
Žubor života: izabrane pjesme 1919–1954.
A collection of selected lyrics by Gustav Krklec, spanning more than three decades of creativity – from the early expressionist phase to post-war meditative-reflective poems about life, transience, love, and the shadows of war.
The Murmur of Life: Selected Poems (1919–1954) by Gustav Krklec was first published in 1955 in Belgrade by the publisher Prosvet, in the Brazde library. The book has 15 + 271 pages, with the author's picture. This is one of the most important post-war editions of Krklec's poetry and is considered an antiquarian rarity. There is also a second edition from 1964.
The collection brings a selection from the author's work over more than three decades – from early collections (Lyrical Poetry, Silver Road, New Poems) through mature meditative cycles (Love of Birds, San Pod Brezom, Gifts for the Nameless, Damnica Vremena) to post-war works (Selected Poems 1947, Three Poems, Lyrical Five-Year-Old). The title poem "The Murmur of Life" ("It is quiet by the source in the shadow...") symbolizes vitality, the natural flow of life and constant renewal.
Krklec (1899–1977) is one of the most significant Croatian poets of the 20th century. His poetry is characterized by simplicity and suggestiveness of expression, formal refinement (often rhyme, sonnet forms), motifs of homeland (Croatian Zagorje), nature, love, loneliness, transience and joy of life mixed with anxiety. Early on he was close to expressionism (influenced by German poets, A. B. Šimić), and later moved to a more reflective, meditative lyricism closer to tradition. In the post-war period he tried to capture "the reality of life in its totality", which critics sometimes assess as a partial loss of the earlier purity of inspiration.
The book represents a kind of cross-section of Krklec's lyrical opus up to the mid-1950s and confirms him as a master of intimate, melancholic and vital lyricism at the same time. It received recognition, and the author was awarded a year or two later by the Croatian Writers' Association. Krklec was also a translator (Pushkin, Prešern, Goethe, etc.), essayist, critic, and author of children's poetry (Telegraphic Fables, The Monkey and the Glasses).
One copy is available





