Portal:Croatia/Selected biography

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Miroslav Krleža (July 7, 1893 - December 29, 1981) was a Croatian writer and a figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the monarchist one (1918-1941) and the Communist one (1945 - until his death in 1981).

Krleža has remained generally unknown despite his literary achievements. Croatian critics consider that this can be attributed to Krleža being Croatian, with Croatia being small and insignificant in more than just the geographical sense in the eyes of some, and, in part, to his political views which were often at odds with the authorities.

Miroslav Krleža was born in Croatia's capital Zagreb. He entered a preparatory military school in Pécs, Hungary (at that time Croatia was a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire) and, subsequently, Ludiviceum military academy at Budapest. He defected for Serbia in 1912 as a volunteer for the Serbian army, but was dismissed as a suspected spy. Upon his return to Croatia he was demoted in Austro-Hungarian army and sent as a common soldier to the Eastern front in the World War I. In the post-WWI period Krleža has established himself both as a major modernist writer and politically controversial figure in Yugoslavia, a newly created country which encompassed South Slavic lands of former Habsburg Empire and kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro.