Misunderstanding is a Rule, Understanding is a Miracle: Ivo Andrić's Bosnian Chronicle

Author: Milutinović, Zoran

Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 86, Number 3, 1 July 2008 , pp. 443-474(32)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

The article links the fictional world of Ivo Andrić's novel Bosnian Chronicle to problems in literary hermeneutics as they concern issues of dialogue and cultural translation. The author claims that the opposition between East and West, repeatedly recalled in the characters' speech and traditionally taken to be the main theme of the novel, is actually dissolved and discarded by the novel itself. Instead, its true theme is the dynamics of human communication exemplified by the characters' attempts to understand one another and in their failure to do so, which makes Bosnian Chronicle a novel about misunderstanding.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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The Review is the oldest British journal in the field, having been in existence since 1922. Edited and managed by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, it covers not only the modern and medieval languages and literatures of the Slavonic and East European area, but also history, culture, and political studies.