Abstract
<jats:p>When the concept of the Conflict on the Literary Left was first formulated in the early 1970s, it provoked considerable controversy and numerous methodological objections. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, however, these criticisms gradually faded, and the Conflict attained canonical status—becoming an unquestioned historical reference and part of the high school curriculum in Croatia. By tracing the cultural and historical currents in Yugoslavia throughout the 1970s and 1980s, this paper seeks to shed light on the processes that led to the formation of such a one-dimensional and simplified perspective. At this stage, we are far more concerned with the reception of the concept itself than with its re-evaluation—a task that will, sooner or later, inevitably come to the fore.</jats:p>