The Bridge on the Drina
"A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans ... stands witness to the countless lives played out upon it" and to the sufferings of the people of Bosnia.--Cover.
The Bridge Over the Drina
The Drina bridge, a bridge that spans generations, links early sixteenth century Ottoman Empire with the pre-WWI Austro-Hungarian Empires; giving a glimpse into day-to-day living under such diverse regimes. Chronicles the lives of Catholics, Moslems, and Orthodox Christians -- with their deep seated loyalties to their respective faiths, but giving hope that it is possible for such diverse groups to live in peace -- with each other.
The Bridge on the Drina
"Why are the Balkans such a tinder box? A great novel can be of some assistance in answering such questions, by communicating truths through fiction -- by a skillful mingling of fact and fiction....Fortunately, Bosnia has had its great chronicler too. He is Ivo Andric, the winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1961". -- The Economist Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
The Bridge on the Drina
In this masterpiece of historical fiction by the Nobel Prize-winning Yugoslavian author, a stone bridge in a small Bosnian town bears silent witness to three centuries of conflict. The town of Visegrad was long caught between the warring Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, but its sixteenth-century bridge survived unscathed--until 1914 when tensions in the Balkans triggered the first World War. Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds, The Bridge on the Drina brilliantly illuminates a succession of lives that swirl around the majestic stone arches. 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. With humor and compassion, Ivo Andrić chronicles the ordinary Christians, Jews, and Muslims whose lives are connected by the bridge, in a land that has itself been a bridge between East and West for centuries. Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.
“The” Bridge on the Drina
Chronicle of three centuries of Balkan life, centering around a great stone bridge in present-day Yugoslavia.