During this period, he became active in the circle of young Catholic and Christian Socialist intellectuals, who gathered around the journal Križ na gori.

He became a friend of prominent artists and intellectuals, such as Edvard Kocbek and Božo Vodušek, Miran Jarc and Rajko Ložar.

He used images from his work in his writing and some of his best characters are troubled by serious illness which affects all aspects of their lives (Zaznamovani (The Marked) collection of short stories, Ljubljana 1940).

Brkonja Čeljustnik is a story about a gentle giant who helps many people, only to turn against them in disappointment when his long moustache is chopped off.

[3] Racko and Lija is a collection of 17 short stories about a young boy's attempts to understand the adult world.