Italy in the works of Ivo Andrić

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the presence of Italy and the Italian spirit in the works of Ivo Andrić. The analysis is based on the novels The Bridge on the Drina, Bosnian Chronicle and The Damned Yard. In these works Italy appears in the form of the characters of individuals who arrived in Bosnia accidentally, remained there; and, through their experiences of these regions, Andrić presents a mixture of East and West in terms of the understanding, conflicts and resistance between these two worlds. In his works, Andrić described Bosnia as the point of contact between the East and the West, firstly of the Byzantine and the Roman worlds, then of Islam and Christianity. This contact was the most strongly felt at the time of the Ottoman and Austrian rule, since this territory was on the border between the divided worlds.