The Bridge On the Drina

Lovett F. Edwards (translation) A vivid depiction of the suffering history has imposed upon the people of Bosnia from the late sixteenth century to the beginning of World War I, The Bridge on the Drina earned Andric the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans by a Grand Vezir of the Ottoman Empire dominates the setting of Ivo Andric's novel. Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds, the bridge stands witness to the countless lives played out upon it: Radisav, the workman, who tries to hinder its construction and is impaled on its highest point; to the lovely Fata, who throws herself from its parapet to escape a loveless marriage; to Milan, the gambler, who risks everything in one last game on the bridge with the devil his opponent; to Fedun, the young soldier, who pays for a moment of spring forgetfulness with his life. War finally destroys the span, and with it the last descendant of that family to which the Grand Vezir confided the care of his pious bequest -- the bridge. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Translator's Foreword......Page 6 Note on Pronunciation......Page 10 I......Page 12 II......Page 21 III......Page 27 IV......Page 52 V......Page 71 VI......Page 81 VII......Page 93 VIII......Page 101 IX......Page 112 X......Page 123 XI......Page 133 XII......Page 143 XIII......Page 153 XIV......Page 172 XV......Page 185 XVI......Page 199 XVII......Page 214 XVIII......Page 223 XIX......Page 234 XX......Page 256 XXI......Page 264 XXII......Page 278 XXIII......Page 289 XXIV......Page 307 A critically acclaimed novel, first published in 1945, describing historic and social events centring on a bridge across the River Drina at Visegrad in modern day Bosnia Herzegovina, originally built by the ruling Grand Vizier of Turkey. For almost four hundred years this bridge is crucial to the social life and wealth of the town’s citizens and equally vital to first the Turkish Empire and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Eventually Bosnia-Herzegovina becomes a republic in the new Yugoslavia, free for the first time in hundreds of years. 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. --Publisher