„Blank“ was written on the persuasion of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as possible material for a feature film. Fedja crossed the way from a sniper in special units in the Bosnian war, a homeless man and a heroin addict in peace, all the way to the spotlight of a Hollywood „A“ production – and it is all in this book.
„Blank“ relentlessly describes what it is like to be at war, to be hooked, to be hopeless. It also relentlessly describes what it is like to lose the love of your life and your friends. It also describes what it is like to live in a country where the politicians are doing their best to prevent the long-awaited peace.
This book is read in one breath. Štukan writes very directly, concisely and clearly, he shoots straight to the head, without restraint and too many words. Blank, the book, is real, cruel, painful, tragicomic, unbelievable, and reduced to the level of an ordinary person.
The author himself sees this book as the highest point of his long-term activist work. First, „Blank“ teaches us that church, nation and country are nothing but fabrications created by homo sapiens, a species of monkey that cannot outbalance his primal urge for territoriality.
The second thing we need to know is that all the events we are surrounded by are activating the chemicals in our brains. As time passes, we get used to these things no matter if they are good or bad for us because our brains tell us they are good and activate the chemicals all the time. In the same way, as the brain gets addicted to heroin or depression, it can easily get addicted to nationalism and hatred. The main point of „Blank“ is to banalize all the grandiose thoughts and words we use describing patriotism, things that in the animal world can be simply smelled.
„Blank“ stands for the sphere outside of space and time, which is full of possibilities. A black emptiness that we carry in our hearts and which is transformed into creative energy that until then was perhaps hidden by the walls of the materialistic world of thought by which we are surrounded. The book is a light at the end of a dark tunnel!
