he manifested strongly in his life and work, he discarded Oriental mentality, inherited from the Ottoman occupation, with a joking smile that he translated into a cutting sarcasm in his work. Erudite, knowledgeable in all major European languages and some Eastern ones, a friend of Guillaume Apollinaire, called by foreigners "a walking encyclopaedia", Konitza became the model of Western intellectual for the Albanian culture. Since his youth he was dedicated to the national movement, but contrary to the mythical, idealising and romanticising feeling of the Renaissance, he brought in it the spirit of criticism and experienced the perennial pain of the idealist who suffers for his own thoughts. He established the Albania magazine (Brussels 1897–1900, London 1902–1909), that became the most important Albanian press organ of the Renaissance. Publicist, essayist, poet, prose writer, translator and literary critic, he, among others, is the author of the studies L'Albanie et les Turcs (Paris 1895), Memoire sur le mouvement national Albanais (Brussels, 1899), of novels Një ambasadë e zulluve në Paris (An Embassy of the Zulu in Paris) (1922) and Doktor Gjilpëra (Doctor Needle) (1924), as well as of the historical-cultural work Albania—the Rock Garden of South-Eastern Europe published posthumously in Massachusetts in 1957. The literature of the Albanians of Italy in the period between the two Wars continued the tradition of the romanticist school of the 19th century. Zef Skiro (1865–1927) through his work Kthimi (Return), 1913, Te dheu i huaj (In Foreign Soil), 1940, wanted to recover the historical memory of Albanians emigrated since the 15th century after the death of Skanderbeg. Also another distinguished writer of Albanian Romanticism who was published in Albania and abroad was, Lazar Eftimiadhi. A graduate of Sorbone, he wrote several articles introducing the Albanian reader to major works of western literature. He also translated works of writers like Hans Christian Andersen, and collaborated with at Gjergj Fishta and others in many important translations. His collection of short stories titled "Merushja" is a pearl of Albanian Romanticism and Humanity and was published by several houses including a 1932 London Edition. Distinguished writers of this period are: Fan Stilian Noli, Gjergj Fishta, Faik Konitza, Haki Stërmilli, Lasgush Poradeci, Mitrush Kuteli, Migjeni, etc. Socialism The drastic political change after the Communist takeover in Albania interrupted connections to pre-WWII literary traditions. The new regime had an extremely suspicious attitude towards intellectuals and writers, who were seen as representatives of