History Literature / TheBridgeOnTheDrina

%% * GrumpyBear: Alihodja.

* ArcSymbol: The bridge.
* ArcWelding: Most character subplots, as part of a larger {{Story Arc}}, eventually weld together.

* BenevolentBoss: Arif Beg, [[spoiler:Abidaga's eventual replacement.]]
* BigFancyHouse: Several rich Muslim families have these.
* ButtMonkey: Pretty much everybody.
* CoolOldGuy: Priest Nikola in his later days.

* DeadpanSnarker: Alihodja and Fata.

* TheDragon: Plevljak to Abidaga.

* TheEmpire: The Ottoman Empire in the first half of the book. Austria-Hungary in the second.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Abidaga, probably the only truly evil character in the book, has one built for him.

* UsefulNotes/FirstWorldWar: The book ends with its opening days.
* TheFool: Ćorkan.

* TheGamblingAddict: Milan Glasinčanin.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Even though the ethnicities consisting the population of Višegrad are usually segregated and generally avoid each other, yearly floods bring them all together to cooperate. Surprisingly, they are really friendly with each other, though everything returns to the status quo once the floods are over.
* TheGoodChancellor: Mehmed Pasha.
* GoodOldWays: Alihodja, and especially Shemsibeg.
* {{Gorn}}: The extremely detailed, terrifying depiction of Radisav's staking.
* GrumpyBear: Alihodja.
* HometownNickname: Plevljak (A man from Plevlja).
* IceQueen: Lotte, though it only contributes to her popularity with the patrons.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Radisav.
* KnightInSourArmor: Alihodja.
* LaResistance: Appears in every {{Story Arc}}, in a different form and with different motivations.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Given the length of the book, that's expected.
* LocalHangout: The kapija. Later in the book, Lotte's inn.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Poor Fedun.
* MiddleManagementMook: Plevljak.
* MookLieutenant: Plevljak

* NewEraSpeech: The proclamation of the Austrian occupation of Bosnia functions as this.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The book thrives on it, though the symbolism is much subtler than most other examples.
* SceneryPorn: The opening chapter is dedicated to this.
* ShroudedInMyth: It turns out that all local legend have a source in much more trivial historical happenings.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The book is cynical.

* SmokyGentlemensClub: The upper-class section of Lotte's inn.
* TakeItToTheBridge: Duh.
* TheFerryMan: Jamak.

* TheSilentBob: Jamak the ferryman.
* TimeSkip: Happens several times.

* SycophanticServant: Plevljak to Abidaga.

Thus begins this novel, considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of Balkan literature, written as a chronicle of the town of Višegrad, spanning across several centuries, from the beginning of the bridge’s construction in 1571, to the start of the UsefulNotes/FirstWorldWar in 1914. It is notable for containing countless {{Story Arc}}s, written from the perspectives of its [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters huge cast of vibrant characters]], of different ethnicities, beliefs and personalities, [[ArcWelding with the bridge itself being what bridges all of the characters and subplots together.]]

* OppositesAttractRevenge: Two young men studying at the Vienna university and coming back to Višegrad for summer vacation, although fierce opponents in political debates (one is a nationalist and the other a socialist), are still best friends. Soon, their complexes and the desire to prove each other wrong turn into petty vendetta, and one of them steals each other's girl. This leads them to passionately hate each other.

* {{Lolicon}}: Fedun, the young Galician soldier manning the post on the bridge, falls in love with what appears to be a prepubescent Muslim girl crossing the bridge with her grandmother every day. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that the grandmother and the girl are, respectively, a notorious bandit and his girlfriend helping him get supplies from the town dressed in burkas, both in their late twenties.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

''The Bridge On the Drina'' (original title: ''Na Drini Ćuprija'') is a 1945 {{novel}} by the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić, which won him the 1961 NobelPrizeInLiterature.

* BizarroEpisode: Milan Glasinčanin gambles away his whole fortune in a card game with the [[{{Satan}} devil himself]], in a terrifying, surrealistic scene.

Thus begins this novel, considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of Balkan literature, written as a chronicle of the town of Višegrad, spanning across several centuries, from the beginning of the bridge’s construction in 1571, to the start of the {{First World War}} in 1914. It is notable for containing countless {{Story Arc}}s, written from the perspectives of its [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters huge cast of vibrant characters]], of different ethnicities, beliefs and personalities, [[ArcWelding with the bridge itself being what bridges all of the characters and subplots together.]]

* FirstWorldWar: The book ends with its opening days.

* TallDarkAndBishoujo: Fata.

* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Abidaga, [[CompleteMonster probably the only truly evil character in the book]], has one built for him.

* SceneryPorn: The oening chapter is dedicated to this.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Alihodja gives one to an Islamistic would-be revolutionary.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Alihodja gives one to an islamistic would-be revolutionary.

* BadBoss: Abidaga, the overseer of the bridge construction, is extremely cruel and ruthless to the locals moblized into slave labor, in order for the construction schedule be fulfilled. [[spoiler:The icing on the cake is that he embezzles the money Mehmed Pasha meant to be used for paying the laborers.]]
* BenevolentBoss: Arifbeg, [[spoiler:Abidaga's eventual replacement.]]

* FatalFlaw: Fata's is {{Pride}}. She is extremely beautiful and smart, which leads to men flocking around her, and she definitely knows it. This makes her much more independent and self-minded than it was the norm for young Muslim girls of the time. [[spoiler:It eventually leads to her demise, since she cannot reconcile her desire for independence with what society asks of her.]]

* BLAMEpisode: Milan Glasinčanin gambles away his whole fortune in a card game with the [[{{Satan}} devil himself]], in a terrifying, surrealistic scene.

* TheRenfield: Plevljak to Abidaga.

[[caption-width-right:375:"So people learned from the angels of God how to build bridges, and therefore, after fountains, the greatest blessing is to build a bridge and the greatest sin to interfere with one, for every bridge, from a tree trunk crossing a mountain stream to this great bridge of Mehmed Pasha, has its guardian angel who cares for it and maintains it as long as God has ordained that it should stand."]]


"The Bridge On The Drina" (Original Title - "Na Drini Ćuprija") is a 1945 {{novel}} by the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić, which won him the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature.

In November 1516, an [[TheEmpire Ottoman]] expedition was passing through the backwater Bosnian town of Višegrad, collecting, to the horror of the local Serbian families, the feared ‘’Devshirme’’, or ‘’Tribute in Blood’’. [[{{Tykebomb}} Exceptionally able and intelligent Christian prepubescent boys]] were taken away to Istanbul in order to be trained as Janissaries, the elite corps of the Ottoman army, dedicated to serve the Sultan until death. One of those boys, [[ChildProdigy the ten year old Bajo]], quickly managed to rise through the ranks of the Ottoman Empire, ultimately becoming the famed Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokolović, the most powerful man in the Empire after the Sultan himself. Unlike most other Janissaries, the TrainingFromHell didn’t manage to erase the memories of his childhood home and, in order to repay his roots, he orders a bridge to be built over the wild river of Drina, connecting Bosnia to Serbia and the rest of Ottoman territories, that would be the envy of the whole empire.

!!This work contains examples of the following tropes:

* {{Lolicon}}: Fedun, the young Galician soldier manning the post on the bridge, falls in love with what appears to be a prepubescent Muslim girl crossing the bridge with her grandmother every day. [[spoiler:Brutally subverted when it turns out that the grandmother and the girl are, respectively, a notorious bandit and his girlfriend helping him get supplies from the town dressed in burkas, both in their late twenties.]]

* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Averted. There is a large population of Sephardic Jews in Višegrad, and Ashkenazis start arriving only after the Austrian occupation.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The book is obviously cynical, but it does a great job of gracefully averting [[TastesLikeDirt tasting like dirt]].