Na Drini ćuprija
The most famous novel by Ivo Andrić, for which he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. The work is structured as a series of 24 short stories connected around a central motif – the Mehmed-paša Sokolović bridge over the Drina River in Višegrad.
The plot spans four centuries (from 1516 to 1914): from the construction of the bridge in the 16th century (under Mehmed-paša Sokolović, born Bajica from a Bosnian village), through the Ottoman period (with all its dramas, legends, suffering and coexistence of Christians and Muslims), the Austro-Hungarian occupation (modernization, uprisings, epidemics) to the beginning of World War I and the demolition of the bridge.
The bridge is not just a building – it is a symbol of eternity, permanence and connection (two banks, East and West, different cultures and religions), in contrast to the transience of human lives, suffering, wars and changes of government. Andrić, through detailed, realistic and poetic descriptions, depicts the fates of individuals (Fata Avdagin, Dauthodža, Captain Bašeskija, Austrian engineers, peasants, merchants) in the context of great historical changes, emphasizing the inevitability of fate, tolerance and the intolerability of hatred.
The style is restrained, epic, with strong folklore, legends and psychological depths - without a main character or a linear plot, but a chronicle of the kasaba as a microcosm of Bosnia and the Balkans. Translated into many languages (Eng. "The Bridge on the Drina"), a classic of world literature, screened and essential reading.
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