Lasgush Poradeci, lyric poet, translator, passed away in Tirana . Lasgush Poradeci is the literary pseudonym of Llazar Sotir Gusho. He was born in Pogradec, in 1899. He received his first lessons in his hometown, in the Greek and Albanian schools, to continue them in a Romanian school in Manastir. He completed his secondary education at a French high school in Athens. Then he settled in Bucharest, where he started his higher studies in several faculties, at first in the field of painting. During his stay in Bucharest, he was elected secretary general of the Albanian Colony of Romania. In 1924, he settled in Austria, where he began his higher studies at the Faculty of Romano-Germanic Philology at the University of Graz, at the end of which he defended his doctorate on the topic “Eminescu’s poetry and its connections with popular poetry”. In 1934 he returned to his homeland and worked as an arts teacher in the high school of Tirana. His first poems, written in the spirit of folk poetry, belong to the age of 9-10. The intellectual and philosophical formation then gave his poetry depth of thought and a wide cultural background, which starts from the traditions of antiquity and eastern cultures and comes to modern contemporary poetry. In the 20s-30s of the 20th century, Lasgush Poradeci published his lyrics in various press bodies of the time and became one of the most popular and original voices of new Albanian poetry. In 1933, in Romania, with the special interest and care of the Albanian exile there, especially his friends, Asdren and Mitrush Kuteli, the volume “Vallja e Yjeve” (“Dance of the stars”), which included written and published poems in the years 1921–1924, would see the light of publication. In the 30s-40s of the 20th century, Lasgush Poradeci continued to write and publish in some periodicals of the time. In the post-war years, he mainly focused on the field of translation. Despite the predominance of poetry with patriotic motifs, in Lasgushi, love poetry is at the top of the list. Philosophical and landscape lyrics occupy a large place in his creativity . Lasgushi wrote fewer true patriotic poems, and in them he sometimes wove ideas and attitudes about social problems. There are some of his poems that can be considered genuine landscape poems. The poems that have the lake in their center are among the most beautiful. Lasgush Poradeci like rarely has spiritualized this element of nature, establishing an unbreakable connection between his poetic soul and the heart of the “lake”. In his concept of nature, the talent of the painter is felt, the talent that nourished and practiced it. In Lasgushi’s poetry, there are also features related to other directions and trends, such as: symbolist poetry, which is seen in the extreme care the poet has for the sound effects of the verse, in the use of a symbolic nature special, connected and inspired by symbolist poets. Lasgush Poradec’s philosophical lyrics contain universal themes and motifs, from creation, God’s relationship with man to death and eternity. After the liberation, Lasgush Poradeci worked as a professional literary translator in the “Naim Frashëri” publishing house; led a withdrawn and somewhat closed life amid extreme economic difficulties. (In the photo: Lasgush Poradeci)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2069-2070.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasgush_Poradeci
Graphic processing: AHCF
