France Balantič (1921–1943) is one of the key authors of the 20th century Slovenian poetry. During the war and the communist revolution, he died on the counter-revolutionary side, and for this reason, his literary opus was banned from public access and discourse for decades. Nevertheless, the lyrical quality of his poems and the fundamental existential themes that Balantič addressed in his works attracted many readers in Slovenia and abroad. Despite the official prohibition, the poems of the young, dead poet had a life on their own: they were read and even reprinted in exile continually.
The second, revised critical editon of Balantič' collected poems and letters was prepared when the first edition from 2008 has run out of stock in a few months. The revised new edition provides primary texts and variants, historical documents and testimonies, reception (also in translations and music) and more. With this edition, the editor France Pibernik gave the final outcome of several decades of his research of France Balantič, giving a profound insight into public and hidden life of Balantič' symbolistic and expressionistic lyrical masterpieces.