Feminist: roman iz nedavne prošlosti

Velimir Deželić son (younger) (1888–1976), Croatian writer, playwright, sociologist and politician, son of the famous lexicographer Velimir Deželić senior. He published a number of novels, plays and non-fiction works, often with a social and Catholic emphasis.

The work belongs to the interwar prose with a clear social thesis. The action takes place in the contemporary (then) bourgeois and intellectual milieu of Croatia, where the author depicts the struggle for women's emancipation through the characters of an intelligent, ambitious young woman. The main heroine strives for education, professional independence and equality with men, opposing patriarchal norms, prejudices and economic dependence on marriage.

Deželić advocates for women's suffrage, education and employment, emphasizing intellectual equality of the sexes. The novel criticizes the traditional society in which women are limited to the role of wife and mother, and advocates a model of a woman who is fulfilled through knowledge and work. It is not about radical feminism "in pants", but about a moderate, civil commitment to the dignity and independence of women.

Critics have assessed the work as a novel with a thesis - lively and warm, but sometimes schematic, with an emphasized ideological message at the expense of deep psychological development of the characters. Despite this, it is culturally significant because it reflects current discussions about feminism, the women's movement and the modernization of Croatian society in the interwar period.