Miroslav Krleža
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Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry ('' The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh'', 1936), theater ('' Messrs. Glembay'', 1929), short stories ('' The Croatian God Mars'', 1922), novels ('' The Return of Philip Latinowicz'', 1932; '' On the Edge of Reason'', 1938), and an intimate diary. His works often include themes of
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
hypocrisy and conformism in
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and the
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. Krleža wrote numerous essays on problems of art, history, politics, literature, philosophy, and military strategy, and was known as one of the great
polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
ists of the century. His style combines visionary poetic language and sarcasm. Krleža dominated the cultural life of Croatia and Yugoslavia for half a century. A "Communist of his own making", he was criticized in
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
circles in the 1930s for his refusal to submit to the tenets of socialist realism. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he held various cultural posts in Socialist Yugoslavia, and was most notably the director of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute and a constant advisor on cultural affairs to President Tito. After the break with
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, his speech at the 1952 Congress of Yugoslav Writers signaled a new era of comparative freedom in Yugoslav literature.


Biography

Miroslav Krleža was born in
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, the son of a
constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...
. He enrolled in a preparatory military school in
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
, modern-day
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. At that time, Pécs and Zagreb were within the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
. Subsequently, he attended the Ludoviceum military academy at
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
. He defected to
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, but was dismissed as a suspected spy. Upon his return to Croatia, he was demoted in the
Austro-Hungarian army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...
and sent as a common soldier to the Eastern front in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In the post-World War I period, Krleža established himself both as a major
Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
writer and politically controversial figure in Yugoslavia, a newly created country which encompassed South Slavic lands of the former Habsburg Empire and the kingdoms of Serbia and
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. Krleža was the driving force behind leftist literary and political reviews ''Plamen'' ("The Flame", 1919), ''Književna republika'' ("Literary Republic", 1923–1927), ''Danas'' ("Today", 1934) and ''Pečat'' ("Seal", 1939–1940). He became a member of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
in 1918, but was expelled in 1939 because of his unorthodox views on art, his opposition to Socialist realism, and his unwillingness to give open support to the
Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
, after the long polemic now known as "the Conflict on the Literary Left", pursued by Krleža alongside virtually every important writer in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in the period between the two World Wars. The Party commissar sent to mediate between Krleža and other leftist and party journals was
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
. After the establishment of the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
puppet
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
under Ante Pavelić, Krleža refused to join the Partisans headed by Tito. Following a brief period of social stigmatization after 1945, he was eventually rehabilitated. In 1947, he became vice-president of the Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts in Zagreb and, from 1958 to 1961, he was president of the Yugoslav Writers' Union. During this time, Croatia's principal state publishing house, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, published his collected works. Supported by Tito, in 1950 Krleža founded the Yugoslav Institute for Lexicography, holding the position as its head until his death. The institute would be posthumously named after him and is now called the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. From 1950 on, Krleža enjoyed the life of a high-profile writer and intellectual, often closely connected to Tito. He also held the post of president of the Yugoslav Writers' Union between 1958 and 1961. In 1962, he received the NIN Award for the novel ("The Banners"), and in 1968 the Herder Prize. Following the deaths of Tito in May 1980 and Bela Krleža in April 1981, Krleža spent most of his last years in ill health. He was awarded the Laureate Of The International Botev Prize in 1981. He died in his Villa Gvozd in Zagreb on 29 December 1981 and was given a state funeral in Zagreb on 4 January 1982. In 1986, Villa Gvozd was donated to the City of Zagreb. It was opened to the public in 2001, but has been temporarily closed due to the
2020 Zagreb earthquake At approximately 6:24 AM Central European Time, CET on the morning of 22 March 2020, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 , 5.5 , hit Zagreb, Croatia, with an epicenter north of the city centre. The maximum felt intensity was VII–VIII (''Very stro ...
damage as of 2021.


Works

Krleža's oeuvre can be divided into the following categories:


Poetry

Although Krleža's
lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...
is held in high regard, by common critical consensus his greatest poetic work is '' Balade Petrice Kerempuha'' (''Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh''), spanning more than five centuries and centred on the figure of plebeian prophet Petrica Kerempuh, a Croatian
Till Eulenspiegel Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of is preserved fragmentarily), but a background i ...
.


Novels

Krleža's novelistic oeuvre consists of four works: '' The Return of Philip Latinowicz'', '' On the Edge of Reason'', '' The Banquet in Blitva'', and '' The Banners''. The first one is a novel about an artist. ''On the Edge of Reason'' and ''The Banquet in Blitva'' are satires (the latter located in an imaginary Baltic country and called a political poem), saturated with the atmosphere of all-pervasive
totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...
, while ''The Banners'' has been dubbed a "Croatian '' War and Peace''". It is a multi-volume panoramic view of Croatian (and Central European) society before, during, and after World War I, revolving around the prototypical theme of fathers and sons in conflict. All Krleža's novels except ''The Banners'', have been translated into English.


Short stories and novellas

The most notable collection of Krleža's short stories is the anti-war book '' Croatian God Mars'', on the fates of Croatian soldiers sent to the World War I battlefields.


Plays

Krleža's main artistic interest was centered on drama. He began with experimental expressionist plays like ''Adam i Eva'' and ''Michelangelo Buonarroti'', dealing with defining passions of heroic figures, but eventually opted for more conventional
naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
plays. The best known is '' Gospoda Glembajevi'' ("The Glembays"), a cycle dealing with the decay of a bourgeois family. ''Golgota'' is another play, political in nature.


Diaries and memoirs

Krleža's memoirs and diaries include ''Davni dani'' ("Olden Days") and ''Djetinjstvo u Agramu'' ("Childhood in Zagreb"). Other works include ''Dnevnici'' ("Diaries") and the posthumously published ''Zapisi iz Tržiča'' ("Notes from Tržič") chronicle multifarious impressions.


Selected works

*'' Croatian God Mars'' (, 1922) *'' Messrs. Glembay'' (, 1928) *'' The Return of Philip Latinowicz'' (, 1932) *'' The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh'' (, 1936) *'' On the Edge of Reason'' (, 1938) *'' The Banquet in Blitva'' (, 1939) *' (, 1962) Translations into English: Krleža, Miroslav. ''The Banquet in Blitva'' (Banket u Blitvi, 1939). Translated by Edward Dennis Goy and Jasna Levinger-Goy. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2004. _____. ''The Cricket Beneath the Waterfall, and Other Stories'' (Cvrčak pod vodopadom). Various translators; edited by Branko Lenski. New York: Vanguard Press, 1972. _____. ''Harbors Rich in Ships: Selected Revolutionary Writings'' (The Glembays, 1928, and other early texts). Translated by Željko Cipriš. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2017. _____. ''Journey to Russia'' (Izlet u Rusiju, 1925). Translated by Will Firth. Zagreb: Sandorf, 2017. _____. ''On the Edge of Reason'' (Na rubu pameti, 1938). Translated by Zora Depolo. New York: New Directions, 1995. _____. ''The Return of Philip Latinowitz'' (Povratak Filipa Latinovicza, 1932). Translated by Zora Depolo. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1995.


References


Sources

*Enes Čengić; S Krležom iz dana u dan, Globus, 1986, Zagreb * Viktor Žmegač: Krležini europski obzori, 1984, Zagreb
"Krležijana": Enciklopedija Miroslava Krleže, LZMK, 1993, Zagreb



External links


Introduction to Author
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KRLEŽA, Miroslav
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krleza, Miroslav 1893 births 1981 deaths Writers from Zagreb People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Croatian dramatists and playwrights Croatian essayists Croatian male essayists Croatian male novelists Croatian male poets Yugoslav writers 20th-century Croatian male writers Croatian communists Communist writers Vladimir Nazor Award winners Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Modernist writers Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century Croatian people 20th-century Croatian poets 20th-century Croatian novelists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century essayists Herder Prize recipients Recipients of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour