He is the first, and for now, the only winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in our region, which he received “for the epic power with which he shaped the themes and presented the destinies of people throughout the history of his country”. In our literature, we can single out a number of writers who enriched our literary heritage with their exceptional works and occupied a significant place in the history of Serbian literature, but only Ivo Andrić managed to reach such a high position in European and world literature. Looking at the strong pillars of the Drina Bridge every day, Višegrad exerted a very strong influence on his life and work, more than any other place. The threads of his childhood are depicted in this book, as well as in many others in which he wrote about bridges and stone buildings. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961, for his lifetime work, with “The Bridge on the Drina” (“Na Drini Ćuprija”) being his most prominent book. He was an extraordinary connoisseur of the circumstances of old Bosnia, and the plot of his novels takes place mainly on Bosnian territory as a place of the eternal clash between East and West. “In Višegrad, I formed my thoughts about the wealth and beauty of the world”Īndrić began his literary career as a poet when he published his first work, the poem “U sumrak” (“At Dusk”), in 1911 in “Bosanska Vila” – one of the oldest culture magazines in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In fact, I used it to measure my step and adjust my gait. Under every road in the country, the sharp Višegrad trail was constantly unwinding, visible only to me, from the day I left it until today. Down all the roads and paths that I treaded on later in life, I lived only off of that scanty happiness, of my thoughts about the wealth and beauty of the created world when I lived in Višegrad. Here, ignorant, weak and empty-handed, I was happy with intoxicating happiness to the point of unconsciousness, happy with everything that is not there, cannot be and never will be. This is where I formed my thoughts about the wealth and beauty of the world. “At the beginning of all roads and paths, at the very thought of them, there is a sharply and indelibly incised trail on which I walked freely for the first time. He was born in Travnik but grew up in Višegrad and Sarajevo. Andrić reached world heights, but always tenderly spoke about his homeland. He only expressed those in his books and diplomatic work. With his unobtrusive energy and restrained demeanour, Ivo Andrić never flaunted his great talent, strong intellect and noble wisdom.

Ivo Andrić was a writer, doctor of science and diplomat of the Kingdom of YugoslaviaĪ world-famous writer, academic, diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate, and the Serbian Tolstoy, as some call him, was always measured, calm, dignified, and occasionally having a half-smile on his face.

Prokleta avlija by Ivo Andrić