Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andric

This is my 3rd book for the classic challenge. This is a book and author I was totally unfamiliar with but found very intriguing. It's not a true classic in the sense that it's not 19th century but I'm using my discretionary powers. Ivo Andric is a well-known Yugoslavian writer and before WWII served in the government and diplomatic corps. When Germany invaded Yugoslavia, he lived under house arrest in Belgrade and it was during this time that he wrote the trilogy to which Bosnian Chronicle belongs. The other 2 titles are The Bridge on the Drina and Miss. The 3 books were published in 1945 and made Andric a dominant figure in Yugoslav literature. In 1961, Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize for portraying the humanity and history of his country.

This book is set in Bosnia while still under Ottoman rule and during the Napoleonic era. It's told from the point of view of many characters but primarily from the point of view of the French Consul at that time posted in Travnik ( Andric's birthplace). It's thought that Andric gained access, in Paris, to the actual letters written by the French Consul to his superiors and became inspired to write this story. So the book might revolve around the French Consul but it also delves into the stories of the Austrian Consul, the reigningVizier, the various groups, ethnic and/or religious that constitute the people of Bosnia, as well as the Court of the Sultan. It's not a pretty story because there's many contending forces and people cannot or refuse to have much understanding of each other. Overlaid on this examination of Bosnian society or underpinning it is the difficult history of this part of the world. It has been a geographic crossroads of East and West and has suffered tremendous upheaval and violence as a result. That seems to be (and many reviewers agree) the point of the novel. I think the modern coming apart of Yugoslavia illustrates this very point; that this an area which has been ground down over a millenium and yet the people have endured. This endurance has sometimes come at a high price but you could say that about a lot of situations.

I found the writing straightforward and yet lyrical. The author has great feeling for the land itself as well as the people who inhabit the land. He also has a great feel for the out of place, the foreign, even the misfit, and how they suffer and gradually adapt to their surroundings even to the point of being unaware of their adaptation. The book spans the time of the arrival of the French Consul to the leaving of the French Consul, about 7 years. During that time, there's great changes in Europe but in Travnik things are more circular than linear and maybe that's the point. What looks like linear change, i.e. moving into the future in France, is more of the same in Travnik. Let's hope that the countries that constituted Yugoslavia can finally put the past behind them and move into a brighter future.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

This has been on my reading list for some time and I've finally been able to finish it as book 2 for the Classic Challenge. It's been difficult in the past to get through the first 150 pages but I found a different translation and I think that made it easier to read. The Brothers Karamazov is a deeply psychological novel and very modern for that reason. The brothers are 3 brothers, the older is a half-brother, sons of a neglectful father. The father Karamazov is what we might call in modern psychological terms a narcissist. He's concerned only with himself and pleasure. The elder son, Dimitri, is a lot like him but still capable of feelings for other people. The second son Ivan is closed off emotionally, highly intelligent, a man of reason. The youngest son Alyosha, is deeply spiritual and kind. He follows the teachings of a mystic monk and tries his best to help whenever possible. The author viewed Alyosha as the hero of the book. The story unfolds around a love triangle between Dimitri, his father, and a beautiful but troubled woman Grushenka. Within this story of sexual jealousy and male competition, Dostoevsky explores the themes most important to him i.e. the existence of God, man's belief or non belief in God. the nature of human suffering, punishment, and redemption. In other words, he covers a lot of ground! About halfway through the book, the father Karmazov is murdered and a large amount of money is stolen. The rest of the book continues with it's fundamental themes but now it is also a murder mystery and a courtroom drama. I think what makes the book so powerful besides it's concern with fundamental questions of existence, is the exploration of the human heart. Dostoevsky is so good at showing how good and bad impulses exist side by side in human beings. Ultimately, his answer is that good cannot triumph without faith and of course that's something that continues to be debated as society tries to chart a secular path with it's ups and downs. This is definitely a book with a lot of ideas, I recommend it.