Ismail Kadare, an acclaimed Albanian novelist and playwright who defied his country’s longtime Communist rulers through his writing, has died in a Tirana hospital after having a heart attack, local television cited his editor as saying. He was 88. Kadare, a prominent figure in Albanian and international literature, gained recognition in 1963 with his novel “The General of the Dead Army”, which drew praise from literary critics worldwide. Prime Minister Edi Rama paid tribute to Kadare on Facebook, hailing him as a “monument of Albanian culture”. Kadare received numerous global awards, including…