as a critic over more than four decades, ladan surveyed virtually all works written in croatian, serbian and bosnian — not infrequently to the consternation of the "objects" of his criticism. follower of t. s. eliot, ezra pound and frank kermode, ladan didn't pay much attention to the deconstructionists (derrida) or foucault, both of whom he found arid and sterile. his best critical essays also evaluate such writers as william faulkner and robert musil.