Jolanda Kodra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Iolanda Guazzoni (1910-03-18)18 March 1910 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 16 August 1963(1963-08-16) (aged 53) |
Jolanda Kodra (1910–1963) was an Italian-Albanian writer and translator, one of the first woman writers in the Albanian language, as well as a translator into the Italian language of the works of Albanian writers, such asNdre Mjeda,Migjeni,Petro Marko, andSterjo Spasse.[1]
Jolanda Kodra was born an Italian, Iolanda Guazzoni, in 1910, inRome, Italy, and was a niece ofEnrico Guazzoni, an Italian screenwriter and film director. She was pursuing studies in aclassical lyceum, when she met with Malo Kodra, originally fromGjirokastër, who was a student in Rome. A fitness teacher, he brought her toAlbania in 1931. She soon learnedAlbanian and started not only to communicate well, but also to publish poetry in Albanian as well as literary criticism articles in well known magazinesHylli i Dritës,Përpjekja shqiptare,Fryma,Njeriu andTomori onNaim Frashëri,Gjergj Fishta,Migjeni, andNdre Mjeda.[2] Kodra worked particularly on Migjeni and Mjeda, which she later translated into Italian. She was one of the first women to publish in Albania, in the company ofSelfixhe Ciu andMusine Kokalari.[1]
After World War II she worked as a translator from and into Italian, as well asRussian, of, among other, writers such asPetro Marko andSterjo Spasse. She was allowed to neither teach by thecommunist regime nor to go back into her home country until 1962, one year before her death.[2]
Kodra translated into Italian almost the complete work ofMigjeni, she worked on his poetry in the version of 1957, published bySkënder Luarasi, and finished them in 1962, entitledPoesie e prose. The only song missing is theKanga e fundit. Also she omitted Migjeni's notes, as well as certain subtitles of some poetries such as that ofDityramb Nietzsche-an,Melodisë kombëtare (To the national melody) and the dedications. Her translations of the 1960s are very precious, because nowadays hard to find. Kodra is very true to the original text as a translator, which was a must in those years for a translator. For this reason there is an emotional shift in Kodra's translations.[3]