Povratak Filipa Latinovicza

The Return of Philip Latinowicz (Croatian: Povratak Filipa Latinovicza, pronounced [pǒvratak fǐlipa latǐːnoʋitɕa]) is a novel by the Croatian author Miroslav Krleža. It is considered the first modern complete novel of Croatian literature. The structure is very complex, although it has no classical composition and storyline.

Twenty-three years before this novel begins, Philip Latinowicz, still a school-boy living in Kaptol, runs away from home with a hundred-florin note stolen from his mother, which he spends on women and booze for three days and three nights. When he returns to his mother's house, she treats him the way she would treat a stranger and sends him away. Upon his return to Kaptol in the present day, Philip struggles to reconcile his relationship with his mother, whose obsession with perfumes and elite society now threatens to drive him crazy. The two fail to find common ground; when Philip attempts to paint his mother, she is disgusted by his less-than positive view of her and condemns the project. Even more, he hates her new lover, Dr. Liepach of Kostanjevec, who he finds pretentious and conceited, despite his obvious charms and kind gestures.

However, it is at one of his mother's elite gatherings that Philip meets Bobočka, to whom he is immediately drawn. They attend the town's St. Rock's Day festival together. The depraved drunkenness and wild nature of the crowd inspires Philip to imagine a painting, depicting the townspeople sinning in the name of their god. On the way home, through the forest, a thunderstorm strikes, and Philip finds himself sharing his imagined painting with Bobočka, and in the process, sharing an intimate moment with her. Bobočka introduces Philip to an entirely different side of Kaptol, made up of Baločanski, her former and current lovers, and a vibrant night life.

But Philip is soon enraged by the presence of Bobočka's new lover, Kyriales, especially when Kyriales questions the utility of art and Philip's talent. Kyriales' erudite critiques baffle Philip, who finds himself almost wanting to believe that painting has become a degenerate practice. Unable to articulate a retort as elegantly as he would have hoped, Philip is forced to reflect inward after the conversation, asking himself why he paints and what he gets from his artistic endeavors. He comes to the conclusion that "art was talent" and that "talent was a force which was inexplicable in terms of anything physical," something "clairvoyant" and supernatural and incomprehensible to someone like Kyriales.