THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA

Na Drini Ćuprija

By Ivo Andrić

Višegrad,Bosnia-Herzegovina

Historical-Political Background

• Ottoman occupation of Bosnian territory• Child tribute• Great floods of late 17th Century• Serbian Revolt of early 1870s

• Austro-Hungarian occupation• Period of modernization• New people groups• Change in the place of women• Freer movement of Serbs and Jews

• Bosnian annexation from Austria-Hungary• The Balkan Wars and the assassination of

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

General Background

• Novel of historical-fiction• First published in 1945 in Belgrade,

Yugoslava• Translated and published in English in 1959• 1961 winner of he Nobel Prize in Literature• Ivo Andrić

• Catholic, Croatian born in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1892

• Raised by his mother’s family in Višegrad• Active in the youth nationalist movement prior

to World War I

Bridge on the River Drina

The Bridge

• Constructed 1566 – 1571• Built by Grand Vezir Mehmed Pasha

Sokolli from Sokolovići – a Christian Serb that became a Muslim

• Merged East and West• Symbolized identity of Višegrad• Destroyed 1914

Themes

Overarching concepts• Identity• Violence• AlteritySpecific Elements• Ethnicity• Religion• Language• Nationalism

IdentityThe bridge• Unchanging and undefeatable aspect of Višegrad

life• Eternal• Link between east and west; and self and the other• Marker of divide between people groups

• Ceding of Bosnia to Austria-Hungary by the Ottomans• Turkish warning to Bosnians that their time will come

• Place of violence – impaling, beheading, and mounting of heads

• Paralysis of bridge as link between east and west• Destruction of bridge equated to abandonment by

God

Identity

Change under Austro-Hungarian rule• Old vs. new as parallel of self vs. other• Han becomes barracks – connection to building of

bridge and Mahmed Pasha Sokolli• Freer movement of Serbs, Jews, and women• Culture and identity remain on the kapia –

traditions hold in the midst of change – Turkish times forgotten, but customs and dress remained

• Merging with the other – change of identity through customs and dress

• Bridge seen as invulnerable in the midst of change

Violence

Violence towards ‘the other’

Threat of violenceImpaling• Torture of ‘the other’ by ‘the other’

• Merdjan the Gipsy• Radislav Heraci of Unište

• Radislav as martyrBeheading• Decapitation of Serbs• Displaying of heads on the kapiaBanditryHanging and Prosecution of the Serbs

Alterity

THE RULERS THE RULED

• Ottoman Turk – Muslim

• Austro-Hungarian Visitors -- 135• Ethnic groups• Czechs• Poles• Croats• Hungarians• Austrians

• Religion – Catholicism• Language -- German

• Bosnian-Serb• Orthodox Christian• Nationalist movement

• Jew• Sephardi – Spain• Ashkenazi – Galicia• Language – Judeo-

Spanish• Gipsy – ‘godless’ (56)

Characters of Note

• Mehmed Pasha Sokolli – Serb/Turk• Abidaga – Turk• Alihodja Mutevelic -- Turk

• Opposed to violence• Unchanged through periods of violence, peace, and

change• Living through suffering, dead, waiting to be buried

• Pop Nikola – Serb • Respect without distinction of faith• “as close as a priest and a hodja” (129)• Relationship with Mula Ibrahim

• Lotte – Jew

THE END