Art/Proze

Kritike dhe Letrare
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Janar 2006


Nje histori qe ilustron sensin thjeshtezues te filozofise te Zen-it, tregon per nje mjeshter japonez qe kishte ftuar ne shtepine e tij nje profesor universiteti. Profesori kishte ardhur te mesonte me shume rreth Zen-it. Nani, keshtu quhej mjeshtri, po i sherbente caj. Megjithese filxhani ishte mbushur deri ne buze, mjeshtri vazhdoi t’i hidhte perseri caj ne filxhan. Profesori me habi po verente cajin qe derdhej jashte filxhanit, por pastaj nuk duroi.- “Filxhani eshte mbushur plot, caji po derdhet. Nuk mund te vazhdosh te hedhesh me ne te.” Mjeshtri qetesisht iu pergjigj. - “Ashtu si ky filxhan caji, ju jeni i mbushur plot me opinionet dhe spekullime personale. Si mund t’iu mesoj une Zen-in ne se fillimisht nuk boshatisni filxhanin tuaj?”

Art/Proze

Perspektivat e Lirise te Fjales
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Dhjetor 2005

Per shkrimtarit turk Orhan Pamuk, deri diku, arti i tij pararend jeten e vet autorit. Autori turk, tashme me nje stature nderkombetare, i perkthyer ne mbi njezet gjuhe, duke filluar nga kjo e premte, me 16-te dhjetor, do te perballet me akuzen: fyerje e identitetit turk. Akuza e ngritur bazohet ne nje interviste te tij e dhene ne shkurt te ketij viti gazetes zvicerane Tages Anzeiger ku nder te tjera ai thote se. “tridhjet mije kurd dhe nje milion armene u vrane ne keto toka, e askush nuk guxon te flase rreth tyre”. Turqia zyrtare eshte shume e ndjeshme dhe e kujdeshme ne trajtimin e te dy temave. E ka pranuar si nje fakt te mireqene vdekjen e mijra armeneve gjate Luftes se Pare Boterore, por masakrat ndaj armeneve nuk pranohen te karakterizohen si “gjenocid”; ashtu sic edhe ka shpjeguar se numri i te vrare ne luften kunder terrorizmit kurd i perkasin te dy aneve, duke perfshire civile, terroriste, ushtare, etj. Separatizmi kurd i drejtuar nga Partia Kurde e Punetoreve(ose e njohur me inicialet P.K.K.) eshte konsideruar njezeri si terrorizem(i drejtuar nga kjo organizate terroriste e jashteligjeshme), jo vetem nga Turqia, por edhe nga Bashkimi Europian dhe SHBA.

Opinion/Kritike

Hija e Korrupsionit
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Dhjetor 2005

Me gjithe ate gjera qe kam lexuar per korrupsionin ne Shqiperi, si i kudogjendur, per mua ka mbetur akoma i pakapshem, njelloj si te ishte Njeriu i Debores. Shumekush e ka pare, biles me disa eshte pare sy me sy, dikush ka gjetur edhe gjurmet e fresketa shputave te kembeve ne debore. Por megjithate askush nuk eshte ne gjendje te saktesoje se me ke ngjan me shume. Korrupsioni nuk ngjan me kriminelin, hajdutin, vrasesin, perdhunuesin, falsifikuesin, ku te gjithe i jane vene nga pas, ne nje ndjekje qe s’rresht. Keta lloj keqberesish, shpejt a vone, pritet qe te bien ne doren e drejtesise.

Rite de Passage

Panteoni Shqiptar Ne Krize
Altin Topi
Alb-Club 2000


Ka dite qe flitet per nje zenke, nje sherr qe paska plasur ne Panteonin shqiptar. Po sic ndodh ne raste te tilla, gjerat thuhen nen ze. Fjala eshte per nje peticion qe i eshte dorezuar Parlamentit. Ketu fillon edhe cudia e ketij lajmi. Thuhet se kete peticion e paskan firmosur te perndjekurit, te debuarit e Panteonit shqiptar. Thuhet akoma, se kete peticion e kane firmosur edhe shume anetare te vet ketij tempulli te kombit. Ndermjet shume emrave edhe firmave ishin pare ato te legjendarit Skenderbe, Bogdanit, Buzukut, Nolit, Fishtes, Migjenit, vellezerve Frasheri, Konices, Poradecit e shume e shume te tjereve. Rishfaqja e firmave te tyre ishte gjeja me e pabesueshme e kesaj historije, por megjithate, kjo ishte shpjeguar me vetine e pavdekesise qe kane heronjte e Panteonit.

Rite de Passage

Feja nder shqiptare
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Nentor 2005

Cikli i mendimit filozofik shqiptar sidomos ne gjysmen e dyte te shekullit te XX-te mbeti teper rudimental e qesharak. Tashme, per te gjithe ne, eshte bere e zakoneshme, qe kur hapet tema e fese, te kujtojme vargjet teper te konsumuara nga interpretimi jorelixhoz, qe i eshte bere Vaso Pashe Shkodranit: Coniu shqyptare, pret gjumit coniu,/Te gjithe si vllazen n’nji bese shtrengoniu, /E mos shikoni kisha e xhamia,/ Feja e shqyptarit asht ahqyptaria,/… Akoma vazhdohet te interpretohet njelloj, historia fetare e shqiptareve dhe domethenia e vargjeve te poemes “O moj Shqypni, e mjera Shqypni”. Dikush thote se, ne thelb shqiptaret kane qene e mbeten pagane. Ne Shqiperi kishat dhe xhamijat i sheh bosh, fete krijojne percarje, e kerkohet te pranohet njezeri se, shqiptaret nuk jane, e nuk duhet te jene fetare.

Art/Proze

The "Verdict of Time”
Altin Topi
Memes Exodus Jul 2002

The "Verdict of Time”: The leading note of every age is struck by those creators who are the most robust and intense. Our own era, it might be called by our successors "The age of Proust or "The age of Joyce," or the "The age of Spielberg," it may be defined above all as the age of poetry and movie, or... who knows. While more ephemeral productions are buried in oblivion, only a few masterpieces may emerge marked by intense energy imparted to them by their imaginative creators. Guillaume Apollinaire, a charming and delicate poet, but e robust critic, who interpreted Cubism to the 20th Century generations and is considered the father of Surrealism declared before his death: "All the artistic works of an age mold themselves, in the end, on the most energetic, the most expressive, the most typical creation of the Age."

The "verdict of time" is in fact the judgment of a very few enthusiasts, and as Arnold Bennet define it: - "Why does the great and universal fame of classical authors continue? The answer is that the fame of classical authors is entirely independent of the majority...It is made and maintained by a passionate few... It is the passionate few that the renown of genius is kept alive from one generation to another... The majority can make a reputation, but it is too careless to maintain it... The few conquered by their obstinacy alone, by their eternal repetition of the same statements."

The ancients were aware of this and dismissed the "profanum vulgus;" Voltaire, whom some moderns revere as the ancestor of the democracy, wrote to the chief of the police Herault in 1734 that he should only listen to the opinion of a few chosen minds on his books, "because the vulgar is always and everywhere led by a small number of exceptional men, in literature and politics."

The passionate few, single out a few symphonies by Beethoven, a few overtures by Wagner, a few "Lieder" by Shumman or a few cantos by Verdi, to be heard forever. The passionate few, if they are successful, are soon joined by the snobs and the publishers, and/or the art dealers; the public opinion creators are submissively followed by the public and the crowds who are only too glad to echo the verdict of the "experts."

The public can never express a sincere opinion on Oedipus Rex, Divine Comedy. King Lear, Andromaque, or War and Peace. The "experts" are the gregarious troop which tyrannizes over timid souls under the name of posterity.

The Impressionist "movement" in painting began in obscurity and ridicule. Manet, in 1863, was hated and abused; gradually he won to his vision Pissarro, Monet. Monet in his turn won Renoir and Bazille; Cézanne joined the group in 1874, for their first group exhibition. The public, remained bitterly hostile until 1887, it accepted Renoir only in 1892 and Cezanne much later. Four or five enthusiasms admirer of these painters (Dure, Durand-Ruel, Vollard, Geffroy, etc.) succeeded in getting them accepted by an unanimous adverse public. This is the power of the public opinion creators.

Let close this visit to posterity with a remark on Dante by Voltaire: "Dante will always be admired, because no one ever read him".

Rite de Passage

Unpublished Authors
Altin Topi
Alb-Club Jul 2002

Twenty years ago, - well, I have to admit, surely, it sounds a long time ago, - I was living in Taubinit of Zentana, bewildered by my youth and a sense that I was a would-be great Zentanian poet and narrator. Imaginary, I was living the parallel dream of an Ezra Pound, a Gertrude Stein, a Joyce, or a Hemingway, at the time when living in Paris, the museum city, the would-be writers often couldn't afford even a modest meal. My almost daily itinerary, summer or winter weather, no matter what, was a long promenade along the Taubinit's Seine, - Lumi i Lanes. As strange as it might sound, this distinctive fixture of my beloved city was (and still is) officially considered a "Lum", in Zentanian is the word for river, or named so at least, in some antique and scarce maps, including a fragmentary tourist guide, as the first and maybe the only edition, which at different times appeared and disappeared from the circulation as an indicative sign of new and different circumstances, the ups-and-downs of the regime's mood. But, for me, and I generally believe, as for all the Parisians, the River Seine is simply, the Seine, as for the majority of Taubinit's residents, Lumi i Lanes is just Lana.