Andric, Ivo. The Vizier's Elephant: Three Novellas. New York. 1962. Harcourt Brace & World. 1st American Edition. Very Good In Slightly Worn Dustjacket With Some Small Pieces Missing. Translated From The Serbo-Croat By Drenka Willen. 247 pages. Jacket design by Paul Bacon Studio. When Ivo Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961 the citation read, ‘for the epic force with which he has depicted themes and human destinies drawn from the history of his country. In the three novellas presented in this volume, the brilliant Yugoslavian writer demonstrates his extraordinary range. ‘The Vizier’s Elephant,’ the title story, is concerned with the eternal human elements of fear, hatred, and the distortion of truth that ultimately follows in their wake. The locale is a Bosnian village and the innocent hero-villain is an elephant, brought from a happier land, and now the fearsome symbol of despotism. ‘Anika’s Times’ is a tragedy that explores the complex and shadowy avenues of guilt and evil. The story tells of an incredibly lovely girl whose beauty ultimately becomes the shame of a community. It opens with an event of madness and concludes with an act of murder. ‘Zeko,’ the concluding story, traces the spiritual evolution of one man from the turn of the century to the latter part of World War II. Mild, introspective, and subdued by a domineering wife, he takes refuge in a routine, subservient, and silent tolerance of life, but finds fulfillment in rebellion and in commitment to mankind. Each of these haunting literary works demonstrates the remarkable creative talent that distinguishes Andric’s writing. Ivo Andric (October 9, 1892 – March 13, 1975) was a novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature from Yugoslavia (he was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that in the time of his biggest popularity was a part of Yugoslavia). His novels The Bridge on the Drina and Chronicles of Travnik / The Days of the Consuls dealt with life in Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire. Andric was born on October 9, 1892 of Croat parentage in the village of Dolac near Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of the Ottoman Empire, under occupation by Austria-Hungary. Originally named Ivan, he became known by the diminutive Ivo. When Andric was two years old, his father died. Because his mother was too poor to support him, he was raised by his mother’s family in the eastern Bosnian town of Višegrad on the river Drina. There he saw the Ottoman Bridge, later made famous in the novel The Bridge on the Drina. Andric attended the Jesuit gymnasium in Travnik, followed by Sarajevo’s gymnasium and later the universities in Zagreb, Vienna, Krakow and Graz. Because of his political activities, Andric was imprisoned by the Austrian government during World War I (first in Maribor and later in the Doboj detention camp) alongside civilian Serbs and pro-Yugoslavs. Under the newly-formed Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) Andric became a civil servant, first in the Ministry of Faiths and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he pursued a successful diplomatic career, as Deputy Foreign Minister and later Ambassador to Germany. Ivo greatly opposed the movement of Stjepan Radic, the president of the Croatian Peasant Party, at occasions calling the people that support him as fools that follow the footsteps of a blind dog. His ambassadorship ended in 1941 after the German invasion of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Andric lived quietly in Belgrade, completing the three of his most famous novels which were published in 1945, including The Bridge on the Drina. After the war, Andric held a number of ceremonial posts in the new Communist government of Yugoslavia, including that of the member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1961, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature ‘for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country.’ He donated all the prize money for the improvement of libraries in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Following the death of his wife in 1968, he began reducing his public activities. As time went by, he became increasingly ill and eventually died on March 13, 1975, in Belgrade (then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and today Serbia). keywords: Literature Translated Yugoslavia Eastern Europe. inventory # 5236.