Title:: [[On the Edge of Reason]] Authors:: [[Miroslav Krleža]] Tags:: #fiction Read:: [[2025-12-13]] Instagram :: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSMXLrejkMs/ ## Editions - Edition:: [[New Directions]], 2023 - Original Copyright:: 1938 - Pages:: 192 ## Purchase * Bookshop.org:: https://bookshop.org/a/94437/9780811222044 ## Cover Photo `` ## Annotations Krleža’s On the Edge of Reason has the odd distinction of being both historical satire and a critique of contemporary culture, despite having been written in 1938. Its unnamed narrator is a middling member of the Yugoslav bourgeoisie in the period between world wars. He is a top-hatted example of what Krleža mockingly calls homo cylindriacus. What distinguishes him from his peers is a growing awareness of their collective folly and moral emptiness. In a pivotal early scene, he dares to say this out loud. The backlash is swift and telling: punishment has little to do with whether he is right, and everything to do with how he disrupts the choreography of respectability. In the world of the novel, outrage is bad taste; silence is maturity. The parallels to the present are hard to miss. What makes the novel feel uncannily modern is its portrait of elite complicity. No one needs to believe the lies—only to maintain the performance. Today we have boat bombings, raids, and brutality, all of which, for a large number of people, register as background noise, regrettable but inconvenient facts, quickly neutralized by euphemism and irony. Status, above all, must be preserved. Heavy themes aside, what surprised me most is how funny the book is. Krleža’s wit is sharp, relentless, and biting. Highly recommended. Translated by Zora Depolo.