The Blinding Order
| Company type | Novella |
|---|---|
| Industry | Literature |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Ismail Kadare |
| Headquarters | Albania |
| Products | Novella |
The Blinding Order () is a novella authored by Ismail Kadare, composed in 1984 and released in 1991 following the downfall of the hoxhaist government in Albania. Situated within the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, the work functions as an allegory illustrating repression under dictatorial rule and relates to Kadare's prohibited 1981 novel The Palace of Dreams.
Background
The Blinding Order was penned by Kadare in response to a period of terror during Communist Albania.
Plot
The narrative centers on a Sultan’s edict mandating the blinding of individuals suspected to possess the "dubious power" known as the evil eye, sparking a reign of fear. The story is conveyed with a fable-like atmosphere, evoking the style of "one thousand and one nightmare nights."
Reception
The novel received acclaim from Kirkus Reviews, which described it as "superbly plotted" and infused with "bitter black humor," drawing parallels to José Saramago’s Nobel Prize-winning works. Boyd Tonkin of The Independent referred to it as "a chilling fable of inscrutable tyranny and collective surrender." Wolfgang Schneider, writing for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in his review of a German anthology featuring this piece, identified The Blinding Order as the most compelling story, calling it a "grandiose tale" that artistically captures the terror induced by sabotage allegations typical in socialist regimes.