“The Secret of the Bosnian Staff” about the eternal struggle between good and evil

The promotion of the book „The Secret of the Bosnian Staff“ by Enes Ratkušić was held last week in Sarajevo. The author of the novel reveals details of this novel to the Bosnian news agency Patria and the reasons why he started writing it in 2002.  

- The first reason concerned an interesting legend about a group of Bosnian elders who, at the time of the appearance of the last Prophet of God, thus long before the constitution of Bosnia as a state, set out for Arabia to learn about the teachings announced in earlier holy scriptures. Those journeys, receiving as a gift the staff that the spiritual leaders of Bosnia kept as a symbol of dignity and wisdom, whose fate is not reliably known after the demolition of Isa-bey's tekke in Bentbaši in 1957, where it was kept, seemed to me an inspiring occasion to write a piece that fundamentally thematizes the eternal struggle between good and evil – states Ratkušić.

He pointed out that in its form this story is a thriller, while the content itself is filled with a kind of encounters, a dialogue of Bosnian differences, which finds its strongest expression in all sacred traditions.

- Persisting in the struggle fueled and nourished by nobility and love, the novel's hero Mustafa, who is pursued by the forces of darkness in an attempt to get hold of the staff, a symbol of dignity, but also a kind of protection of Bosnia, divinely predestined to resist all attacks, faces numerous adversities and temptations of various kinds. Good in the end, despite everything, triumphs. The staff of the Bosnian elders is finally handed over to the savior, whose coming is personified by all sacred traditions that hold a strong belief that the idea of good will triumph over evil – explains Ratkušić for NAP.

According to Ratkušić's words, the strongest driving force is hope for a better future and he adds that for a long time now, two completely mutually exclusive truths have been presented about Bosnia and its inhabitants, with equal ambition to be presented as well-founded.

- Some say that Bosnia lives in constant conflict of its differences, from which theses about its unsustainability, disappearance, etc. are drawn; others, again, emphasize that Bosnia lives in creative interweaving, a kind of harmony maintained by love as the fundamental principle of good. Neither side is right?! If Bosnia lived in constant conflict, its duration would be measured in years, not a millennium. If, again, it lived in love, the state, life in this country would be much better. But people intimately believe in the victory of good, because hope is actually a vertical principle embedded in man, which even the most terrible and horrific campaigns and demonstrations of evil cannot abolish. Surrounded by more and more absurdities imposed by modern life, it is natural that in the depths of their souls they seek solutions and believe that good must eventually win – states Ratkušić.

Incidentally, the book „The Secret of the Bosnian Staff“ was promoted in Turkey, Mostar and Sarajevo