Tko kuca otvorit će mu se

Whoever Knocks Will Have the Door Opened (1975) is the first published book and debut collection of short stories by the contemporary Croatian writer Stjepan Tomaš. With this work, the author introduced himself to the Croatian literary public as a perceptive observer of human psychology and a subtle chronicler of life in small, provincial communities in Slavonia and Baranja. The collection brings a series of prose writings in which the focus is placed on the characters' inner experiences, their hidden fears, loneliness and lack of direction in social contexts. The title of the work, taken from a biblical quote, has an ironic and existentialist background: while the symbolic "knocking" signifies man's constant striving for knowledge, closeness and a way out of anxiety, the "opening" of the door is often absent or brings only disappointment. Tomaš's heroes are mostly ordinary, marginalized individuals whose silent conflicts take place within themselves. Stylistically, the collection is characterized by concise expression, atmospheric descriptions of the setting and a dense narrative structure. Whoever knocks will be opened to him is an important starting point in Tomaš's oeuvre because it heralds his later recognizable thematic preoccupations – the fates of people from the margins and the complexity of human relationships.