The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother
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First edition | |
| Author | Ismail Kadare |
|---|---|
| Translator | John Hodgson |
| Set in | Albania and Moscow |
| Publisher | Onufri, Harvill Secker |
Publication date | 2015 |
Published in English | 2020 |
| Pages | 208 |
The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother (Albanian: Kukulla) is an autobiographical novel sketching Albanian author Ismail Kadare's relationship with his mother.[1] It dwells upon the family's life in Gjirokastër and later in Tirana, "full of compelling details of life in a changing Albania",[2] as well as on the author's own time as a student at the Gorky Institute in Moscow.[3] While the portrait of his mother remains insubstantial, there are reflections upon the author's own youthful literary ambitions,[4] and the nature of autocracy.[5]
The work was first published in Albanian in 2015, and was translated into English by John Hodgson for publication by Harvill Secker in 2020.[1]