By analysing the early biography of the prize winner Ivo Andri¿ and considering "The Bridge Over the Drina" as a source of historical documentation, the book examines the materialization of social change after the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, paying attention to the modernization of the educational system and its ideological impact on the young. The aim is to understand the literary criticism and the political struggle for national liberation of the Sarajevo students on the eve of WWI. Finally, the book it also assesses the manifestations of modernism in Andri¿¿s literary work and reflects upon the contemporary controversy about his Yugoslav identity.