Goran Tribuson

As a subversive reaction to the superimposed social realism in Croatian literature a generation of fantastical writers emerged in the early 1970s, and Tribuson was part of it.

His early fantastical stories were published in three collections, Zavjera kartografa (The Cartographists Conspiracy, 1972), Praška smrt (Death in Prague, 1975) i Raj za pse (Dog Heaven, 1978).

The third cycle comprises Tribuson’s autobiographical writings, the best known among them being a trilogy of "generation" novels: Polagana predaja (Slow Surrender, 1984), Legija stranaca (Foreign Legion, 1985) and several editions of the bestselling Povijest pornografije (History of Pornography, 1988), which deals with the theme of growing up in a small town, the emergence and disappearance of youthful illusions and ideals, the confrontation of socialism with the unstoppable breakthrough of rock, pop culture, film and media.

This cycle of varying quality includes, among other things, autobiographical prose works such as Rani dani (Early Days, 1997), Trava i korov (Grass and Weed, 1999) and Mrtva priroda (Still Nature, 2003).

Thematically the cycle includes the humorous novel Ne dao Bog većeg zla (God Save Us From Greater Evil, 2002), written after the production of the film with the same title, for which Tribuson wrote the screenplay.

Thus, in the six novels published so far (Zavirivanje/Peaking 1985; Siva zona /The Grey Zone 1989; Dublja strana zaljeva /The Deeper End of the Bay 1991; Noćna smjena /Night Shift 1996; Bijesne lisice /Rabid Foxes 2000; Gorka čokolada /Bitter Chocolate 2004), structured as detective stories featuring P.I.

Although his private investigator Nikola Banić, a Croatian version of Philip Marlowe, is a slightly unconventional detective type because he is a jazz fan, a beer drinker, a dedicated smoker and a man burdened with many family problems, he has become very popular among the readers.