Ivo Andrićʼs The Damned Yard – An encyclopedia of Existential Suffering

Abstract

The starting point of the narrative of this novel is the historical tragic fate of Sultan Cem, the son of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, who was overthrown from the throne at the end of the 15^th century and probably murdered at the instigation of his brother Bayezid. In 1928, Ivo Andrić decided to write a literary novel using this historical event. However, it was not until 1954 that is was published under the title Prokleta avlija [The Damned Yard]. In this article, points of interest are: the reasons for the long genesis of this novel and its links to the biography of Andrić.
The encyclopaedic elements of the novel are treated in the subsequent section. They can be found in the description of the conditions prevailing in the prison and in two narratives: the first is the history of Cem, the second the stay and experiences of the Franciscan brother Petar in the prison of Istanbul (Carigrad) during the 18^th century. Andrić connects these narratives with the fate of Djamil, whose tragedy results from his belief that he is Prince Cem.
Suffering, combined with encyclopaedic knowledge of the realities of the Ottoman Empire, is the central theme of the novel. It presents itself in different constellations: 1. The Damned Yard is a place of suffering and hopelessness involving many fates and "calculated" to “enhance the torments of the individual people”; 2. individual suffering manifests itself in the bitter loss which Cem suffers in the struggle with Bayezid for the sultan’s throne; 3. his suffering is repeated in the second course of the novel, in which the tragic fate of Djamil is the centre of the narration. Here, too, a conflict is addressed: the conflict between Djamil's imperial obsession and the reign of terror of Karadjos in the prison.
The tragic fates of Cem and Djamil are two variants of human suffering under the antagonisms of this world, under the collision of viewpoints, trapped in a damned yard. The Damned Yard represents the narrow limits of human existence from which it seeks a way out but is not able to find it. In this sense, this is not only a narrative about what has happened, but also a narrative about suffering that can take place at all times under the same or similar circumstances.