The Nobel Prize Committee, which awarded Ivo Andric the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961, emphasized the epic power of the novel The Bridge over the Drina, which was first published in 1945, in the justification for this prize . The award was more than justified, for The Bridge over the Drina is, in my opinion, one of the most astute, sonorous and carefully constructed works of 20th-century prose literature.
There is no better introduction to Balkan research and the study of Ottoman history, nor do I know of any other poetic work that so convincingly portrays a civilization unknown to the reader. Discovering the Ottoman world from its grandiose beginnings to its ultimate collapse is an intellectual and poignant adventure in equal measure. Every single episode sounds believable - starting with the role of terror in strengthening Turkish power in the countryside and ending with the importance of an Austrian military brothel in the decay of the old customs. No anthropologist has ever so sensitively reported on the process of cultural change, no historian has been so successful in getting into the minds of the people with whom put in. In short, this is an excellent work, a masterpiece of its own kind.
German by Ernst E. Jonas, revised by Katharina Wolf-Grießhaber
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Roman Na Drini ćuprija na nemačkom.
Knjiga jednog od najboljih južnoslovenskih pisaca ovenčana Nobelovom nagradom. Roman koji priča, prateći ideju, gradnju i vekovanje višegradskog mosta na Drini, večnu priču o životu, religiji, ljubavima i sukobima na balkanskim prostorima. Briljantnom studijom karaktera, nacionalnih i teritorijalnih posebnosti, Ivo Andric uspeva da, na veoma originalan način, sažme istorijsko pamćenje ali i da anticipira puteve života na večito trusnom Balkanu. Knjiga koja nas, putem književne umetnosti romana, najbolje i najtačnije objašnjava, u svim verovanjima ali i zabludama.