August 2012 marked 70 years since the death of Slovenian poet, writer and critic Miran Jarc (1900–1942). The first book of Collected Works presents the poetry of Jarc that was originally published in three collections: Človek in noč ('Man and the Night', 1927), Novembrske pesmi ('November Poems', 1936) and Lirika ('Lyrics', 1940). The collections are distinguished by strict authorial selection, as well as by their small scale and refined illustrations. They therefore encompass only a small part of the poet’s entire lyrical opus, which was written over a period of some 25 years, mainly in the two literary periods that followed modernism: expressionism and new realism. This is reflected in a change in the ideation as well as the topics and technopoetics of Jarc’s poetry. In addition to the individual printed poems, all of the extant manuscript and typescript versions are listed and commented upon in the notes.

The three collections are followed by poems published in periodicals during the interwar period, particularly in the journals Ljubljanski zvon ('The Ljubljana Bell') and Dom in svet ('Home and World'). The date of composition of each poem is evident from the notes, as is the name of the journal in which they were published; the poems are presented in chronological order (insofar as the publications allow). They are followed by Jarc’s poems in prose and his little known children’s poetry. Altogether, the first book contains some 213 poems. The commentary to the edition includes Jarc’s biography, the reception of individual collections in the critical press, an evaluation of Jarc’s poetry in the context of Slovenian literary history, etc. With the publication of this edition, one of the greatest Slovenian poets of the 20th century once again, after a long hiatus, enters the centre of readers’ reception and literary historical reflection.