In some areas he is successful and he writes long reports which will in all likelihood be stuffed in some bureaucrats cubbyhole without ever being read, each one designed to show his success and contribution to the Empire all in the hope that he will be able to leave the dark, cold corner of Bosnia to which he has been appointed. The only other Westerner in the area is his Austrian counterpart and as they both struggle for success, each coping with their own private battles (the French with his illusions of being a poet and historian, the Austrian with his neurotic wife), they are watched by the local Muslim population, wondering why these foreigners with their strange ways have come to the valley and how long it shall be before they leave. Throw in the local Christians who see the French as godless and who exhibit little in Christian charity and you have a small, close world, cut off from the great events of the day.
Add one more ingredient and that is the local Ottoman ruler. Like the two Counsels, they have their own political challenges but failure to support the correct player in faraway Istanbul can lead to the silk cord or, if lucky, permanent exile. Some of the Pasha’s are more forward looking, but the overthrow of Selim III dooms one. Others are more conservative and claim great victories over the Serbs when in fact only a poor village of Christian Serbs has been slaughtered. While one Pasha may come and another one go, the local leaders, the beys watch it all, discuss what each move means and then head home, exhausted from their discussions.
The novel has many characters and Andric goes into great, almost too much detail of each one. At times, the reader may wonder what the purpose of this exercise is, but that is the point; like the lives of the characters, there is not great point to it all. This is a novel of individuals lost in a time warp; change is happening all around them, but they go on as before, falling further and further behind in their stubbornness and ignorance, resenting any hint of change. For them, there is no progress except by going backwards to the lost glory days.
An interesting novel but not one for the individual who seeks action. Knowledge yes, but at a price of reading discipline.
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