Description

Ivo Andrić writes about women in Bosnia around 1800. Unrest in politics shapes life in this mixed society. It also shapes the roles women must take. Many must rely on others or live with harsh limits. Those who break social rules face punishment. Others shut them out.

Mara is a Christian who becomes a pasha’s lover. She struggles with shame. Jelena is a woman who exists in a man’s mind. She stands for his search for meaning in life. He longs for her but cannot reach her. These short stories ask how power and desire shape women’s lives. They also ask what it means to belong. Andrić links women with nature, too. Childhood, love, hate and illness can each fill a whole life.

Andrić won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. This edition forms part of the Biblioteca Polirom Esențial series. Octavia Nedelcu put these Serbian stories into English and added notes.