Convergence of Literature and History: 'The Bridge on the Drina' in the Context of Historiographic Metafiction

Abstract

While the boundary between the disciplines of literature and history has come into question due to the problematization of their ontological natures, their textuality and similar narrative technics stand out as two main elements among the other intersections. As the criticisms of objectivity directed at history have echoed in literary studies, literary works where historical facts and fiction cluster have taken it one step further and rendered it possible to discuss the matter more broadly with cultural aspects. In The Bridge on the Drina, it is seen that the main arch of the narration proceeds along the historical realities, and yet Ivo Andrić’s sole aim is not to put forward a classic historical novel. In fact, rather than foregrounding the realities in question and erasing the fictive elements, he presents a kind of alternative history by palpably bringing together the historical and the fictional. Hence, the aim of this study is to argue that in The Bridge on the Drina, the boundary between history and literature gets blurred and their conventional characteristics get problematised. Presenting views from both historical and literary studies, the primary theoretical frame will be based on the notion of historiographic metafiction.