Robert Elsie, albanologist, translator and writer, was born in Vancouver (Canada). He studied linguistics and classical philology at the University of British Columbia. He continued his postgraduate studies in Berlin, Paris, Dublin and Bonn, where he defended his doctorate in comparative linguistics and Celticology (1978). He specialized in Albanianology. He published a book on the history of Albanian literature (1995), the historical dictionary of Albania (2004) and Kosovo (2004) in English, the dictionary of religion, mythology and Albanian folklore (2001) in English and German. In collaboration with Janice Mathie-Heck, he translated Fishta’s “Lahuta e Malcis” into English in 2005, while he published the Canon of Lekë Dukagjin in German. In 1997 he published the anthology of writings about Kosovo “Kosova: In the Heart of the Powder Keg” ( Kosovo: In the Heart of the Powder Keg ), and then the collection “Storm on the horizon: The roots of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Macedonia, documents of early twentieth century” ( Gathering Clouds: The Roots of Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo and Macedonia, Early Twentieth Century Documents ). In the field of photography, in 2007 he published two large albums. Elsi’s contribution to the international promotion of the Albanian language, literature and culture has taken on a modern dimension, through his website, where, in addition to texts and documents of Albanian history, there are audio recordings of more than 150 Albanian dialects and the voices of some well-known Albanian figures of the past. This electronic format offers the largest collection of Albanian literature translated into English, as well as early photographic collections from Albania and Kosovo, as well as the presentation of Albanian visual art. (In the photo: Robert Elsi)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. I , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 386–387.
Photo: © http://www.elsie.de/vita_al.htm
Graphic processing: AHCF
