On suffering in literature: The poet versus suffering. Xhevdet Bajraj's Lëngu i trëndafilave (Rose Water), a test case of Kosovo's Albanian literature

This article aims to address the universal phenomenon of suffering in literature. From the vicious circle in which good and evil counter each other as distinct entities, in principle suffering emerges as a product of the latter. The subject of widespread and profound discussion throughout the history of human thought, the notion of suffering still may provoke significant questions. This article will strive to offer a perspective on the nature of suffering in literature, which will enable a discussion around the perception of suffering in different phases bound up with human consciousness and the human condition, and thereby dig deep into its true meaning. On this level, the chief question has to do with the meaning of suffering in terms religious, philosophical and aesthetic. The discussion will go on to develop a thesis that art in the end is not simply individual, because it channels the fate of others, and will conclude with a concrete illustration of suffering in literature, in the shape of Xhevdet Bajraj’s poetical work Lëngu i trëndafilave (Rose Water).