Le Concert

Ismail Kadare

Publié par Livre de Poche, le 01 mars 1993

Résumé

In Enver Hoxha's Albania, news was closely guarded and speculation forever rife. When an engineer stepped on the foot of a visiting Chinese man, a Diplomatic incident resulted, and couriers between Tirana and Beijing carried back and forth annotated X-rays of The Foot. Was the sudden tension between the two allies connected with the punishment meted out to a group of Albanian tank officers? Were Comrades Enver and Mao still in step on the sovereign role of the Party? The brittle nature of political realities is epitomised in a Gala Concert in Beijing. A hand-picked audience of diplomats and party officials see destiny for the fragile beast it is when, surveying the Politburo boxes, they notice to their horror an Empty Chair.Kadare - the author of 'one of the most complete visions of totalitarianism ever committed to paper' (Vanity Fair) - has penned a glimpse inside a seething melting pot of rumour and reputation, as the morning's orthodoxies become heresies by dinner time and the Sino-Albanian axis finally comes adrift.