Isuf Luzaj, writer, political activist, professor of literature and philosophy, passed away in Chicago (USA). He was born in Kanina, Vlora, in 1913. He attended Shkodra high school (normal branch), completed his secondary studies in France and studied at the Sorbonne University (1933–1935). He worked as a French teacher at the Elbasan Normal School, in Korça and at the commercial school in Vlora, where on April 7, 1939, with a group of students, he participated in the resistance against the fascist occupation. For this he was exiled to the island of Ventotene. After his release (1942) he became active in the leadership of the National Front organization, in its combat wing, and was a delegate to the Mukje Assembly (1943). After the capitulation of Italy, he participated in the founding group of the Social Democratic Party with Musine Kokalari, etc. On the eve of the liberation of Shkodra, he left the country. He worked for a period in the Vatican Library. In 1948, he settled in Argentina, where he defended his doctorate. He worked mainly as a professor of French literature at the University of Buenos Aires, where he also became director of the French Institute of Advanced Studies (1960–1964). In 1964 he settled in the United States of America; worked as a professor of literature and philosophy at Indiana University, where he was decorated by President Ronald Reagan with the high order “Professor of America”. Isuf Luzaj was engaged in literary creativity since his youth, publishing the poetic collection “Rrëfimet” (“Stories”)(Korçë, 1937). In Buenos Aires, he published the novel “Los rios bajan rojos”, 1954 (“Rivers flow red”), with a theme from the anti-fascist war in Albania. He left a number of other works in manuscript. (In the photo: Isuf Luzaj)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 3037.
Photo: © https://www.teksteshqip.com/isuf-luzaj
Graphic processing: AHCF
