Undoubtedly the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the monarchist one ( 1918- 1941) and the Communist one ( 1945 - until his death in 1981), he was, ironically, marginalized in the pro-Nazi puppet « Independent State of Croatia» ( 1941- 1945). Member of Yugoslav Communist Party from 1918 to 1939 (he was expelled because of his unorthodox views on art, intellectual freedom and unwillingness to give open support to Stalin's purges), Krleža was the driving force behind literary and political reviews «Književna republika» (1923), «Danas» (1934) and «Pečat» (1939). Following a few embarrassing failures (he defected for Serbia in 1912 as a volunteer for Serbian army, but was kicked out as a suspected spy and, on top of that, when back in Croatia, demoted in Austro-Hungarian army and sent as a common soldier to the Eastern front in the World War I), Krleža has in the post-WWI period established himself both as a major modernist writer and politically controversial figure in Yugoslavia, a newly created country which encompassed South Slavic lands of former Habsburg Empire and kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro. He entered a preparatory military school in Pecuj, Hungary (at that time Croatia was a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire) and, subsequently, Ludiviceum military academy at Budapest. Miroslav Krleža was born in Croatia's capital Zagreb.
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