Sworn Virgin by Elvira Dones

Author:Elvira Dones [Dones, Elvira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary fiction, literary fiction, novel, translation, translated fiction, drama, realism, women’s literary fiction, rite of passage, emigration, frontiers, Albania, USA, immigration, cross-dressing, transvestism, Albanian, sworn virgins, Kanun, Hana Doda, patriarchy, American, shepherd, Rockville, Washington DC, Rrnajë, raki, virginity, poetry, mountains, Gheg, kulla, Hikmet, Vergine giurata, Italian
Publisher: And Other Stories Publishing
Published: 2014-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Gjergj dies on a sunny May day in 1987. Everything is ready. The house is full of food, considering what little there is up in the mountains. The honor of the Doda family is more secure than ever. Mark receives condolences. Men and women show him equal respect. Nobody calls her Hana any longer.

The kulla is squeaky clean. Old habits die hard, and she struggles to neglect the housework. But she is trying. Men don’t do women’s work; that’s ‌the rule of the Kanun.11

A week after the funeral, Hana weeps in front of the pile of fresh earth that is Gjergj’s grave. She is alone, so nobody will see her crying.

She cries for a long time, and then looks up at the clear blue sky, the bare cemetery, the small stretch of Rrnajë that extends beyond the graveyard. The sun is so warm and reassuring, it makes her feel as though she’s on the top of the world.

On a day like this, her mother would have started singing.

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