I had to read this for a Balkans culture class in college. One of the only books I kept from my electives, the author has amazing brutality right next to the beauty of humanity. The most beautiful bridge holds all of the love and hate of the village and far beyond.

What a pleasant surprise! Andrić's novel is a wonderful book. I have to tell you that you got it, although you are not from the Balkans. You have to have some history background of this region of Europe, that is not well known, to understand the book. It is very eventful but also tragic. Andrić is a such a great author, his writing and understanding of human nature is so unique, I am glad that I read many of his novels in original, in Serbian. Meša Selimović is also a great author, that's nice that you are curious about the Balkan literature.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I agree if you don’t know some history of the region it might be a bit difficult to understand the novel. But I loved the writing, the individual stories and andric’s clever storytelling. Thank you!

Ivo Andrić' was not Bosnian, he identified as a Serb and a Yugoslav.

Иво Андрић се изјаснио као Србин.

Thank you very much for your beautiful and consise explanation of one of the greatest works of fiction written in a language spoken by a very few people in the eastern Europe. The personification of the bridge across the river drina speaks volumes about the clarity of purpose of the writer to tell the his and her story of more than three centuries. The bridge stands like a unspoken witness to the events which took place for a long time. Thank you once again

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! You're very kind.

Not a Bosnian tho, Andrić declared himself as a Serb many times

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

It's a contentious issue, but I assumed he was born in Bosnia, therefore a Bosnian. Of course he lived during the Yogolsavia period. No matter, he was a great novelist and that matters the most.

@electricink3908

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast I was under an impression he was a Bosnian Croat

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

You’re correct. But I think he lived mostly in present day Serbia. The map of the region has changed so I went his place of birth. Also the novel is set in present day Bosnia.

@philippantic

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast again where you're born doesn't take to account what you're parents are. Ivo Andric was a Serb, Croats hated him and banned his literature (same with Tesla whom they try to claim), and Bosnians didn't like him either. Stop trying to manipulate what people are.

@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs

Жыл бұрын

@@philippantic bro chill

Great review man! Keep it going!

@Fiction_Beast

3 жыл бұрын

Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it.

Ivo Andric is Serbian nationality like Tesla... but bourn in Bosnia Yugoslavia.....na drini cuprija is just one of many masterpiece he wrote...world class writer Nobel price didn't mean nothing to him...Yugoslavia celebrated him...he just wanted to write

You are amazing, thank you for such efforts

Another amazing review ! Thank you for making an author I never heard of. I am going to read it! I just finish a book called Moi, Jerusalem from Sinoué where the city is the main character and describe how it feels and what she has witnessed in the last 3000 years.

@Fiction_Beast

3 жыл бұрын

You won’t be disappointed. 3000 years, it just gives you perspective and how short human life is.

Hi! Have you read Death and the Dervish by Yugoslavian Meša Selimović? He's just as good as Ivo Andrić, for me even better.

@aantonic

10 ай бұрын

thats what i plan to read soon

Like the review, just to say that he was Serbian from Bosnia, and lived in Serbia until he died.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much.

@anthropolis4427

2 жыл бұрын

Actually he was born in croat catholic family and move to Belgrade in adulthood, but he was writing in Serbian. But ethnicity is not anywhere near the most important thing about him. He considered himself a Yugoslav.

@peca9

2 жыл бұрын

@@anthropolis4427 In his ID and Passport was saying Serbian, and on marriage license, and loved Belgrade so much, of course everyone was Yugoslavian back than.

About 15 years ago, I encountered Drina and thought it was incredible! It was the sweep of narrative I liked the most. Since then, I've read The Time of the Counsels, about the effect of the Napoleonic wars on Bosnia.Recently, I picked up Omer Pasha Latas, Andric's unfinished novel about a Turkish military governor in Belgrade. I recommend both.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for the recommendations. I will check them out. Andric's writing is quite beautiful.

If it's reminiscent of One Hundred Years of Solitude, then it should be right up my alley!

@Fiction_Beast

3 жыл бұрын

I think you will enjoy it. It’s a great novel.

Excellent review. Ivo Andrić is a complicated personality like Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, his homeland. Given that he is a child from a mixed marriage of a Bosnian Croat mother and a Bosnian Serb father, a search for identity can be noticed in his soul. In the novel, he expresses these personal complexes by excessively praising the Serbs as the most numerous nation in Yugoslavia. He writes to them what they like to hear the most, which are lamentations and the eternal act of victimhood. It is not a problem for him that, according to the Serbian diktat, he denies Bosniaks their nationality, calling them Turks, while consciously ignoring a thousand years of Bosnian history and ignoring the genetics of Bosniaks, the "whitest Muslims" in Europe. Nevertheless, Bosniaks are somewhat repaid with an honest description of their struggle against the Austro-Hungarian occupation and through the good-natured characters of the local Bosniaks, while attributing all evil to the Turkish occupiers. All in all, a masterpiece of Bosnian literature and a more than deserved Nobel Prize. In my opinion, Dervish and Death is an even greater masterpiece of Bosnian literature, and in my opinion it was unfairly not awarded the Nobel Prize.

Great analysis, I love your channel. You put a lot of work in to your analysis. I watched all your clips about Russian writers and they are amazing. Specially Dostoyevsky, I feel that he left a notable impact on you. I realize that it does not matter weather Ivo Andric was Bosnian or Serb, as much as it does not matter whether Nikola Tesla was Croatian or Serb, as their work speaks for them self. However imagine saying that George Orwell was from Scotland, or Fransoa Mari Arue, was Spanish writer. Trust me when I say not all Serbian are nationalist, and generalization of any kind is difficult. Ivo Andric and Nikola Tesla are two giants from Balkans, however if reading their words, both of them declared themselves as a Serbs. I would also like to recommend you Milorad Pavic Dictionary of Khazars, I think you will find this book interesting, and maybe one day you will make a short analysis. Thank you for all your effort.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

I agree people like Andric belongs to the whole humanity.

I am certainly buying this book. I have visited Croatia and moved across the borders that were created in the 1990’s. I still remember so may years later of a certain house that was once, Serbian, then became Croatian then I forgot what and the household had to change passports all the time. With regards to the practise of the Ottomans kidnapping children and converting them to Islam and then enlisting them in the army . . . It reminded me of an excellent book ‘Jerusalem Maiden’ when Israel was under the ottoman rule. Jewish families were so worried about their kids being kidnapped by the Jainassaries that they did not allow them to go out and play. The writer is Thalia Carnet. Thanks a lot.

@Fiction_Beast

3 жыл бұрын

i think you will enjoy this novel very much. it might be difficult without any prior knowldge of the region but since you have been to the egion and also watched my video :) you are going to enjoy it even more. Also thank you for the recommendation.

Bridge is paradox of people nature and being...he didn't care about bridge but people state of mind and history

Bosnian has nothing to do with it. Ivo Andric was a Serb from Yugoslavia. Bosnia is just a region where the work of the Novel is based in, it has nothing to do with the etymology of the piece.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

i discussed this issue in the video.

If you like The Bridge on the Drina you will also like Bosnian Chronicle. I have the book(.pdf) in English, if you want I can send it to you.

Thank you Historiansplaining website video Teaser Origins of First World War which made me aware of this book and Thank you for making my day to watch your beautiful video on this novel

My favorite novel of Ivo Andric is "Bosnian Chronicles".

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

what's it about? i havent read it.

@gerardterveer9026

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast Set in the town of Travnik, Bosnian Chronicle presents the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The time is Napoleonic and the novel, both in its historical scope and psychological subtlety is Tolstoyan.

@aleksandarteodorovic5349

Жыл бұрын

It is actually called TRAVIK (town) CRONICLES. Wonderful piece of writing.

A nice summary, but not really a "Bosnian" novel. Ivo Andric was the only writer in former Yugoslavia to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. As such this would be a "Yugoslavian" novel at the very least. But, if you choose to acknowledge what Ivo Andric writes about himself and how he declares his own nationality, much like Mesa Selimovic, then it would be as a Serbian and as part of the Serbian literary tradition. Bosnia and Hercegovina as a political entity is young as you mentioned and composed of two equal entities created by the Dayton accords - "the Republic of Srpska" and the "Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina". Visegrad is within the "Republic of Srpska".

@bbbrankobbb

Жыл бұрын

Plus you are showing the Perovic-Arslanagic Bridge in Trebinje throughout most of your video, rather than the one in Visegrad.

Great analysis, only Andric is Serbian, not Bosnian writer.

Ivo Andric is Serbian author, not Bosnian.

how is this a bosnian masterpiece? please explain