The Fortress, Meša Selimović

I picked up The Fortress at a library sale over the summer. I had not heard of it, but the back cover said that Meša Selimović was "one of the most significant writers to emerge from Bosnia and Herzegovina," which was good enough reason for me to buy it. When I got home, I realized that I already had Selimović on my world books to read list, though the book I had noted down was Death and the Dervish. The Fortress is set in eighteenth century Sarajevo, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and was originally published in 1970. The narrator has returned to Sarajevo as the sole survivor from his military unit after serving in the war with Russia. The book follows his return to humanity, where he finds himself at the center of events that don't really have anything to do with him. He is shunned, accused of conspiracy, spied upon, but also finds love and friendship in places. He is left again and again to choose between two terrible options, or with no choice at all. I wish I knew more about Yugoslavia because I imagine the acts attributed to the local and Ottoman regimes in the book probably had parallels in then present day Yugoslavia. Even lacking that history, I found The Fortress interesting and moving.