“Not all people are as wicked as wicked people think they are.”
Ivo Andrić
Nowadays – when we rightfully lament the beauty of written and spoken language – it is with special spiritual pleasure that we read the works that poured out of the quill of those authors capable of opening up the gates of the literary world and presenting new perspectives to us. There, at the horizon of Serbian literature, glimmers the immortal face of Ivo Andrić, the author whose works are considered a part of the world’s cultural heritage. We often wonder about the origin of all the power gifted to an author who can string together familiar, everyday words in such a way as to create in our minds strong visual images and ideas devised in the soul and mind of the author himself. No one in the history of Serbian literature has ever been able to say as much with as few carefully selected words as Andrić. Who was Ivo Andrić?
In 1892, Katarina Andrić gave birth to her son Ivan. Andrić’s parents were both from Sarajevo, and he was born in a small Bosnian town called Travnik. His father died of tuberculosis when he was two years old, and his mother Katarina took him to Višegrad and placed him in the care of her sister-in-law Ana and her husband Ivan Matkovšik.
When he was 11 years old, Andrić moved to Sarajevo, where he finished high school. He attended university in Zagreb. Andrić later transferred to Vienna, after which he resumed his studies at the famous Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
He had been a member of the student movement known as Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia) since high school and he dreamed about the liberation and unification of the Yugoslav nations. When under-aged Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on Vidovdan (St. Vitus’ Day), June 28, 1914, Andrić was in Kraków. He decided to return to Sarajevo immediately. However, upon arriving in Split, Andrić was captured by the Austrian police and imprisoned in Maribor and Šibenik, from where he was exiled to Ovčarevo and later Zenica.
While he was in Zagreb receiving treatment for pulmonary problems, Andrić was granted amnesty, and his book of prose poetry Ex ponto, which he started working on while in solitary confinement in Maribor, was published. This book was printed in 1918 in Zagreb.
Dissatisfied with the political climate in Zagreb, Andrić left for Belgrade, where he started working at the Ministry of Religion. He became involved in the capital's literary circles. Interestingly, Ivo Andrić was a regular at the famous Hotel Moscow café, which was where the secret military society known as Crna ruka (the Black Hand) was established and met.
Andrić’s diplomatic career began in 1920, when he served in the Royal Legations in the Vatican and Trieste. He was soon appointed vice-consul in Graz, where he resumed his studies, crowning them with a PhD.
He was a member of at least two Masonic Lodges. Namely, he was admitted to the “Preporođaj” Lodge in 1925, but not long after he was forced to leave the Lodge because of an alleged affair with Persida, the wife of his fellow mason Gustav Krklec.
Afterwards he joined the “Dositej Obradović”Lodge, where he was dedicated to the service and his writing. On the recommendation of Slobodan Jovanović, Ivo Andrić became a member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art in 1926, at the age of 34.
The biography of Ivo Andrić is itself a mystical mixture of a diplomat and author, who soon became the editor of the Serbian Literary Gazette. Ivo Andrić’s diplomatic career reached its peak in 1939, when he was appointed Ambassador of Yugoslavia in Berlin. He was among the few Serbs who had met face-to-face with the monstrous Führer – an encounter about which he wrote an interesting note: “Once I found myself before Hitler, I wished, as in a state of panic, for that strictly procedural act to be over as soon as possible.”
In early 1941, Ambassador Andrić submitted his resignation since the politicians in Belgrade, lacking political ideas and choices, bypassed him and communicated directly with Berlin. Andrić’s request was denied and he was present at the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Vienna as the official representative of Yugoslavia. Having no power over the political decisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during these turbulent times, Andrić became a silent witness of historical events.
On April 6, 1941, when Belgrade was bombed by Germany, Andrić and the rest of the Legation staff left Berlin, refusing the offer of the Nazis to seek shelter on the neutral territory of Switzerland, and he returned to Belgrade.
He officially retired from the diplomatic service in the fall, but refused a state pension and lived in a rented apartment in Prizrenska Street. Andrić also refused to sign the Appeal to the Serbian people that condemned resistance to the occupying forces and his books were not published during the bloody war. However, in his solitude, Ivo worked on and finished three grandiose novels: Travnička hronika (Bosnian Chronicle), Na Drini ćuprija (The Bridge on the Drina) and Gospođica (The Woman from Sarajevo), which were published only after the end of the war in 1945. He was active – both in terms of writing and socially – in red Yugoslavia. At the age of 66, he married Milica Babić, a costume designer at the National Theater of Serbia, whom he had been secretly involved with for years. The couple lived in Krunska Street and later moved to an apartment in a small street near the Assembly of the City of Belgrade – a street now proudly named Andrićev venac.
In 1961, he became a Nobel laureate, which was accompanied by an explanation stating that the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to him for “the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from his country's history”. Upon receiving the prize, Andrić made his famous speech O priči i pričanju (On Stories and Story-Telling).
Although Andrić’s works had already been translated all over the world, he became increasingly popular as a Nobel laureate, with his works being published in around 30 languages worldwide.
Andrić’s wife left this world in 1968, and he slowly began withdrawing from the public eye. He wrote less and less. His health deteriorating, Andrić was often in hospitals and spas, and he also visited Orthodox monasteries whenever he could – which is something that was never mentioned quite enough.
This author of myth-making powers stepped into eternity quietly and peacefully. On March 13, 1975, Ivo Andrić took his last breath of the wide and open sky above Belgrade, leaving behind a brilliant shadow and trail, as well as immeasurable cultural wealth.
He was buried on the Alley of Distinguished Citizens at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.
Andrić’s most famous works include: Put Alije Đerzeleza (The Journey of Alija Đerzelez), Anikina vremena (Anika’s Times), Most na Žepi (The Bridge on the Žepa), Na Drini ćuprija (The Bridge on the Drina), Travnička hronika (Bosnian Chronicle), Gospođica (The Woman from Sarajevo), Prokleta avlija (The Damned Yard), Jelena žena koje nema (Jelena, the Woman of My Dream), Omer Paša Latas (Omer Pasha Latas), Znakovi pored puta (Signs by the Roadside)…
