The concert

Description:

It's the 1970s and cracks are starting to appear in the alliance between China and its Communist cohort Albania. When an Albanian steps on the foot of a Chinese diplomat the tension cranks up – couriers between Tirana and Beijing carry annotated x-rays of the foot back and forth. The Chinese intend to punish their interfering little ally discreetly. But is the Sino-Albanian axis about to come adrift? This is Kadare’s surreal black comedy about the inner sanctums of political power and the mysterious causal chains that transform ordinary lives.

subjects: Fiction,  Foreign relations,  Totalitarianism,  Concerts,  Fiction, political,  Beijing (china), fiction,  Albania, fiction,  New York Times reviewed,  Diplomatic relations,  China, fiction

Places: Albania,  China,  Beijing

Times: 1970s