Gjon Shllaku, a translator and professor, passed away. He was born in Shkodër in 1923. In his hometown, he attended the Franciscan school and the Papal Seminary, where he studied philosophy and followed an advanced theology course. He became well-versed in several classical and modern foreign languages. Gjon Shllaku was imprisoned in 1946 for political reasons. After serving his sentence, he devoted himself entirely to translations from classical literature, which he began while in prison. His notable translations include Homer’s “Iliada” (“Iliad”) (Tirana, 1965); the “Vepra e plotë” (“The Complete Works”) of Sophocles, translated at a high artistic level (Tirana, 1995); Virgil’s “Gjeorgjikat” (Pristina, 2000); and “Kënga e Rolandit” (“The Song of Roland”), the well-known medieval French epic (Tirana, 2003). He left behind manuscript translations of works by Aeschylus and Euripides, as well as the “Fjalor latinisht-shqip” (“Latin-Albanian Dictionary”) and the “Fjalor greqisht-shqip” (“Greek-Albanian Dictionary”), both of which remained unfinished. He was decorated with the “Grand Master” order. (In the photo: Gjon Shllaku)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2502.
Photo: © https://www.radiandradi.com/skeda-biografike-gjon-shllaku-wikipedia/
Graphic processing: AHCF
