Croatian literature.

Croatian literature refers to the body of written works produced in the Balkan nation of Croatia or by the Croat people. The earliest literature in what is today Croatia developed more than one thousand years ago but did not truly flourish until the late medieval period. Much of this literature was heavily influenced by religious thought. Religion continued to be a major theme in Croatian writing until the nineteenth century when a focus on the daily lives of the Croat people sparked a turn toward Realism. The greatest literary figure in Croatian history was Miroslav Krleža (1893-1981), a prolific writer who often used his pen to criticize the ruling class when Croatia was under Austrian-Hungarian or Yugoslav rule in the twentieth century.