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Fan Noli "returns" to Harvard University

2024-03-11 08:38:00, Kulturë Frank Shkreli

Unlike today's Albanian students at Harvard University, who are organizing next Saturday the promotion of the first volume of Ilir Ikonomi on the life and activities of Fan Noli, "At that time (Noli) lived on the salary given to him by the Albanian Church, around 60 dollars a month (about 2000 dollars today) and with debts he received from the Church and from friends. The university gave him a loan the first year, then he qualified for a scholarship. He never returned the loan and it can be said that he did the university for free", writes Ikonomi, among other things.

In an announcement by the Association of Albanian Students of Harvard University, known in the United States but also world-renowned for its academic values, it is said that on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the death of Fan S. Noli, the Boston Branch of the Pan Federation - Albanian Hearth together with the Association of Albanian Students of Harvard organize the promotion of the latest book, "Fan Noli - Apostulli", by the author Ilir Ikonomi, now well known to Albanian readers everywhere, former journalist and my colleague at the Voice of America. This is a very good occasion to present to the Albanian-American students - the most famous Albanian-American of the last century, along with Faik Konica - also as an inspiration and example for the younger generation of Harvard's Albanian-American students today. .

The presentation of Iliri's newest book will take place on Saturday, March 16, 2024 from 12PM to 2PM. The invitation states that this gathering will be held in Harvard's space called Boylston Hall, 103 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138.

So, on the 59th anniversary of his death, the apostle of Albanianism and the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church, Fan Noli with the work of the author Ilir Ikonomi "returns" next Saturday, at Harvard University, exactly where he studied. from 1909-1912, Fan S. Noli.

"Emzot Noli is one of the greatest people that the Arbnuer tribe has produced. Poet, writer, notebook, diplomat, founder of the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church. He ranks among the giant generation of the nation's Renaissance, for which he tried his best through work and writing", wrote Ernest Koliqi, in the magazine Šejzat, on the occasion of Noli's death on March 13, 1965. Frank SHKRELI/ Fan Noli, the diplomat who represented Albania decently in the international arena | Gazeta Telegraf).

Announcing the next promotion of his latest book, author Ilir Ikonomi writes on his Facebook page that the conditions and circumstances under which he studied at Harvard were not at all easy, but quite challenging. Unlike today's Albanian students at Harvard University, who are organizing next Saturday the promotion of the first volume of Ilir Ikonomi on the life and activities of Fan Noli, "At that time (Noli) lived on the salary given to him by the Albanian Church, around 60 dollars a month (about 2000 dollars today) and with debts he received from the Church and from friends. The university gave him a loan the first year, then he qualified for a scholarship. He never returned the loan and it can be said that he did the university for free", writes Ikonomi, among other things.

Of course, in terms of academic preparation and knowledge, including the knowledge of a number of foreign languages, Fan Noli stood far above other students of various university courses. Ikonomi writes that Noli graduated on June 20, 1912 with the degree "Bachelor of Arts", with the highest rating, "cum Laude". Ikonomi brings, among other things, an interesting fact by writing that on the same day of Noli's graduation, Faik Konica also received the degree of "Master of Arts", in the field of Romance languages, in a joint ceremony with Noli and dozens of students from others, on that June day of 1912 in the "Sanders Theater", very close to the hall where the promotion will take place this Saturday, of the book: Fan Noli-Apostulli, notes the author, Ilir Ikonomi.

I am convinced that this "meeting", of a new generation of Albanian-American students, will be an unforgettable experience for them, although they will learn many facts about the life and activity of a Albanian-American who started life as a Sudanese. , right there at Harvard, more than a century ago.

With the reading of Ilir Ikonomi's book on Fan Nolin, the new generation of Albanian students at Harvard, in that world-famous institution of knowledge but also to all readers, the author Ilir Ikonomi presents "Nolin unfiltered". "Although, the truth is complicated and painful", the author says that the first volume: Fan Noli -Apostulli, will introduce the reader to the real Noli: "With passions, ambitions, ego, kidnappings, oratory, anger and qualities others that the mortals of this world do not have". Based on facts and documentation, with the hope of "extinguishing suspicions of subjectivism", with the aim also "that the film be complete and uncut", accurate on the life and activity of one of the nation's most ardent patriots, within and outside the Albanian lands.

The current promotions of the book, Fan Noli -Apostulli, by the author Ilir Ikonomi, both in the Albanian lands and in exile, are evidence that this publication, like the other works of this author, is a publication to be marked in a way special. It is a notable contribution that the author brings to Albanian historiography, but that, at the same time, he also fulfills a duty to Fan Noli himself, based on facts and documentation, which testify to a period full of political, mental and social movement among Albanians in their own lands. but also here in the old Albanian-American community, the beginning of the last century with a lot of unknown data until now.

A deep consideration for Fan Noli's great work in the service of Albania and the Albanian nation. We owe this to the pen or rather the computer of the tireless former Voice of America journalist Ilir Ikonomi.