The Fortress: A Novel [Paperback]

The Fortressis one of the most significant and fascinating novels to come out of the former Yugoslavia. Published asTvrdavain Serbian, it is the tenth and among the best-known novels by Mesa Selimovic (1910-1982). In the novel, Ahmet Shabo returns home to seventeenth-century Sarajevo from the war in Russia, numbed by the death in battle or suicide of nearly his entire military unit. In time he overcomes the anguish of war, only to find that he has emerged a reflective and contemplative man in a society that does not value, and will not tolerate, the subversive implications of these qualities.

Set in Bosnia in the late 1700s, the novel sometimes functions as an artful metaphor for the communist Yugoslavia of Selimovic's day. At other times, the author explores the nuances of Ottoman rule in the Balkans. Muslim Ahmet's sustaining marriage to a young Christian woman provides a multicultural tension that strongly resonates with contemporary readers and sensibilities.

The Fortress is one of the most significant and fascinating novels to come out of the former Yugoslavia. Ahmet Shabo returns home to eighteenth-century Sarajevo from the war in Russia, numbed by the death in battle or suicide of nearly his entire military unit. In time he overcomes the anguish of war, only to find that he has emerged a reflective and contemplative man in a society that does not value, and will not tolerate, the subversive implications of these qualities.

The Fortressis a chilling, Kafkaesque tale of baffling, inescapable persecution that evokes Camus'sThe Strangerand Sartre'sNo Exit. --Washington Post Book World

In disturbing echoes of the present day, Ahmet Shabo rehearses issues we live with now, in our apparently distant, transformed world, their somber litany a fitting testament to his creator's prescience. --Review of Contemporary Fiction

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