Çajupi, Andon

(pen name; real surname Cako, later Zako). Born Mar. 27, 1866, in the village of Şeperi; died July 11, 1930, in Al-Matariyah, near Cairo. Albanian poet and figure in the national renaissance.

Çajupi was educated in Switzerland. His collection of poetry Dad Tomorri (1902) consolidated the tendencies of critical realism in Albanian poetry. Çajupi appealed for armed uprising against Turkish domination in his poems, for example, “The Albanian” and “July.” In his satirical works he strongly criticized the Albanian feudal system, as well as the bourgeois order in Egypt, where he spent most of his life. In the pamphlet Salonican Club (1909) he condemned the Albanian politicians who betrayed their country to Turkey and Greece. In several of his works he described the suffering of the common people.

Çajupi wrote a play about Skanderbeg entitled Hero of the Land (published 1937) and a collection of poetry, The Old Testament (published 1957). He also translated fables by La Fontaine, poems by Heine, and Indian poetry (Flowers of the Hindis, 1922).