Risto TUBIC

ENCOUNTER OF CIVILIZATIONS IN THE WORKS OF IVO ANDRIC

Summary

In the entire context of this paper, the author's intention is clearly discerned to view the opus of Andric as a gigantic fresco of the East - West encounter in the Bosnian and Balkan region. This region is in fact the "third world" of Andric - the world at the middle point between the East and the West, the only world that is destined to be the battlefield between these two civilizational circles. With artistic means Andric has, more precisely and strongly than anyone before, pointed out the deepest truth about our historical fate in this Bosnian and Balkan landscape. At the same time, he expressed the deepest hope that, after many centuries of roaming and searching for the "right path" in this third world, a great historical harmony will emerge in which our people will find their true home, finding their place in the overall harmony of human aspirations and giving their own contribution to the comprehension of the truth about the human fate and the goals of human existence. In the novel "The Bridge on the Drina", Andric depicts four great epochs of Bosnian history: eight years of life in Travnik during the Napoleon's wars and the uprising in Serbia are described in the "Chronicles of Travnik", when consul stations were installed even in the then unknown Bosnian provincial town. This is the period of "consul times", and "times" bearing dramatic changes in the Bosnian history are the favorite motive of the prose of Andric.

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