Stari i novi razgovori s Krležom

The book Old and New Conversations with Krleža by Predrag Matvejević is one of the most exciting works of our essay and journalism, offering much more than classic literary interviews or dry biographical notes. Created over a long series of years from close, almost daily encounters and long walks, these conversations reveal Miroslav Krleža in his most intimate, but also provocative, form.

Matvejević wisely avoided mere questioning and rigid chronological questions; instead, he created a space in which he let Krleža's enormous erudition roam freely, from ancient Croatian bans and Habsburg intrigues, through Lenin and European literary avant-gardes, to intimate reflections on transience, friendships and artistic delusions.

The circumstances of the creation of this book in themselves carry a dose of historical drama and literary responsibility: Matvejević, with exceptional patience and journalistic dedication, recorded Krleža's verbal bravura in times when the writer was already a living classic, an unavoidable institution, but also a man who unhesitatingly wanted to lift the veil from Yugoslav reality and ideological dogmas. Reading these pages, Krleža's inimitable temperament comes to life before the reader - he was cynical, brilliant, erudite, unyielding and often merciless towards petty bourgeoisie and intellectual laziness.

Matvejević has positioned himself as an equal interlocutor who, with moderation and deep insight, encourages the great writer to make confessions that have not been recorded anywhere else. The result is a unique reading that blurs the line between documentary material and top literature, and which offers every new reader a rare opportunity to peek behind the scenes of the creation of the greatest opus of Croatian modern literature.