The Bridge Over the Drina

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Rijeka teče, a most ostaje. Ljudi dolaze i odlaze, most ostaje. Godišnja doba se smjenjuju, a most ostaje na mjestu. Vrijeme prolazi i sve što nosi sa sobom nema gdje, pa se ono tako ugrađuje u most ostavljajući na njemu ožiljke, kojih da nema, on ne bi bio tako lijep. Drina neumorna i povremeno valovita, spolja zelena i pjenušava, a iznutra virovita i strma, teče brzo i neprestano kao da ne postoji sutra. Most na Drini spaja ljude, ali isto tako ih i razdvaja. Na lijevoj strani obale hrišćansko parče neba, a na desnoj islamsko parče neba. Jedna strana neba strada i krvari, dok je druga u usponu. Jedna žilava i neustrašiva, a druga žestoka i odlučna. Dentro de esta gran novela se agrupan innumerables sub-historias menores (menores por el tamaño, no por la calidad). Un ramillete de cuentos y relatos de las culturas musulmana, judía sefardí y cristiana ortodoxa. Costumbres, leyendas y anécdotas de esa difícil convivencia que supuso históricamente una zona tan conflictiva (no tanto por la pacífica convivencia de culturas y religiones tan diferentes, como ocurrió en España hace siglos, sino por por los intereses geopolíticos y de los diferentes "imperios" a lo largo del tiempo) como esa frontera de la Bosnia natal del autor, pasando de manos turcas, a austro-húngaras, luego a las serbias. Por cierto interesante también lo que tiene de histórico y el conocimiento que facilita de ese territorio de los Balcanes tan complejo. De forma novelada, más entretenido por cierto. Sells, Michael Anthony (1998). The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-92209-9. Finished. About a bridge, a beautiful bridge. Through this bridge one finds hope. But the book is also about the passage of time and the folly of man and the peoples and cultures of the Balkans. One percieves the smallness of man. There are no clear answers. Is it foolish to hope for a better future, and what is better? How does one judge progress? If there is kindness isn't life good? People are weak and mean and foolish, but at the same time they are kind and good and hard working. Both are true, and both will probably always be true. I believe the book says this.

If there is a protagonist at all it is Alihodja, whose reaction to the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia-Herzogovina is fascinating, and gives rise to many questions and insights. To me it is much more powerful than statistics or rationalisations by sociologists and psychologists. Then there is the picture painted of the town alcoholics, which will stay with me, and the group of students destined for slaughter in the wars of the early twentieth century, reminding me of the students in "Les Misérables" who will be slaughtered on the barricades. The wealth and variety of its fictional elements carry it so far beyond the confines of a straightforward novel, it cannot be limited to such a description. It puts one in mind of a collection of tales, but no collection of tales (not even A Thousand and One Nights or Washington Irving's stories) ever possessed such a unity and continuity of theme." Banac, Ivo (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9493-2. The story then follows the bridge as it falls into disuse when Austria-Hungaria and the Serbians begin to divide. People no longer use the bridge to socialize, and people on either side grow to hate each other. Hawkesworth, Celia (1984). Ivo Andrić: Bridge Between East and West. London, England: Athlone Press. ISBN 978-1-84714-089-0.As Mehmed grows up, he rises up through the ranks of the army to become the Grand Vizier. Once he is appointed to this position, he demands that a bridge be built across the Drina River, because it reminds him of his mother. This bridge was meant to improve travel and to replace the ferry system. Walasek, Helen (2013). "Introduction". In Walasek, Helen (ed.). Bosnia and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage. London, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4094-3704-8. Among them is that of the bridge’s builder, a Serb kidnapped as a boy by the Ottomans; years later, as the empire’s Grand Vezir, he decides to construct a bridge at the spot where he was parted from his mother. A workman named Radisav tries to hinder the construction, with horrific consequences. Later, the beautiful young Fata climbs the bridge’s parapet to escape an arranged marriage, and, later still, an inveterate gambler named Milan risks everything on it in one final game with the devil.

Andrić had been Yugoslavia's ambassador to Germany from 1939 to 1941, during the early years of World War II, and was arrested by the Germans in April 1941, following the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. In June 1941, he was allowed to return to German-occupied Belgrade but was confined to a friend's apartment in conditions that some biographers liken to house arrest. The novel was one of three that Andrić wrote over the next several years. All three were published in short succession in 1945, following Belgrade's liberation from the Germans. The Bridge on the Drina was published in March of that year to widespread acclaim.Nikolić, Maja (4 March 2021). "Muzej književnosti i pozorišne umjetnosti BiH slavi 60 godina postojanja". Hrvatski Glasnik (in Croatian) . Retrieved 28 December 2021. The bridge is built and it becomes a witness of history… And it becomes an inanimate partaker in all the events around it… And it mutely participates in lives of those who surround it… After the Second World War, he spent most of his time in his home at Belgrade, held ceremonial posts in the Communist government, and served as a parliamentarian of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also joined as a member of the Serbian academy of sciences and arts. Für mich ist das Besondere dieses Buches sind nicht sein erzählerischer Inhalt und auch nicht die Sprache. Es ist seine multikulturelle Atmosphäre, seine unaufgeregte, provinzielle Stimmung und seine tiefe Menschlichkeit. Über die Jahrhunderte gelingt es den Menschen dreier Glaubensrichtungen, der orthodoxen Serben, der moslemischen Bosniaken (im Buch leider Mohammedaner bzw. Türken genannt) und der sephardischen und aschkenasischen Juden größtenteils friedlich miteinander oder zumindest nebeneinander zu lesen. Erst der Nationalismus zu Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts und schließlich der 1. Weltkrieg setzen dem ein Ende.