary discourse, acquires multiple documentary value.

The book “Albania of Letters” is placed in critical continuity with the tradition of earlier Albanian epistolary publications, intensified as publications mainly after the 90s, such as the Correspondence of Mit'hat bey Frashëri, the Assembly of Letters with Friends of Mustafa Merlika-Krujë, the Correspondence of Camaj–Pipa or Love in the Age of Christ, with the intimate correspondence of Dritëro Agolli, as well as a review of the earlier correspondence of Dora d'Istria with De Rada, of Fan Noli with his collaborators or of Lasgush Poradec with Asdren. In this perspective, the correspondence of Pjetër Bogdani, Kristoforidhi, Veqilharxhi and other personalities appear as evidence of intellectual and civic engagement in fundamental issues of Albanian history. The structuring of the work into thematic chapters, such as friendship, religion, patriotism, education, science, culture, war, anonymity, etc., represents within the book an important shift that, starting from linear chronology, tends and arrives towards the analysis of mentalities through epistolary. The author's interventions and introductions, the letter, as a fact, and correspondence as a process, are conveyed to the reader as a means of building the first networks of Albanian intellectual communication, testifying to an active and conscious writing culture. The publication also brings innovation in the construction of an interpretative and classification apparatus, which places these epistolary in a hierarchical, thematic and chronological relationship, as well as in dialogue with the European traditions of humanist and modern literature, as Janet Gurkin Altman would describe it in the work "Epistolary: Approach to a Form". For each categorization, the author distinguishes issues of addressing, such as in Father Anton Harapi, on issues of communication ethics towards hierarchy, such as in Ernest Koliqi towards Mustafa Kruja, where friendship and the institution are kept balanced, or in Gjeçov's expression of regret and restrained complaints towards the authorities, respect for the protocol side, as in the correspondence between Eqrem Bey Vlora and Ahmet Zogu, or surprises such as Ahmet Zogu's expression of friendly feelings towards Fan Noli, the kind thanks of prominent Albanians in the colony and in the diaspora, to formal courtesy or expressions of affection and correspondence between later opponents with different ideological affiliations and backgrounds. The displacement of Albanian writing practices places them in dialogue with the traditions of the Far East, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt or Italian city-states, giving the analysis in the book an intercultural and evolutionary dimension, taking the Albanian case out of interpretive isolation. The hypotheses on the existence of local scriptoriums, supported by comparative analysis and indirect evidence, expand the field of study towards Albanian paleography and the history of writing before printing, which pushes one to search deeper in time, towards the earliest traditions of scribalism in the Albanian space.

Prominent in the study “Albania of Letters” is the analysis of calligraphy as a social and communicative practice through manuscripts. Distancing himself from the conception of calligraphy as an “elite art”, the author treats handwriting as a paratextual element, where the graphic form of the letter is interpreted as a sign of cultural formation, social status, dignity, linguistic awareness and the identity of the writer. In this sense, calligraphy or calligraphy becomes a “cultural portrait” of the graphic individuality of the writer, as emphasized in the most recent UNESCO acts, on the guardianship of handwriting, as a critical skill and a call for cultural identity. Ben Andoni makes some distinctions, when considering some of the well-known personalities of the National Renaissance and historical figures of the 20th century, who show special attention and care towards handwritten paper. Among them, he singles out examples of the beautiful writing of Ndje Mjedë or Shtjefën Gjeçov, the initials of Sami Frashëri or the emphases in Çajup's manuscript, which reinforce the author's stance on the treatment of epistolary writing beyond a beautifully written work of art, but also the argument that the style of writing, its rhythm and even the location of the letters, often reflect the authority of the writer behind them.

The analysis of these handwritten evidence, supplemented with philological touches in the description, serves to bring tangible the content and matter of the letter or the formal treatment of writing, as a separate treatment through the chapter “Communicating through beautiful handwriting.” This chapter brings and shifts attention towards “calligraphy as a social and communicative practice”, to stay closer to the proposals of the researcher Armando Petruçi on the graphic individuality of handwritten texts. The author makes interpretations between the similarities and differences of “public writing”, as an instrument to orient thought and command space, and “handwriting”, as a tool that enables the spread of ideas from closed personal and intellectual circles, towards a wider public space.

The methodological difference is also fulfilled in the book through the treatment of the use of correspondence as a narrative strategy in artistic literature, such as in epistolary novels or literary texts in the form of a diary, where Albanian literature has models, such as Sikur t'isha djale by Haki Stërmilli or Letra grues seme të vdekun by Gj. Maranaj (Gjovanin Gjadri). Ben Andoni correctly distinguishes the difference, emphasizing that correspondence between literary characters in novels is considered a means of architecture of the literary work, while epistolary between personalities is presented as evidence with a role and influence in the objective construction of memory. Thus, the real correspondence of historical personalities is treated as a source for the objective construction of history, in accordance with the trends of historical communication and paratext studies. This difference reinforces the status of the letter as active evidence in the construction of individual and collective mindsets and not simply as a literary artifact of curiosity.

The book “Albania through Letters”, by Ben Andoni, values ​​the written letter as a transfer of ideas and feelings, as well as as a testimony of cultural, historical and human importance, treating the phenomenon of epistolary writing as an essential source for understanding the spiritual world of the elites and individuals of the time, including the social and cultural daily life of Albanians. The perspective offered helps Albania to be understood beyond ready-made narratives or mediated articulation, as an open, “unbiased conversation, a counterpoint to digressions, prejudices and thematic concerns, which complicate the use of ancient narrative historiography”. Such a reading encourages those interested to remake Albania from the direct voice of those who thought about it, wanted it in their own way and opposed it in correspondence.

The text's scholarly value is multifaceted and enduring, as it constitutes an important documentary contribution, relying on a rich corpus of sources (codices, manuscripts, archival letters, state and religious documents, etc.), analyzing them from a content and linguistic perspective and from a graphic form perspective. The text contributes, among other things, to the history of Albanian writing and the alphabet, as it follows the evolution of the shape of the letters from medieval manuscripts to modern writing, highlighting the relationship between Albanian phonetics and the graphic solutions used over the centuries.

The work is accompanied by a rich and extensive referential apparatus, which includes Albanian and foreign scholars, classical and contemporary (Çabej, Kastrati, Domi, Sinani, Koçollari, Dervishi, or Bradley, Sogno, Camiciotti, Claude, Del Corno), an element that places it in a sustainable dialogue with the theories of epistolary, cultural history, communication studies and philology. The references brought by the author function as analytical instruments and not as academic ornament, legitimizing the interpretations and positioning the Albanian epistolary on the European map of practices of exchange of ideas. Epistolary in this book creates communication and memory, significantly expanding the horizon of literary, historical and philological studies, where writing is both an intimate and private text and a social identity with influence in the public sphere.

Ben Andoni's "Albania from Letters" represents a methodological and documentary contribution of lasting value to the history of Albanian thought derived from manuscripts. By recognizing the status of epistolary writing as cultural, historical, and human evidence, the publication offers an interdisciplinary research model applicable to other fields of Albanological knowledge.

/ Panorama Newspaper