The work of Ivo Andrić enriches the souls of readers, and literature convinces them that they are not alone in their understanding of the world, stated Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who will receive the Grand Ivo Andrić Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Andrić Institute in Višegrad on Friday, June 28.
He mentioned that he was fortunate to read two of Andrić’s novels – “The Bridge on the Drina” and “Omer Pasha Latas,” which delve into the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina and are very enlightening in that regard.
Speaking about the significance of literature in today’s world, Gurnah assessed that it remains unchanged.
“On the other hand, from literature, we learn things we did not know, from a perspective that never occurred to us,” Gurnah told Večernje novosti.
Gurnah, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021 for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration into the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees caught between cultures and continents, stated that European colonialism in Africa had many facets, with varied consequences throughout history and in the contemporary era.
“Most colonial activities in Africa were brutal and separatist with predictable consequences. Its legacy continues today in the form of complicated civil societies that are post-colonial nations, as well as widespread poverty that often causes wars and insoluble conflicts,” said Gurnah.
Until he became a Nobel laureate, Gurnah’s novels were not published outside of the United Kingdom, to which he fled from his native Zanzibar in 1968.
Source: RTRS
