Occasionally one stumbles onto an book or author finding something special. On the Edge of Reason certainly falls into this category for it possesses a quality and intelligence one rarely encounters. Interpretation of the story is difficult simply because it emcompasses so much with Kreleza writing in an omnicient style tending eventually to answer its own questions and resolving every thought by broad consideration and rare insight. Kreleza's perspective in centering his tale on "human folly" seems both original because of unique intelligent presentation, and also age old because certainly human stupidty has been dealt with before. One is reminded of Lear's "stage of fools"; Macbeth's "parade of idiots" and from Henry IV "in everything the purpose must weigh with the folly". The narrator's struggles create a sense of intense deja vu, for we have all been there, maybe in a less protracted sense, but this is simultaneously a story both unique and common. Certainly one keeps coming back as one reads to A Man for All Seasons, as our narrator displays all the attributes of Thomas Moore, in far less heroic style. By the end we find a far broader context than bare human folly, as On the Edge of Reason becomes a complex tale of the dilemas and contradictions one faces in life, with an understated ending that leaves one just shaking the head. It is doubtful, and the reviews seem to indicate this, that one can read on the Edge of Reason without being at least somewhat blown away. The book is that well done, and certainly deserving of much wide recognition.

It's unfortunate that so little of Krleza's work has been translated into English. He was among the better writers of the 20th century. "On the Edge of Reason" is an excellent introduction to his work. In this scathing condemnation of the bourgeoisie as Krleza knew it in the last days of the Habsburg Monarchy and interwar Croatia, he describes the downfall of a man for simply speaking his mind. His unnamed protagonist finds himself unwillingly fighting a losing battle against the hypocrisy and self-righteous complacency of the establishment and polite society in a "provincial backwater." I see the reviewers below spent a lot of time comparing Krleza to various other great European authors, although in this book especially his theme much more recalls Sinclair Lewis and his unsparing critique of rural, provincial America in "Main Street." Regardless, this is an excellent book, still fresh and relevant today as it was over 60 years ago when it was first published.

This book ( maybe the word "book" better presents & delineates this impossible genre- a blend of allegory, internal monologue & confession a la Dostoevsky's "Notes", political grotesque surpassing Conrad's "The Secret Agent", sententious wisdom in the vein of Proustian aesthetic sensibility, brutal naturalistic passages worthy of a Zola,..) is a tour de force I don't think it will have ever been equalled in Western fiction.

I deliberately didn't delve into detailed analysis of the "plot"- I reckon, maybe the more general description of the work would serve as a better enticement for a wannabe reader.

Just this incredible achievement: fusing into a harmonious whole apparently incongruous authors ( I don't mean plagiarism, just sensibility & the way of writing ) like Conrad, Proust, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sologub,..makes one's mind boggle. And more: Krleza has three more novelist masterpieces, one translated ( The Return of Filip Latinowicz ), the other two ( the massive ( circa 700 pages-depends on an edition ) political-allegorical novel "Banquet in Blithuania", plus "summa krleziana", a four-volume psychological/political/historiosophical/meditative "Flags" ).

In my opinion, Krleza is so badly rated ( in fact, his prose work rivals Musil or Mann, and surpasses Sartre or Woolf ) that he will never recover in this chaotic, gilded & electronic media-oriented age. Pity. Not for him, but for the age.

The early 20th century Croatian novelist Miroslav Krleza is far less well known in this country than, say, Bosnian novelist Ivo Andric or Croatian journalist and novelist Slavenka Drakulic, but reading this excellent book convinces me that he is far superior to the latter and almost in the class of the former. "The Return of Philip Latinowicz" tells the story of an aging and doubting painter who returns from cosmopolitan Europe to his small Croatian home town, both to retreat from current problems and to confront lingering uncertainties and resentments from his youth. The atmosphere, as the reader from the Netherlands writes, is wonderfully Dostoevskian in places; the characters are drawn unforgettably (at times with humor, at others with pathos); the story moves slowly at the beginning but becomes a sort of psychological thriller by the end. This is a very impressive book that deserves wide readership.

Unfortunately, only two novels of Krleza's have been translated into English, which does not even come near to doing justice to the volumes of novels, stories, plays, poems and essays this multi-talented writer has produced. The reviewer below is incorrect in saying Krleza is "almost" in the class of Andric. Krleza far surpasses Andric, and this can be sensed in "The Return of Filip Latinovicz." I highly recommend this and esp. "On the Edge of Reason."

Just another great classic from the hand of the greatest coroatian writer.Like his early works, this book represent a modern style in his best way. A must read!