Description

A bridge links lives across the years in Vişegrad, Bosnia. A pasha orders it built across the Drina in the mid-sixteenth century. Its eleven arches use white stone brought from afar. The work brings great hardship. The tale follows the town through to the First World War.

Young and old Christians, Muslims and Jews meet on the bridge. Rulers come and go and change local customs. Each new age knows less of how its elders lived. Wars and the seizure of lands shape their lives. So do the rise and fall of empires. But private grief, feuds and small joys matter too. So does their will to accept their fate.

Ivo Andrić’s novel tells a story set in the past. It suits readers drawn to how great events shape daily life. He blends a broad view of the past with a love of tales. He asks if the course of history makes life better. Change often brings harm and treats people in unjust ways. A French version helped the book reach readers across the world.

Andrić lived from 1892 to 1975 and wrote in Serbo-Croatian. He grew up in Vişegrad. He won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature. While a student in Vienna, he joined Young Bosnia. The group sought union with Serbia. He had ties to Serbian nationalist groups. Those ties led to his arrest after Franz Ferdinand’s murder in 1914. He later served as a Yugoslav diplomat. Germany bombed Belgrade, but he refused a safe haven in Switzerland. During the war, he hid in a friend’s flat. There he wrote this novel, which first came out in 1945.

His work later drew praise from some and blame from others. Some Bosnian Muslim thinkers said he gave a false view of Ottoman rule. Serbian nationalists claimed him as their own. An Andrićgrad set in Vişegrad served a film project by E. Kusturica.

This edition forms part of the Esențial series. Gellu Naum and Ioana G. Seber translated it and wrote the notes.