''The Three Arched Bridge'' ( sq, Ura me tri harqe) is a 1978 novel by Albanian author

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; spelled Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born on 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the pu ...

. The story concerns a very old Albanian legend written in verses, the " Legjenda e Rozafes". The book differs from the original legend, as the legend calls for a castle that is being built, not a bridge.

Plot

The book is a political parable that describes the construction of an important bridge on the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a con ...

in Albanian territory in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

from 1377–1378, shortly before the occupation by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

began. Told by an Albanian

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monk, Gjon (a name used by Northern Albanians who were mostly Catholic prior to Turkish invasions), the story of the bridge, as seen by Gjon is filled with prissy, unhappy bureaucrats, who take the events at face value without ever trying to understand the larger forces at work. Both the river Ujana e Keqe and the bridge itself are major characters in the book, and they undergo significant transformations. One of the startling events of the book is when a "volunteer" is immured inside the bridge in order to make a "sacrifice" to the river. The man's face is captured in the plaster that surrounds him, as unforgettable as it is horrifying. Though clearly a punishment for the crime of sabotage against the bridge, as Gjon recounts this event, it is less an act of vengeance than it is a true sacrifice. But more than that, it becomes a symbol for the ignorance of and squabbling among tiny Albanian principalities and their fight amongst one another, in front of a major threat.www.themodernnovel.org
Kadare's Three-Arched Bridge ''The New York Times'' called the novel "an utterly captivating yarn: strange, vivid, ominous, macabre and wise."

External links

Review for The Three Arched Bridge

References

1978 novels 20th-century Albanian novels Historical novels Novels by Ismail Kadare Novels set in Albania Novels set in the 14th century Skyhorse Publishing books {{1970s-hist-novel-stub

Plot

See also

External links

References