Why?! is arguably the first major Albanian novel, now translated for the first time in English. It drew on Sterjo Spasse’s enthusiasm for the great social and political novelists of the Russian and western European traditions and injected an almost unprecedented strain of modernism to the Albanian literary tradition, a deeply-introspective free-flowing first-person narrative influenced by contemporary ideas of psychology. It reflected the author’s deep concern for the development of his country, particularly its education system and its social conditions. Above all, it was born of his very personal experience and passionate feelings regarding the tensions between the relatively progressive and cosmopolitan culture of Albania’s towns and the mediaeval, folkloric, family traditions that continued to dominate most of the country. The story of a young man’s attempt to defy his parents’ wishes had a strong personal echo for Sterjo Spasse, and at the same time it explored an issue that would continue to resonate throughout his society.