Art Between Tendency and Autonomy: Krleža and Herman Polemics in Context of Literary Left

Polemics between Miroslav Krleža and Dogomir Herman, started in year 1933 in form of articles “Foreword to Podrav motifs” and “Quo vadis, Krleža?”, is one of the key expressions of conflict within the literary left du-ring period between two World Wars in Yugoslavia. In the center of this conflict one can found questions of function of art in the context of ideology, relationship between creative freedom and political responsibility and poli-tical responsibility of the writer within the collective. Autonomy of artistic expression is affirmed by Krleža, while Herman supports the idea of art as mean of revolutionary struggle. These opposed standing points set in motion broad intellectual discussion and provoked intervention of political actors of that era. This paperwork analyses key aspects of this polemics, acceptance and consequences in the context of literary left and questions modern day importance of these questions in understanding relationship between art and ideology.