Reading 1001 discussion

Review thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Moderator Pip

I am madly reading the book and hope to have questions posted on Saturday or Sunday. I am just about to board a flight to Sydney to mother a sick daughter, so not sure when they will be ready,

Pip wrote: "I am madly reading the book and hope to have questions posted on Saturday or Sunday. I am just about to board a flight to Sydney to mother a sick daughter, so not sure when they will be ready,"

Pip, take your time. Family first. If you want me to put up questions I can do that. They don't have to put up by the first of July, take your time. I hope your daughter gets well soon.

Thanks Diane, but I have just finished the book.

BEFORE READING:
Apologies for writing this on an old laptop where I can't figure out how to add the correct diacritic.

1. Ivo Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. Were you aware of him and have you read anything else he wrote?
2. Andric identified himself as a Bosnian Serb. What do you understand that to mean?
3. What do you know about Bosnia?
4, Search for Visegrad in Google Maps and find recent photos of the Bridge on the Drina. Zone in on the one which shows the tablet in the middle of th bridge.
5. As you read, note any passages that particularly resonate with you or any of the stories about the bridge which you find interesting.
Some Turkish terms used in the book which might be helpful
AGA A person of high rank, especially military
BEG a member of the Muslim landed class
EFFENDI Master, or Sir, it implies an educated man
HODJA someone with a religious education
RAYAH Bosnian Christian subjects, collectively

QUESTIONS AFTER READING
1. Bosniak literary critics disparaged the book for its supposed anti-Muslim bias, in fact his works were blacklisted in Croatia following Yugoslavia's dissolution. Do you think this criticism valid?
2. When I was in Belgrade last year I was exhorted to buy this book by my tour guide. The Belgrade apartment where he spent much of World War Two is now a museum. He is obviously highly regarded in Serbia. Do you detect a Serbian bias?
3. Which story of the bridge was your favourite? Justify your choice!
4. How are Christians and Muslims shown to differ in their response to Bosnia becoming an Austrian protectorate?
5. How are Jews and Gypsies depicted?
6. What writing particularly impressed you? Do you have any quotes?
7. When Andric won the Nobel Prize his competition was J.R.R.Tolkien, Robert Frost, John Steinbeck and E.M.Forster. Were the judges right?
8. Does this book belong in the 1001 Books?
9. Do you think the bridge would have been so systematically destroyed during the Bosnian War if this book had not been written?

Thank you for the Turkish terms Pip, I have only seen the word Effendi before so all the others are new to me.
BEFORE READING:

1. Ivo Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. Were you aware of him and have you read anything else he wrote?
No, I have never heard of him before.
2. Andric identified himself as a Bosnian Serb. What do you understand that to mean?
My understanding is very limited but that area of the world has been invaded and conquered, joined together and split apart on religious, ethnic or language lines (tribal) for eons. I believe the Serbs are a Slavic ethnic group that originally came from Russia or the Ukraine and settled in the area around Bosnia. Bosnia and Serbia, or parts of Bosnia and Serbia, were once part of the Austrian Empire and they were also taken over by the Ottoman Empire. I suspect that a Bosnian Serb is someone living in Bosnia or having been born or educated in Bosnia who identifies as a Serb. Serbians can be Muslims or Orthodox Russians (or I suspect other religions) so being a Bosnia Serb does not necessarily mean that one is a Christian in a Muslim country.
3. What do you know about Bosnia? Not a great deal but I do know that when Yugoslavia fractured, with the Serbs and the Bosnians being split from the Croatians and Slovenians, that the remaining country really fell apart and their fight for independence became a very nasty mash up of the Serbs fighting against the Muslim supported (Pakistan maybe?) Bosnians. It was a horrific war that was fought on ethno demographic lines but there were massacres that appeared to be based on religious lines. It was the first time that NATO deployed troops to help deal with a war in Europe.
4, Search for Visegrad in Google Maps and find recent photos of the Bridge on the Drina. Zone in on the one which shows the tablet in the middle of th bridge.
Great, I will.
5. As you read, note any passages that particularly resonate with you or any of the stories about the bridge which you find interesting.

Pip wrote: "I am madly reading the book and hope to have questions posted on Saturday or Sunday. I am just about to board a flight to Sydney to mother a sick daughter, so not sure when they will be ready,"

Sending love to you and hope your daughter is doing better soon, Pip. I go home to Nova Scotia a few months a year so my mother can help take care of me, so I know how tough it can be for everyone.

-I haven't heard of Andric before or read his other work, so excited to see how this one goes.
-I would guess a Bosnian Serb would be an ethnic Bosnian who identifies Serbia as their home country?
-I know a little bit about the war in the Balkans, the ethnic cleansing, the Muslim population, the complicated situation of the Balkan countries in WWII , and a bit about their Ottoman history but I wouldn't say I'm an expert at all.
-Just did! It's quite beautiful but I couldn't easily find what the Arabic script in the middle section says...wonder if the book will tell me?

I read this book a few years ago. Andric's style is somewhat dry and unemotional but wonderfully lucid and intelligent. Had I been on the Nobel committee I would have voted for Steinbeck over him however.

QUESTIONS AFTER READING
1. Bosniak literary critics disparaged the book for its supposed anti-Muslim bias, in fact his works were blacklisted in Croatia following Yugoslavia's dissolution. Do you think this criticism valid?

I definitely noted the ethnic slurs against the Jews and Gypsies which no doubt reflected common beliefs at the time of the author's writing the book. I did not feel that the book was extremely anti-Muslim, as the characters were not characterized in any more of a negative light than the Serbians in the book. The descriptions tended to be more stereotypical with hooked noses and black eyes as compared to many of the fair and handsome Serbians but this wasn't consistent across all characters by any means. The Muslims did trend from being on top of the economic and political ladder at the time of the building of the bridge to being largely refugees in their own villages as the Turkish border moved all the way over to the edge of Istanbul. Under the early years of the Austria-Hungarian Empire they did well and were fairly treated, or rather treated like everyone else.

2. When I was in Belgrade last year I was exhorted to buy this book by my tour guide. The Belgrade apartment where he spent much of World War Two is now a museum. He is obviously highly regarded in Serbia. Do you detect a Serbian bias?

Again, he followed "his" view of history and he showed the Serbian nationalists as valiant fighters for freedom which, I suppose is a bias rather than showing them as people who butchered Muslims (later for that). At the same time he called into question the need for these nationalistic feelings, how dangerous they could be, and he largely showed how the day to day lives of the inhabitants of Višegrad were impacted mainly by people and events far away and beyond their control.

3. Which story of the bridge was your favourite? Justify your choice!

Ah, there are so many! One of my favorites was the time of the flood and the coming together of all the people regardless of their religion or background. I also thought that the drunk man walking on the parapets was a great way of showing how even those without any self control were able to "fly" when in touch with the bridge. The political conversations on the bridge woven with the love story of Zorka and Nikola showed the nature of personal vanity and how it reflected the vanity of nationalism.
And I think I will be haunted by Andrić's version of the gambling devil for quite awhile. The devil was so soft spoken, so in control....

4. How are Christians and Muslims shown to differ in their response to Bosnia becoming an Austrian protectorate?

Both sides were fearful of change and suspicious of the promises of their new "protectors". Both sides saw these people as foreigners with very strange dress and habits...particularly the apparent need to always being doing something. However, the Christians at least felt that the Austria-Hungarians were Christian, although the wrong sort of Christian, and the Muslims felt that once again they were being removed from their rightful place. However, both sides were able to educate their children and both sides had to serve in the military. The early years brought change but also economic benefits. The real issue with the Austria-Hungarians was all the radical changes they brought to the town; newspapers, railroads, bigger barracks etc. and the fact that even before the execution of their crown prince, they did not trust the radical Serbians.

5. How are Jews and Gypsies depicted?

As I mentioned above, although Andrić did give a generous place to Lotte and her capabilities and her family life, there was a background distain for Jews and Gypsies. More for the Gypsies than the Jews. I thought it was interesting that he called out the difference between the Jews of the Sephardic diaspora who had lived in the town for 300 years and those from the Ashkenazi immigrations.

6. What writing particularly impressed you? Do you have any quotes?

After the flood:
The force of the elements and the weight of common misfortune brought all these men together and bridged, at least for this one evening, the gulf that divided one faith from the other...
A warm and close circle formed, like a new existence, created out of realities and yet itself unreal, which was not what it had been the day before nor what it would be the day after, but like a transient island in the flood of time.

7. When Andric won the Nobel Prize his competition was J.R.R.Tolkien, Robert Frost, John Steinbeck and E.M.Forster. Were the judges right?

I felt that this was a very deserving book and worthy of the prize. John Steinbeck did win the prize the following year. JRR Tolkien wrote "fantasies" and was therefore evidently "snubbed", or at least that is what I have heard. Prizes are the result of human judges....and often reflect particular opinions which illuminate particular moments in time.

8. Does this book belong in the 1001 Books?

Absolutely

9. Do you think the bridge would have been so systematically destroyed during the Bosnian War if this book had not been written?

The bridge had certainly become a touchstone and that probably caused more attention put to it than a simple thoroughfare across a river.

I read this book two years ago, so it isn't fresh enough in my memory to answer some of the questions. The story-telling is kind of on the unemotional side, but as I got toward the middle of the novel I definitely got hooked into it- it seemed as though I were reading actual history. There is a lot of real history in it.

7. "When Andric won the Nobel Prize....". I would have voted for Steinbeck who I think was an even greater author.

8. Does this book belong in the 1001 Books?
Yes. I also have read Andric's Bosnian Chronicle a few years prior to this one. I liked it but liked The Bridge on the Drina more. Has anyone else read that one?

Just realized that I actually have read a book by him before: I have also read Bosnian Chronicle and agree with George: I enjoyed both but thought Bridge on the Drina was stronger.

QUESTIONS AFTER READING:
1. I loved this book but yes I totally understand that critique, those characters did sometimes border on cruel caricature, but, like Gail mentioned, so did descriptions of Jewish, Roma, and Serbian people. It did end up lending a sense of authenticity to the book in not how those demographics really are, but in how the average non- Muslim Bosniak from these time periods (maybe even now) likely perceive them.

2. Well I do find it interesting that he identified as a 'Bosnian Serb' given the historical tension between the two groups largely based on Serbian nationalism bordering on colonialism, and so yes I did find there was some bias there. Although, in his time, Serbia I suppose may have been seen more as the Yugoslav liberators from the Austrians as opposed to my modern perception of Serbian nationalism after the war in the Balkans.


3. I actually really enjoyed the building of the whole caravanserai outfit on the bridge, and then the description of how that decayed and changed over time. The passing of history and how some innovations later fall out of date is always really interesting and affecting theme to me. I also find the age of the caravanserai to be an underrated part of history that had massive effects on creating the modern world (like how interregional trade it provided led to the age of sail).

4. Agree with Gail here: suspicion on both ends, more more so from the Muslims, for understandable reasons.

5. Uh, poorly. But like I said above, it ends up working for the tone of the book in a cultural and historical context that what is said about those groups isn't objectively true, but it rather exists to give me a window into how many Bosnians may view them. And that is actually one of the strengths of the book, I think, it gives a strong sense of being placed in a time, a place, and the perspective of that time/place/culture. As well, it both pays tribute to the Bosnian people without lionizing them as a people without prejudice. I appreciated that realism.

6. In general, the sense of the meandering of time with the river really captivated me.

7. Wow, I didn't realize those were all the nominees that year: that is a stacked list. I might have honestly gone with Tolkien or Frost?

8. I do think it belongs on the list, yes, really enjoyed it.

9. Not sure about this one- I guess it might depend on how much the bridge (and this book) had been part of the Bosnian zeitgeist at that point. I just looked it up, and it only got its UNESCO status in 2007