Ivo Andric: The Bridge on the
Drina
The Bridge on the Drina is a vivid depiction of
the suffering history has imposed upon the people of Bosnia from the
late 16th century to the beginning of World War I. As we seek to make
sense of the current nightmare in this region, this remarkable, timely
book serves as a reliable guide to its people and history.
"No better introduction to the study of Balkan and Ottoman history
exists, nor do I know of any work of fiction that more persuasively
introduces the reader to a civilization other than our own. It is an
intellectual and emotional adventure to encounter the Ottoman world
through Andric's pages in its grandiose beginning and at its tottering
finale. It is, in short, a marvelous work, a masterpiece, and very
much sui generis. . . . Andric's sensitive portrait of social change
in distant Bosnia has revelatory force."--William H. McNeill, from the
introduction
"The dreadful events occurring in Sarajevo over the past several
months turn my mind to a remarkable historical novel from the land we
used to call Yugoslavia, Ivo Andric's The Bridge on the Drina."--John
M. Mohan, Des Moines Sunday Register
Born in Bosnia, Ivo Andric (1892-1975) was a distinguished diplomat
and novelist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.
His books include The Damned Yard: And Other Stories, and The Days of
the Consuls.
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Anonymous
Reviews:
a great
storyteller, not a Serb nationalist
The common perception of Ivo Andric as a Bosnian
writer (and one who focused on by-gone times of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian
occupation) probably limits his popularity unfairly, causing him to be
perceived as a writer of parochial concerns. This great European writer
is not only extremely relevant today, having a great deal to say to us
in an era of ethnic conflicts and ethnic cleansing; he is also a great
storyteller who deserves a place alongside the likes of Leo Perutz,
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Yasar Kemal, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Of course, there are much more unfortunate misperceptions of Andric.
Surely the greatest injustice is the fairly common perception of Andric
as a hater of Muslims. Some Serb nationalists see him as a hero, and
some Bosniak Muslims see him as having provided grist for the mill of
the forces which led to the massacres of their people by Serb
nationalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s. Both are wrong, just as
they are wrong in seeing Bosnian-born film director Emir Kusturica as a
traitor to his people and a proponent of Serb nationalism. Probably this
misperception owes much to the one of the most memorable passages in the
book, one in which the impalement of a Christian Serb, ordered by the
Turkish official who began the building of the bridge over the Drina in
Visegrad, is described in horrifying detail. But Andric is simply
providing a realistic account of the history of Bosnia, and it is
useless to deny that acts of brutality were committed by the Ottomans
during their occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. People who think this
passage makes the novel a textbook in Serb nationalism and hatred,
though, overlook several facts. The first is the fact that the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance were violent times throughout Europe and this
particular act of violence was not at all unusual (the most famous
impaler of all times was, of course, a Christian, the Romanian Vlad
Dracula). The second is the fact that the Sultan ordered the corrupt
official responsible for this impalement to be replaced by an official
who was a good and honest one, showing that not all Turkish
administrators were bad. Third, these critics also overlook the fact
that Andric is no more happy about the Austro-Hungarian occupation than
he was about the Ottoman one (he sees the Austrians as less brutal and
more "civilized" occupiers, but he laments the destruction of the old
Visegrad caused by the Austrians' rationalizing and modernizing
investments). Certainly Andric does not join Serb jingoists in seeing
the Ottoman bridge which gives the book its name as an undesirable
foreign element, in contrast to the Serb nationalists who, in the 1990s,
blew up the Ottoman bridge which is the pride of Mostar's old town. And
the portraits of the Muslim characters are as lovingly drawn as those of
the Christian and Jewish ones. It will, for example, be hard for the
reader to forget Alihodja, the character with whose death the book ends.
People who find hate in this book find it only because they bring it
with them. Andric was not a hater.
Regarding Andric's relevance in today's world: a number of passages in
this book have a prophetic quality, particularly at the end, where the
beginning of the conflicts initiated by the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo is described. The events recounted here
concern the persecution of Serbs, but to today's well-informed reader,
Andric's words will inevitably bring to mind images of the massacres of
Bosniak Muslims in Visegrad, the town which serves as the setting for
this book. "That wild beast, which lives in man and does not dare to
show itself until the barriers of law and custom have been removed, was
now set free. The signal was given, the barriers were down. ... A man
who saw clearly and with open eyes and was then living could see how
this miracle took place and how the whole of a society could, in a
single day, be transformed. In a few minutes the business quarter, based
on centuries of tradition, was wiped out. It is true that there had
always been concealed enmities and jealousies and religious intolerance,
coarseness and cruelty, but there had also been courage and fellowship
and a feeling for measure and order, which restrained all these
instincts within the limits of the supportable and, in the end, calmed
them down and submitted them to the general interest of life in common.
Men who had been leaders in the commercial quarter for forty years
vanished overnight as if they had all died suddenly, together with the
habits, customs and institutions which they represented."
It seems that perhaps we are forever condemned to repeat history,
regardless of whether we remember it or not ...
(Note: I read the Lovette F. Edwards translation - "The Bridge Over the
Drina" - not this one. I don't know which is better ...)
Should be required reading for political
and military decision-makers
Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on
historical reality, presented better than any source I know of. It is
unfortunate that our leaders very likely have not read this book before
blundering into Bosnia. Perhaps Mr. Clinton did read it - and perhaps
that's why we did not commit ground troops (I am a conservative
Republican - like Mrs. Clinton, I was once a Young Republican supporting
Barry Goldwater, and I still believe if he won in '64 we would have a
better country today - so this is not Democratic propaganda). One nation's
concept of "justice" or "right" does not necessarily make sense in
another area, in another culture - which after all, may be better than
our own in some absolute sense.
Just read how the locals regarded the entry of Austro-Hungarian troops
in the 1870s. Even though they represented the consensus of the European
great powers (much like the IFOR, etc. of recent vintage), even though
they brought with them sanitation, clean and well-lighted streets and
equal justice for all - they were not welcome.
This book got the Nobel Prize for good reason. It is good literature,
and it will educate the reader without trying...
Nobel Worthy!
Ivo Andric and his "Bridge on the Drina" were an
extremely great surprise. I truly did not expect to enjoy the book when
I first picked it up. What I found was a rich treasure of Bosnian
history. I understand that the work is fiction, but it seemed like such
a true glimpse of history. Andric was a master of giving characters
throughout the book that stoked the interest of the reader. The main
character was the bridge itself. Everything and everyone else centered
around this great old Turkish bridge. We see hundreds of years pass by
over the reading of this book. Each of those new generations faces new
challenges, from the days before a bridge existed, to the days of World
War I. Everything in between gives detailed day to day experiences,
intertwining generations and people. Andric really had a talent worthy
of the 1961 Nobel Prize for Literature, which he won for this book. You
owe it to yourself to get a copy and glimpse the past in a special way.
The Grand
Vezirs Bridge
My initial opinion of the novel after reading it
was that it was average at best. But now, after a few days spent
absorbing what I had just read, I have a new found appreciation for the
novel. Small things such as the symbolism of the repairing of the bridge,
or the connection it representated both physically and metaphorically
between two different peoples. As many other people who reviewed it have
remarked, it is a powerful as well as informative novel that sheds light
on the situation in that area of the world, even if it's a work of
fiction. The detail given to life in the city makes it come alive and
the sheer scale of the novel leaves me feeling as though I have lived
there my whole life. I whole heartedly endose this novel and believe
that everyone should read it.
Just few thoughts
Firstly, I remember reading this book in my native
tounge, the one Andric used to write this book. That was during the last
years of my high school. First thing I remember was that it was very
hard to read it, initially though, due to the language and style Andric
used. After 20-30 pages I could not leave the book. It is a beautiful
work which I was thought is a close interpretation of the real history
of that region. It is a story of a small town on the river Drina, river
that separates Bosnia and Serbia. The 'hero' or the book is the Bridge
built in (i believe) 15th century. Andric tells the story where
everything changes trough times while the bridge still stands there as a
testament to what has passed. It truly deserved the Nobel Prize it got.
Recommendation is just read it.
For two people down posting about his etnicity. Ivo Andric was a
catholic who said that he was born Croat but saw himself as a Yugoslav,
but would always be a Serb at heart. I thing that is where Miletic and
most of the Serbs get the idea that he was a Serb. The way I remember
him (reading about him :-) ), i.e. what most people describe him as, is
a great caring person one that truly loved people from that region (especially
people from Bosnia), a true example of what most people of that region
are really like.
Cheers
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