The Signs (along the Road) are drops of infinite wisdom,personal experience made universal treasure,internal voice of this great artist audible in each of us.To be read over and over again.The book that you turn to with pleasure.

"The Days of the Consuls" is not an easily accessiblebook. The long and detailed narrative contains no real story - itbegins with the arrival of the French consul Daville in the Bosniantown of Travnik in 1807 and ends with his departure seven yearslater. All this is set against the background of Napoleon's fall fromthe height of power, viewed from a European backwater. Bosnia is stillunder Turkish rule and part of the Osmanic empire. Its citizens are acultural mix of Turks, Jews and Christians. But most of all they areBosniaks, distrustful towards all strangers, capable of much crueltyand deviousness as well as generosity and love, and a very stubbornpeople. Andric peoples his novel with a huge set of characters, all ofthem described with much insight into human nature. Foremost areDaville and his wife, the two Austrian consuls set up as counteragents against the French influence, three Turkish wesirs who ruleTravnik consecutively, and a huge group of servants and aides to eachof these. One of the main topics is the confrontation of modern,dynamic Europe with a culture weighed down by Turkish rule as well asharsh and bitter life conditions and infected with a sense ofresignation and equanimity. Andric takes his time to make acomprehensive statement on this, breathing life into a fascinating andstrange world often with the aid of small but detailed digressionsfrom the fate of the main protagonists. There is so much in this bookthat it is hard to choose examples let alone highlights, but theponderings of a sephardic Jew about the fate of his people towards theend will probably stay longest in my mind. This is a huge novel inscope and a fine achievement. It is brimming with historical,political, cultural and social wisdom and still full of care for everyindividual portrayed even if he or she makes only a shortappearance. A great work of literary art that deserves a reprint! END

To understand the problems in Bosnia, 'The Bridge on the Drina' is a must-read. It is a rich and exciting epic that begins with the conquering Ottoman empire and ends with World War I. The novel is a collection of stories of the diverse peoples in a Bosnian valley and how they live (or fail to live) with each other. Ivo Andric, who won the Nobel Prize for literature, creates wonderful visual images of the different cultures in this ethnically rich area. Through these stories, you can really understand why the problems in Bosnia are so difficult to resolve.

The central theme in this collection of short stories is storytelling of past events. There are several stories that contain implicit comments by Andric, himself a storyteller. Most of the storytelling will suit those who have a soft spot for the Balkan people. Reactions from my classmates who have also read the book have been mixed. But even those who did not like the stories did appreciate the insights.

Andric is the master of prediction, and one of the stories (A Letter From 1920) essentially pinpoints the history of the region, and accurately describes its people--all in several pages.

Many stories are essentially a small-scale summary of The Chronicles and The Bridge. There are relationships between the Christians and the Turks, among the Christians, among the Turks, etc.

Andric, the only writer from the former Yugoslavia to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1961), is best known for his sweeping novel about Bosnia "A Bridge on the Drina". In this collection he reveals his love for stories. There are stories about stories, stories told through internal stories, stories about story-telling and stories about story-tellers. Here are recurring elements of Andric's work, a fine eye for earthy detail, a profound understanding of life under the Ottomans, and a reflexive rejection of generalization.

Ethnic tension ripples under the surface of all the tales, most of which occur under Ottoman rule. The description of the uniquely powerful Bosnian hatred in The Story of the Vizier's Elephant, "the object becomes secondary, only its name remains, and the hatred crystallizes, grows out of itself, according to its own laws and needs..." is a theme reinforced in A Letter from 1920, "Hatred which sets man against man and casts both alike into misery and misfortune, or drives both opponents to the grave; hatred like a cancer in an organism, consuming and eating up everything around it, only to die itself at the last." Bosnia was never a cultural melting-pot of understanding and harmony; intolerance and fear have always been palpable backdrops to everyday life.

Other striking images: the depiction of the Vizier's evolving superstition in The Bridge on the Zepa, "The triumphant Vizier had come to know the fear of life. So, unawares, he entered the stage which is the first phase of dying, when a man comes to be absorbed more in the shadows of things than in the things themselves". The description of a craftsman in The Climbers: "To be a craftsman is to be able to separate the work one is doing at the time from everything else, to know exactly and to hold before one's eyes one thing only: what should be done and how..." And finally, the title novella The Damned Yard, which refers to an Istanbul prison and the story-tellers incarcerated there. It is a curious narrative, reminiscent of "1001 Arabian Nights" where every tale draws us seamlessly into the next until we forget where we started. Andric is quite simply a great writer. These are great stories.

Ivo Andric's The damned yard has less or more the same subject as his other book it gives a picture of the medeavle Balkans. But there is something that radically differs this book hrom the others, it tells about the writting it self. It speaks of the 'story' as a basic instrument of human comunication and even more of lasting. This way Andric drives us back to an all-time topic of literature, wich we can follow all the way back to the 1001 night. A true masterpiece.

Although this book is fiction, it provides some excellent insights into the complexities of the problems and issues that are present in Bosnia-Hercegovina today. Having spent a year in Bosnia (dealing with both the BiH Federation and the Republika Srpska) as a peace keeper back in 1995-96, I witnessed and participated in modern-day versions of the events and stories told in Mr Andric's book. "The Bridge on the Drina" highlites the diverse and complex interpersonal relationships of all the Yugoslavian peoples (not only Bosnian Serb, Muslim, and Croat, but the Jews and Gypsies as well) and attempts to give the reader an understanding of why the "Bosnian Problem" is not an easy "problem" to solve. Read the book for what it is, fiction, but take away what Mr Andric most likely intended it to be - an insight into a region (in which some may argue the center of Europe, and others the frontier or border between west and east) of cultural, religious, political, economic, and ethnic differences that resulted from hundreds of years of external influences. For myself, it all became clearer in Chapter XIX - could these external influences be put in check, the people would most likely solve the "problem". This is my opinion of having spent 12 months living and talking with Bosnian Serbs, Muslims, and Croats who I am very much reminded of in the characters of Mr Andric's book.

A fictional masterpiece that serves as a excellent introduction to the study of Bosnian history. After reading The Bridge over the Drina, one can begin to understand some of the deep rooted historical contributions to Bosnia's early 1990s struggles.

The Drina bridge, a bridge that spans generations, links early sixteenth century Ottoman Empire with the pre-WWI Austro-Hungarian Empires; giving a glimpse into day-to-day living under such diverse regimes. This book also chronicles the lives of Catholics, Moslems, and Orthodox Christians -- deep seated loyalties to their respective faiths, but somehow, giving the reader hope that it is possible for such diverse groups to live in peace -- with each other.

The bridge on the Drina continues to stand witness to political changes in the Balkans while the ethnic mosaic of the region remains more or less static. Andric has done a remarkable job of explaining the intracies of Balkan society through his story. Using the bridge as an eyewitness to 500 years of history, we see the rise and fall of empires as a community of Serbs, Croats, Jews, Christians and Moslems live, love and work side by side.

Contrary to what the media would have us believe, the ethnic groups of the Balkans have not "hated one another for 500 years and will continue to do so." This book portrays Balkan life in a much more realistic manner than many newly published books on the subject have. If you are interested in the Balkans and are searching for a balanced view of what society was like before the current troubles, read this book. While it is fiction, the patterns of daily life, the social interactions and inter-ethnic relationships portrayed by Andric are right on the money. Little wonder this fabulous story was awarded the Pulitzer Prize when it first came out.

I very much enjoyed Andric's "The Bridge Over the Drina", but reluctantly gave up on this book after 104 prolix pages. This is one of those cases where an abridged version would be a definite improvement. Incidentally, the version I read was translated by Kenneth Johnstone, and was entitled "Bosnian Story" instead of "Bosnian Chronicle".

Andric's novel describes the events in a provincial town within the Ottoman Empire during the Napoleonic era. The story is told from the viewpoint of the French consul, a western rationalist. The interactions of the French consul, his Austrian counterparts, and members of their households with the local residents of various religions, and with the Turkish vizier are related with great sympathy and humanity for all the characters. The book is wise and perceptive. The translation is excellent.

A great novel about Balkans, and Europe, and life. The French Consul's sojourn in Travnik is beautifully rendered, and Andric describes well the social tensions among the various peoples of Bosnia and a Frenchman's difficulty making sense of Balkan life. I can't recommend it highly enough, and it is certainly as good as the more famous Bridge on the Drina, and perhaps better.

Essays on Andric and his legacy; two are of more general Bosnian interest. 'Bosnian cultural identity in the works of Andric', by Tomislav Longinovic, discusses the elements of 'Orientalism' (in the Edward Said sense) in his work; a paper by John Loud discusses Andric's fiercely anti-Ottoman (and anti-Muslim) doctoral dissertation and its echoes in his other writings.