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Conversation with Goya
English (translation)
Original Serbo-Croation
Original Serbo-Croation
92 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
1 person is currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Ivo Andrić
262 books1,247 followersIvo Andrić (Serbian Cyrillic: Иво Андрић; born Ivan Andrić) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under Ottoman rule.
Born in Travnik in Austria-Hungary, modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andrić attended high school in Sarajevo, where he became an active member of several South Slav national youth organizations. Following the assassination of Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Andrić was arrested and imprisoned by the Austro-Hungarian police, who suspected his involvement in the plot. As the authorities were unable to build a strong case against him, he spent much of the war under house arrest, only being released following a general amnesty for such cases in July 1917. After the war, he studied South Slavic history and literature at universities in Zagreb and Graz, eventually attaining his PhD. in Graz in 1924. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1924 to 1941. In 1939, he became Yugoslavia's ambassador to Germany, but his tenure ended in April 1941 with the German-led invasion of his country. Shortly after the invasion, Andrić returned to German-occupied Belgrade. He lived quietly in a friend's apartment for the duration of World War II, in conditions likened by some biographers to house arrest, and wrote some of his most important works, including Na Drini ćuprija (The Bridge on the Drina).
Following the war, Andrić was named to a number of ceremonial posts in Yugoslavia, which had since come under communist rule. In 1961, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, selecting him over writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Frost, John Steinbeck and E.M. Forster. The Committee cited "the epic force with which he ... traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from his country's history". Afterwards, Andrić's works found an international audience and were translated into a number of languages. In subsequent years, he received a number of awards in his native country. Andrić's health declined substantially in late 1974 and he died in Belgrade the following March.
In the years following Andrić's death, the Belgrade apartment where he spent much of World War II was converted into a museum and a nearby street corner was named in his honour. A number of other cities in the former Yugoslavia also have streets bearing his name. In 2012, filmmaker Emir Kusturica began construction of an ethno-town in eastern Bosnia that is named after Andrić. As Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize-winning writer, Andrić was well known and respected in his native country during his lifetime. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, beginning in the 1950s and continuing past the breakup of Yugoslavia, his works have been disparaged by Bosniak literary critics for their supposed anti-Muslim bias. In Croatia, his works had occasionally been blacklisted following Yugoslavia's dissolution in the 1990s, but were rehabilitated by the literary community. He is highly regarded in Serbia for his contributions to Serbian literature.
Born in Travnik in Austria-Hungary, modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andrić attended high school in Sarajevo, where he became an active member of several South Slav national youth organizations. Following the assassination of Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Andrić was arrested and imprisoned by the Austro-Hungarian police, who suspected his involvement in the plot. As the authorities were unable to build a strong case against him, he spent much of the war under house arrest, only being released following a general amnesty for such cases in July 1917. After the war, he studied South Slavic history and literature at universities in Zagreb and Graz, eventually attaining his PhD. in Graz in 1924. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1924 to 1941. In 1939, he became Yugoslavia's ambassador to Germany, but his tenure ended in April 1941 with the German-led invasion of his country. Shortly after the invasion, Andrić returned to German-occupied Belgrade. He lived quietly in a friend's apartment for the duration of World War II, in conditions likened by some biographers to house arrest, and wrote some of his most important works, including Na Drini ćuprija (The Bridge on the Drina).
Following the war, Andrić was named to a number of ceremonial posts in Yugoslavia, which had since come under communist rule. In 1961, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, selecting him over writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Frost, John Steinbeck and E.M. Forster. The Committee cited "the epic force with which he ... traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from his country's history". Afterwards, Andrić's works found an international audience and were translated into a number of languages. In subsequent years, he received a number of awards in his native country. Andrić's health declined substantially in late 1974 and he died in Belgrade the following March.
In the years following Andrić's death, the Belgrade apartment where he spent much of World War II was converted into a museum and a nearby street corner was named in his honour. A number of other cities in the former Yugoslavia also have streets bearing his name. In 2012, filmmaker Emir Kusturica began construction of an ethno-town in eastern Bosnia that is named after Andrić. As Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize-winning writer, Andrić was well known and respected in his native country during his lifetime. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, beginning in the 1950s and continuing past the breakup of Yugoslavia, his works have been disparaged by Bosniak literary critics for their supposed anti-Muslim bias. In Croatia, his works had occasionally been blacklisted following Yugoslavia's dissolution in the 1990s, but were rehabilitated by the literary community. He is highly regarded in Serbia for his contributions to Serbian literature.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 10, 2013
,, ... patio sam mnogo. Ne od zla kojeg je svet pun, nego od svojih misli o tom zlu."
Andrić u Gojinom monologu otkriva tajne umetničkog zanata, stavlja umetnika na, možda, zasluženo mesto i otkriva tajnu pesimizma i patnje u umetničikm delima -misaono i duhovno je u stalnom sukobu sa svetom. Ono je kao brodolomac u nepoznatoj zemlji divljaka, naseljenoj zverima i drugom klimom. Misaono i duhovno se neprestano preobražva i prilagođava, dakle, menja. Tako je svaka plemenita misao patnik i stranac...
Andrić u Gojinom monologu otkriva tajne umetničkog zanata, stavlja umetnika na, možda, zasluženo mesto i otkriva tajnu pesimizma i patnje u umetničikm delima -misaono i duhovno je u stalnom sukobu sa svetom. Ono je kao brodolomac u nepoznatoj zemlji divljaka, naseljenoj zverima i drugom klimom. Misaono i duhovno se neprestano preobražva i prilagođava, dakle, menja. Tako je svaka plemenita misao patnik i stranac...
September 16, 2018
"Morao sam odustati od onog što se ne može naći."
Andrić putuje kroz vreme u Borodo, prvih decenija XIX veka i jedne večeri sedi sa Gojom i sluša njegov 'monolog o sebi, umetnosti, o opštim stvarima ljudske prirode'. Goja govori o želji da ljudi pobegnu sami od sebe, kroz glumu i o tome kako ga smatrahu antihristom. Govori o neosetljivosti slabe ljudske duše koja je već videla sve, i o društvu neukih moćnika. Veče će završiti porukom o idejama koja nam pomažu da se borimo u svetu materijalnog i animalnog.
Andrić ga čeka sutradan, ali Goje više nema.
Čini mi se da jeje samo Andrić mogao napisati ovako nešto svojim besprekornim stilom.
Andrić putuje kroz vreme u Borodo, prvih decenija XIX veka i jedne večeri sedi sa Gojom i sluša njegov 'monolog o sebi, umetnosti, o opštim stvarima ljudske prirode'. Goja govori o želji da ljudi pobegnu sami od sebe, kroz glumu i o tome kako ga smatrahu antihristom. Govori o neosetljivosti slabe ljudske duše koja je već videla sve, i o društvu neukih moćnika. Veče će završiti porukom o idejama koja nam pomažu da se borimo u svetu materijalnog i animalnog.
Andrić ga čeka sutradan, ali Goje više nema.
Čini mi se da jeje samo Andrić mogao napisati ovako nešto svojim besprekornim stilom.
June 9, 2020
"El Museo del Prado ha cumplido doscientos años. Después de varios meses de celebraciones ha culminado su bicentenario con una exposición dedicada a la obra gráfica de Goya que aún puede verse en las salas del museo.
Casi cien años antes la pinacoteca exhibía otra muestra en torno a la figura de Goya que conmemoraba el centenario de la muerte del pintor. Era el año 1928 e Ivo Andric acababa de fijar su residencia en Madrid. Mientras recorre las galerías del Prado queda sobrecogido ante lo terrible, pero a la vez sublime de las obras del genio. Este es el punto de partida del ensayo que, oportunamente, acaba de publicar Acantilado y que comprende dos textos breves.
El primer pasaje es un fugaz viaje a la contradictoria vida del artista. Mujeriego, descarado y vividor llega a lo mas alto de su carrera al convertirse en pintor de corte. Vive su juventud abrumado por el lujo de la nobleza hasta que la enfermedad y las atrocidades de la guerra le lanzan al abismo. Comienza entonces, a prestar atención a temas más oscuros, a las miserias y desgracias de las clases humildes. De repente se revelan ante él las debilidades humanas y sus bajas pasiones que darán origen a las procesiones de monstruos de sus últimos años.
En la segunda parte Andric describe un encuentro imaginario con el artista en Burdeos. Más que una conversación con el pintor nos encontramos ante un monólogo, en el que ese Goya ficticio reflexiona sobre su manera de entender el arte y la vida. Es el discurso desencantado y torturado de un hombre que ha perdido la fe en el mundo y en sí mismo." Raquel Ungo
Casi cien años antes la pinacoteca exhibía otra muestra en torno a la figura de Goya que conmemoraba el centenario de la muerte del pintor. Era el año 1928 e Ivo Andric acababa de fijar su residencia en Madrid. Mientras recorre las galerías del Prado queda sobrecogido ante lo terrible, pero a la vez sublime de las obras del genio. Este es el punto de partida del ensayo que, oportunamente, acaba de publicar Acantilado y que comprende dos textos breves.
El primer pasaje es un fugaz viaje a la contradictoria vida del artista. Mujeriego, descarado y vividor llega a lo mas alto de su carrera al convertirse en pintor de corte. Vive su juventud abrumado por el lujo de la nobleza hasta que la enfermedad y las atrocidades de la guerra le lanzan al abismo. Comienza entonces, a prestar atención a temas más oscuros, a las miserias y desgracias de las clases humildes. De repente se revelan ante él las debilidades humanas y sus bajas pasiones que darán origen a las procesiones de monstruos de sus últimos años.
En la segunda parte Andric describe un encuentro imaginario con el artista en Burdeos. Más que una conversación con el pintor nos encontramos ante un monólogo, en el que ese Goya ficticio reflexiona sobre su manera de entender el arte y la vida. Es el discurso desencantado y torturado de un hombre que ha perdido la fe en el mundo y en sí mismo." Raquel Ungo
April 22, 2024
Ivo Andrić: Conversation with Goya
Andrew Harvey, Celia Hawkesworth (translator)
The work which most obviously spans the categories of fact and fiction, history and legend is the Conversation with Goya (1935). Here, the author’s identification with his subject is complete. The ideas attributed to Goya are in fact Andrić's own reflections on the nature of art, provoked by an affinity with the painter's work. Had Andrić been interrogated as Ćamil was, he would have had to reply: "I am he".
The form of this piece, which has been used by other modern writers, brings it closer to a work of art than an essay. Goya's physical appearance is described briefly with particular attention to his hands, the bridge between the painter's physical existence and the world of his imagination. The "conversation", like so many of Andrić's works, is set in a frame with two dimensions: the timelessness of a small French café, and the reference to a circus being set up outside it. The fact that the café is near Bordeaux rather than in Spain suggests the insignificance of man-made geographical divisions.
The main idea presented in the essay is that the situation of the artist described as ambiguous and often painful. He is resented as suspect, concealed behind several masks. The artist's destiny "insincerity and contradiction, uncertainty and a constant vain endeavour to bring together things which cannot be joined".
Andrew Harvey, Celia Hawkesworth (translator)
The work which most obviously spans the categories of fact and fiction, history and legend is the Conversation with Goya (1935). Here, the author’s identification with his subject is complete. The ideas attributed to Goya are in fact Andrić's own reflections on the nature of art, provoked by an affinity with the painter's work. Had Andrić been interrogated as Ćamil was, he would have had to reply: "I am he".
The form of this piece, which has been used by other modern writers, brings it closer to a work of art than an essay. Goya's physical appearance is described briefly with particular attention to his hands, the bridge between the painter's physical existence and the world of his imagination. The "conversation", like so many of Andrić's works, is set in a frame with two dimensions: the timelessness of a small French café, and the reference to a circus being set up outside it. The fact that the café is near Bordeaux rather than in Spain suggests the insignificance of man-made geographical divisions.
The main idea presented in the essay is that the situation of the artist described as ambiguous and often painful. He is resented as suspect, concealed behind several masks. The artist's destiny "insincerity and contradiction, uncertainty and a constant vain endeavour to bring together things which cannot be joined".
March 28, 2020
Andrićeve studije Goja i Razgovor sa Gojom spadaju u red najvažnijih razmišljanja o odnosu umetnika i društva u srpskoj književnosti.
„U jednoj od svojih pronicljivih formulacija Andrić stavlja slikaru sledeće reči u usta: ’Kad portretišem čoveka, ja mu vidim minutu rođenja i samrtni čas. I tako su ta dva trenutka blizu jedan drugom, da ne ostaje, stvarno, između njih mesta nizašto, ni za jedan dah ili pokret.’
U takvom tumačenju lika i bića Goja prima na sebe ličnu tragiku života. Ova istina, kako je Andrić formuliše proosetivši je i sâm, jeste veliko ishodište moderne umetnosti“ (Oto Bihalji-Merin). U ovoj monografiji su prvi put kod nas objavljeni kompletni Gojini Kapričosi.
July 16, 2022
(3.5) Una propuesta interesante que por sí misma no tiene una gran profundidad, pero que deja algunas semillas de reflexión acerca de la figura artística de Goya y sus pasiones, emociones y oscuridad. Además, me encanta que incluya al final unas reproducciones de sus obras. Me ha gustado poder acercarme a Goya y a Ivo Andric al mismo tiempo.
July 10, 2023
Simpatična je ovo knjiga i vredi je pročitati, naravno. Andrić piše divno, kao i uvek. Dočarava nam Gojin život i umetnički razvoj na prijemčiv način, iznosi interesantna lična razmišljanja o umetnosti. Trojku dajem iz emotivnih, veoma subjektivnih razloga sa granice uračunljivosti.
Ipak sam od Andrića mnogo više očekivala!
Ipak sam od Andrića mnogo više očekivala!
November 12, 2025
Compré este libro saliendo del Museo del Prado -en su tienda de regalos- luego de quedar fascinado con la exhibición de Goya. Me capturaron por toda una hora los cuadros de Francisco Goya. Era una belleza tenebrosa. Quise saber más y este librillo cumplió ese apetito que despertó el pintor español en mí.
September 21, 2017
Andrić says 'it is natural and necessary that we should open our hearts and communicate with others.' This reminds of Hermeneutist Gadamer's "fusion of horizons". Andrić is such a gentle and tolerant person that I see no difference between him and that narrator in his works. Favorite author.
February 21, 2020
Es un libro sencillo y breve: en la primera parte se hace una exposición ordenada de la vida y la obra de Goya, y en la segunda se ficcionaliza la voz del pintor en un diálogo con Ivo Andric. Contiene algunas reflexiones interesantes sobre el arte, y poco más.
March 3, 2020
Andrić koristi Goju da bi progovorio o umjetnosti.
Goja koristi Andrića da bi progovorio o umjetnosti.
Goja koristi Andrića da bi progovorio o umjetnosti.
September 29, 2021
Me ha sorprendido totalmente: pura poesía inesperada
October 17, 2023
“Porque el mundo de las ideas es la única realidad en este remolino de alucinaciones y espectros llamado mundo real”
November 4, 2016
A very short excerpt from the works of Andric. But an excellent introduction! All of the works contained here are more or less about the artist and the world, and filled with observations of paradoxes or even contradictions that torment. They delight him sometimes too, but even that appears to add to the suffering in its own way. Even in translation, the writings are very beautiful. He seems to be missing something, but his honesty and his sensitive mind shed light on reality. I will be reading one of his novels before too long...
November 7, 2017
Birthday gift. Part of anthology of three stories, the third of which, Signs by the Roadside, was a collection of short thoughts about life, the universe and everything. This should have been the lead, as it was far better than the story for which the book is titled, which I found a little too cute, in a Field of Dreams sort of way.
December 30, 2011
In some places vague and without sense, but there are quotes worth holding onto.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews