The File on H. Book Review

Lately, I’ve been trying to read more works by international authors. Earlier this year, I dipped my toes by looking at Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami – your favorite author’s favorite author. Recently, I had the chance to read The File on H. by Ismail Kadare – Albania’s leading literary figure. It’s a fine novel with elements that work and aren’t as effective.

Translated from French by David Bellos (which was initially translated from Albanian by Jusuf Vrioni), The File on H. is a satire about two American scholars researching Homer in Albania. In the mid-1930s, two American men voyage to the Albanian highlands, the last remaining nature habitat of the oral epic, with the world’s first tape recorder in hand. Their mission is to discover how Homer could have composed The Iliad and The Odyssey without ever writing them down. Their research puts them in the middle of ethnic strife in the Balkans. It also doesn’t help that they are mistaken as spies by the local government, and as a result, they are placed under surveillance. Research and intrigue move quickly until a Serbian monk threatens to put an end to the project.

I knew about the real-life story that inspired this novel prior to reading it. When I was in college, I took a world history course. In it, I learned about how Homer composed his two masterpieces. What we know about the oral tradition comes from Milman Parry and Albert Lord, who traveled to modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1930s to study oral traditional poetry and record native singers performing lengthy epic songs from memory. Because of this research, it became clear that Homer didn’t single-handedly pen The Iliad and The Odyssey. Those stories were most likely passed down from poet to poet verbally.

With all of this being said, I felt underwhelmed by the sections involving Bill and Max – the Irish-American scholars aka the sort-of Parry and Lord stand-ins. Both men were bland outside of their interest in the Homeric question. There are some mentions about Max’s argument with his wife before he left for Albania, but that’s never fleshed out. On the other hand, Bill developing glaucoma was interesting since it leans into the notion that Homer was blind. I like to think that Bill was so invested in hearing the Albanian poets in the highlands (who didn’t always have the best of vision) that losing his own eyesight was a result of his own excessive empathy. The best part of these sections were Bill and Max getting excited about the research they have done and what’s to come. As someone who finds historic resources as a job, that rang true, especially when they go into academic speak. Nonetheless, knowing the real-life story makes this fictional one a bit of a let down.

Additionally, this book is not exactly funny. It is, but it’s less ha-ha funny and more dry. It’s a satire on the Albanian government and their misunderstandings with people that want to help preserve their oral traditions. However, I get the feeling that because it was translated not once, but twice, some things were lost. It would be interesting to read it in Albanian to get the full scope, yet I would have to get around to learning it first. I’ll have to consult pop singer Dua Lipa since she has Albanian heritage.

Despite my grievances on the oral tradition parts, I still enjoyed the book because of the section involving the government officials. Kadare was known to criticize Albania’s communist government, and it shows when he originally published The File on H. in 1981. Many of the officials are narrow-minded and paranoid. The interactions between them and the scholars were amusing. I enjoyed the Governor the most, who rules over the town of N —. He reminded me of Ambassador Trentino in the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup. I even imagined his dialogue was spoken by Louis Calhern – the actor who played Trentino. My favorite part of these sections was when the Governor reads the report that one of his spies resigned because he…fell asleep on the job briefly.

While I love the Governor, my favorite character was actually Daisy – his wife. She’s so miserable in her marriage that she imagines starting an affair with one of the American scholars. I know that she isn’t the most nuanced character in literature, yet I was drawn to her, especially in her attempts to seduce Bill just for her life to be more interesting during that week.

The File on H. by Ismail Kadare is a decent book. Even though I’m glad that someone used the real-life event of Milman Parry and Albert Lord researching the Homeric question for a fictional story, I wasn’t overly impressed with the execution. The only thing that was interesting about the scholars was how invested they were in the research. On the contrary, I enjoyed the parts involving the Albanian government officials. They were ripe for satire even if reading it in its original language would’ve made it funnier. Despite my issues, I would still recommend it to readers who like satirical stories about the government and Ismail Kadare. I know Dua Lipa would love it. She’s already read his 1970 book The Siege. Although Kadare didn’t quite impress me with The File on H., I still want to read more of his stuff.

Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I will be recording the latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast very soon. Returning guest Dashiell Silva and I will talk about how we would adapt this novel. Keep an eye out for the link.

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