The Bridge on the Drina

After reviewing many international books, my Serbian friends decided that it was time to read something from their homeland and what’s better to gift me than the Bridge on the Drina?

I accepted the book, feeling embarrassed to admit that I rarely read for Eastern European writers or even had heard of Ivo Andrić before. The book was a bulky hardcover with forward notes from the English translator explaining the complicated history of Yugoslavia and how to pronounce different Cyrillic letters (really fascinating!).

I made sure to start it on January and what a wise decision it was as it took me almost a month to finish it. As the title suggests, the main character of the book is the bridge in Višegrad – modern day Bosnia- that was built by Mehmed-paša Sokolović in 1566. He was the grand Vizir during the Ottoman Empire rule in the Balkans that lasted for 500 years. At the time, it was the custom of the Turks to raid Christian villages and kidnap young boys and make them serve in the army.

Mehmed-paša’s story was not different. He rose through the military ranks to become the Vizir for the next 15 years before his assassination in 1579. The book takes you through a historical journey starting from construction plans to build the bridge and ending in the summer of 1914, when it was bombarded by the Austrians after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb student in Sarajevo.

The bridge is the silent witness of passing generations under different occupation of the region: from the Ottomans through the Austro-Hungarians till independence before WW1. Andrić displays the rich mixture of cultures in the Balkans area of Muslim Turks, Christian Serbs and Sephardic Jews. The reader is given an insight of a typical village life that includes times of floods and drought, celebrations and civil wars till the start of the 19th century. The main events either takes place or are discussed by different characters on the middle portion of the bridge known as the kappia.

Whether it’s in the village of Višegrad or the areas surrounding it, main historical events are presented in almost each chapter and it’s direct or indirect effects on the villagers’ lives. The characters of different epochs that pass through the bridge are universal and could be easily related to.

The conversations are witty at times and the sense of mistrust could be felt between followers of different religions, not very different from what’s happening now centuries beyond. Andrić’s narrative is simple yet captivating and filled with tense moments, where I didn’t want to read further in fear of what might occur.

Events from different centuries are interrelated leaving the reader with memorable scenes and profound quotes, a distinguishable character of classical literature. Ivo Andrić (1892-1975) worked as a diplomat and became the ambassador of Yugoslavia to Germany from 1939 to 1941.

During WW2, he returned to German occupied Belgrade and stayed in a friend’s apartment in conditions similar to that of a house arrest producing his most important work: The Bridge on the Drina. He was awarded the Noble Prize in literature in 1961, selecting him over writers such as Tolkien and Steinbeck. He donated the entire prize money – 30 million dollars- to buy library books in Bosnia.

Andrić’s writings focuses on life in Bosnia under the Ottoman rule. He remains Yugoslavia’s only Noble prize winner and his Belgrade apartment is turned into a museum with a nearby street given his name. The book is a jewel that should be on everybody’s bucket list.

Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com