Abstract: The breakup of East-Central European empires generated various narratives of disaster. This article confronts two such novels, Joseph Roth's The Radetzky March, which is written from the perspective of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's ruling constituency, and Ivo Andrić's The Bridge over the Drina, which is written from the perspective of the subjects of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. For Roth, who focuses on the private family, the Empire entered its disintegration when its children renounced their fathers. For Andrić, who departs from the political family, that took place when its authorities abandoned their subjects. In fact, an external force distorts the paternal relationship and sets its constituencies apart. The article analyses the two novels' different answers to this trauma. Roth responds to it by establishing an “anachronous” epic narrator who permanently ironizes his protagonists because of their shortsightedness and naivety. Andrić for his part shapes his authorial self on the model of an impartial divine Judge, promising the presently antagonized protagonists future reconciliation and harmony.

Key words: disaster, empire, paternal relationships, post-empire, technologies of self-survival