Cirkus broj XX

Circus Number XX is a collection of satires, humorous and "insolent poems" by Franjo Domović. The subtitle Comical-Tragic Statements perfectly describes the tone of the work – a mixture of wit, sarcasm and bitterness.

In this collection, Domović moves away from his earlier romantic and sentimental poetry and turns to sharp satire. With irony and self-irony, he describes petty-bourgeois society, literary life, bohemian adventures and the absurdity of everyday life. The poems are lively, colloquial, provocative and full of humor, but behind the laughter often peeks the melancholy typical of a bohemian poet.

The title Circus Number XX suggests that the whole world (especially the Croatian reality of the 1920s) is a big circus in which people play the roles of clowns. The work belongs to the interwar literature that mixes social criticism, personal expression and a light avant-garde impulse.

The book today represents an interesting, somewhat forgotten voice of 20th-century Croatian bohemian literature – witty, direct, and ready to mock both itself and others.