A Stranger in Rome: Musine Kokalari and Her Memoir La mia vita universitaria in Twentieth-Century Albanian Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the memoir of Musine Kokalari, the first woman writer in Albanian literature. Her memoir La mia vita universitaria (My University Life) was written in Italian during her stay in Rome as a student at Sapienza University. It was published only in 2009 (Tirana) and in 2016 (Rome) as a result of the author being harshly persecuted by the communist regime and her work being banned in Albania for almost half a century. Kokalari’s memoir is analyzed through a cultural and biographical approach as well as text analysis. Being a stranger and remaining one while living in Italy is a fundamental aspect of Kokalari’s memoir as she narrates her journey toward the expression of the self as an Albanian woman writer in fascist Rome.