The General of the Dead Army

Kadare's Albania is a country of rain, mud and mountain silence, crossed twenty years after the war by an Italian general and a priest sent to recover their nation's dead. The map runs from the capital Tirana out through the northern highlands to old battlefields and a labourers' work camp, with the Adriatic coast and the port of Durrës always at the country's back.

The General

Tirana, the capital

Arrival

The story opens as an Italian general lands in the Albanian capital, twenty years after the war, charged with digging up the bones of his country's soldiers and carrying them home. Accompanied by a priest, he takes his instructions and his maps here before setting out into the country.

Opening chapters

explicit Kadare names Tirana as the general's point of arrival; this marks the city centre.

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