But let me come straight to the point. Bosnia is a wonderful country, fascinating, with nothing ordinary in the habitat or people. And just as there are mineral riches under the earth in Bosnia, so undoubtedly are Bosnians rich in hidden moral values, which are more rarely found in their compatriots in other Yugoslav lands. But, you see, there's one thing that the people of Bosnia, at least people of your kind, must realize and never lose sight of--Bosnia is a country of hatred and fear.

The devastating floods which smashed through Bosnia and Serbia over the weekend shadowed my reading of these stories. During the brightest of summer days these tales would depress most anyone. Factoring in the present suffering overseas made them often unbearable. I have only slept a single night in Bosnia but I did visit Andric's apartment in Belgrade last year. I doubt if any of that informs much, but it remains interesting. There are floods in this collection. There is also treachery. What reigns though is the supremacy and indifference of mortality. The stories, except for the titular one, are set in Bosnia. The Damned Yard occurs in a Turkish prison in Stamboul.

What remains strange about this collection is a single omission. There are priests and viziers, merchants and drunks. There are artists and investigators, but there is a dearth of revolutionaries. I can't help but ponder whether that mirrors or distorts any thoughts or preconditions by the masterful diplomat, Nobel Laureate and writer. ( )

The Damned Yard and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Nobel laureate Ivo Andric, from Bosnia. Although best known for his novel The Bridge on the Drina, he was a prolific short story writer. Indeed he published 6 volumes of short stories, and 5 novels. Yet, his shorter works have been haphazardly translated into English, typically with a few of the longer ones like "The Damned Yard" and "The Vizier's Elephant" as novellas, or with a few selections with other authors in collected anthologies. The first major volume of short stories in English was in 1992, The Damned Yard and Other Stories, edited by Celia Hawkesworth. The second was The Slave Girl and Other Stories about Women, in 2009. These two volumes contain some of his best work. The Damned Yard and Other Stories has 10 stories: "The Damned Yard", "The Vizier's Elephant", "The Bridge on the Zepa", "In the Guest-House", "Death in Sinan's Tekke", "The Climbers", "A Letter From 1920", Introduction to "The House On Its Own", "Alipasha" and "A Story".

My favorite is "The Damned Yard" for its Russian doll layering of story into story, with a real gem of a story in the middle that reflects the overall structure. Complicated, yet aesthetically satisfying and effective. "The Bridge on the Zepa" is an earlier short story version of The Bridge on the Drina, a good place to start before reading the novel, to see how the idea for that novel evolved. ( )

lido