Oton Zupancic's origins on the periphery of the Slovene lands and his evolution into Slovenia's central literary figure after World War I parallel his country's road to statehood. The poet was not as politically active as his contemporary Ivan Cankar or the older Ivan Tavcar; neither was he a social critic like the poet Anton Askerc. Yet his guiding theme, the sanctity of individual expression, perhaps resonated more deeply in his countrymen's imaginations than his fellow writers' overtly partisan ideas. Further, no Slovene writer has presented his or her culture's coming to terms with its European context as did Zupancic, who was also an accomplished translator.

He was descended on his mother's side from the Malic family, which had probably resettled on the Kupa River, in the southernmost part of Slovenia that juts into Croatia near Karlovac, from the Lika area of western Croatia in the first quarter...