Miroslav Krleža

"Having freed his country from foreign oppressors, Colonel Kristian Barutanski governs Blitva with an iron fist. He is opposed by Niels Nielsen, a melancholy intellectual who rails against the dictator and the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of society Barutanski recognizes in Nielsen a genuine foe; yet Nielsen, haunted by his own lapses of conscience, struggles to escape both the regime and the role of opposition leader thrust upon him. He flees to the neighboring state of Blatvia - and finds his new country as corrupt and as tyrannical as the one he called home."--Jacket.

During his long and distinguished career, the Croatian writer Miroslav Krleza (1893-1981) battled against many forms of tyranny. In On the Edge of Reason, his protagonist is a middle-aged lawyer whose life and career have been eminently respectable and respected. One evening, at a party attended by the local elite, he inadvertently blurts out an honest thought. From this moment, all hell breaks loose.... On the Edge of Reason reveals the fundamental chasm between conformity and individuality. As folly piles on folly, hypocrisy on hypocrisy, reason itself begins to give way, and the edge between reality and unreality disappears. --back cover