The writing of Milo Urban has been acknowledged by many literary critics and historians as a unique type of expressionism and the highlight of literary realism. His works are among the most frequently read and published Slovak literature of the twentieth century. His major books have been translated into many languages (but none into English), and his influence on later Slovak prose writers is significant.

Milan August Urban was born on 24 August 1904 in the village of Rabcice in Orava, a region in northern Slovakia near the border with Poland. Urban's father, also named Milan, was a forester; his mother, Anna, née Lachová, was the father's second wife. There were two children from the father's first marriage: Jozef, who became a Catholic priest and died during World War I, and Ilona. Urban also had a younger brother and sister, Frantisek and Mária. He knew...