THE WORLD THAT LOST ITS COMPASS

Edo Popović: Breaking The Wind (OceanMore, Zagreb, 2011)

By: Leda Sutlović

Some of the recently published books, which can be categorised as socially active prose, aim to remind us of the unenviable social situation, alongside all the devastating statistics, spiritual, moral and other crises. One of these novels is Edo Popović’s  Breaking The Wind. Almost a dystopian but definitely a futuristic transition story that speaks critically of the present-day life and shows its extreme in the future. The novel’s title stands as a metaphor to the greed of the capitalist society which, after another successful acquisition, announces the breaking of the wind.     

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The vision of Croatian future is set in two different time frames through the lives of two ‘’sets’’ of characters – Fraktal, Vrtlar and Vančo, members of the direct action group – The Inedibles, and Ivan Vid and Nikola Jokić, accidental acquaintances on the crags of Velebit. The rhythmical exchange of chapters on the lives of both groups of characters through which we receive information on socio-political, or better to say on (lack of) economical opportunities, gradually creates a picture of life in our beautiful homeland (that does not really exist) in the future. On the territory of a country once known as Croatia, there are now towns surrounded by walls in the property of Holding, a corporation that represents what is left of the previous government. The coast and the islands are property of offshore companies, while the rest of the public properties, like water sources, agricultural land, airports, high-ways, woods etc., are now the property of various corporations. The rest is known as the Zone, the noman’s land, which is full with everything that the Holding drains out and that is not profitable any more – all kinds of waste, but also the old and the ill, schools, kindergartens,  universities, public hospitals. The only opposition to such a system are The Inedibles, the activists of the non-violent action that originated from The Dark Hoods, a group of citizens from the 90’s that found a new meaning after losing their jobs and after the humiliation of digging through the trash bins – to associate in the time of need and to share the spoils so as to meet the basic needs of life.

The story about the war soldier who climbs on Velebit with his war enemy is set as a parallel to the events 15 years later, when the members of The Inedibles torture and kill the Holding’ managers. The setting of the stories in contrast at the beginning of the novel, strongly and bitterly suggest that there can only be short term happiness in this part of the world. In the background of both stories, the State’s property is being robbed, a wall is being built and the civil freedoms grow smaller day after day. Humanities and art are banished to the other side of the wall, literature is prohibited and writers become craftsmen. Popović builds his story on the brink of fiction and we could say, documentary notes. The story is interrupted by descriptions of ‘’the state of things’’ in the Holding and in the Zone, which like mini essays offer additional explanation on how things got this far. Although in relation with the real events of our time, such essays are really a grotesque of today’s socio-political situation. The author dedicates himself holistically to the creation of a new world, challenging everyone that contributed to the ‘’rule of the managers’’, to the society of spectacles and show business, to the Church that has become a multinational corporation, owning the White Angels Malls and creating a list of forbidden things. On the other hand, he tackles the painful topics by describing the seamstress in a suit factory, setting security cameras throughout the cities, as well as the Serbs in Bukovica with whom other villagers do not speak. And just when you start to wonder what else can he fit in a 124-page novel, you get antiglobalists, feminists, peace and eco-activists, Buddhists, members of gay associations and others from the colourful bunch.

The Resistance

By describing the destinies of The Inedibles, and especially those of the young man Vrančo and his father Vid, the author indirectly refers to all unhappy family histories which this country has plenty of. Telling a story about three young educated persons that stood up to the exploitative system, the writer tells a story of today’s student population that are doing the same thing. Popović also refers to the arrests of the activists in Varšavska Street, to the murder of the Zec family, and brings back dignity to the people that dig through the trash bins by the communitarianism of The Dark Hoods, demonstrating what resistance can do. The lives and the events of the main characters are not the main topic of the novel, but show a certain political attitude, activism towards the current socio-political situation and even the homogenisation of the people of similar orientation. Popović’s novel may seem as a damaged dystopia, but when reading more carefully, one may conclude that the novel is really a ‘’post-dystopian one’’, because the story has already lost all of its revolutionary potential. There are many reasons why, but to state a few, the reader sees a society in a moment of collapse of the only ‘’opposition’’ to the system that becomes its own opposition and the only hero with a predisposition to lead, who gives it all up to live peacefully abroad. There is no tension in a sense of planning to take down the government, to change the regime, or anything similar. Instead, the novel gives a contrast of the destruction of the only resistance. In other words, at the beginning or at the end, the author gives us no reason for optimism. The rule of the steel fist continues.