Milivoj Slavicek's first public appearance as a poet occurred in January 1947, while he was a high-school student. As the youngest member of the Omladinski literarni kruzok (Youth Literary Circle), established at the University of Zagreb in the fall of 1946, he participated in a literary evening organized by this group of young literary enthusiasts. Important names of modern Croatian literature, such as Jure Kastelan, Slobodan Novak, Zivko Jelicic, and Vesna Parun, all engaged in the activities of the Kruzok, which quickly gained attention because of the talent of its members as well as their willingness to experiment with the themes and forms of their works. However, it was precisely the challenging spirit of Parun's and Slavicek's respective poems, as different as they are, that provoked official criticism at the literary evening in 1947. In the postwar period of renovation and pragmatism, Slavicek's individualistic, experimental verse, with its shrewd commentary on...