the contribution presents Ivan Cankar’s (1876– 1918) critical stance on austria-hungary’s policy and his public efforts for a community of equal Yugoslav peoples prior to the outbreak of the great war, when progressive intellectuals, including cankar, were persecuted because of their views. it depicts author’s military service in judenburg in 1915 and, in particular, his artistic word during wartime. in his collection of short stories Podobe iz sanj (dream visions, 1917), which was penned under strict state censorship, he renounces war and violence, and expresses his vision of a brighter future for the slovene people. echoes of war atrocities experienced by soldiers and civilians is also an important subject matter in works by many european, and also american authors, poets and historians, some of whom were soldiers themselves. the paper establishes similarities and differences in their use of irony, spiritualisation of war, conversations with the dead, apocalyptic motifs, and seeks to answer the question whether there are differences and similarities in the writing and reception of literature authored by poets who wrote about war as civilians or soldiers on the front.Prispevek predstavlja kritični odnos pisatelja Ivana Cankarja (1876–1918) do politike avstro- ogrske in njegova javna prizadevanja za ena- kopravno skupnost jugoslovanskih narodov v letih pred izbruhom vélike vojne, ko so napredne intelektualce, tudi cankarja, preganjali zaradi njihovih stališč. opisuje pisateljevo služenje vojske v judenburgu leta 1915, predvsem pa njegovo umetniško besedo v letih vojne. V zbirki črtic Podobe iz sanj (1917), napisani v okoliščinah stroge državne cenzure, cankar zavrača vojno in nasilje ter izrazi vizijo svetlejše prihodnosti slovenskega naroda. odmev grozot vojne v doživljanju vojakov in civilistov je velika tema v delih številnih evropskih, pa tudi ameriških pisateljev, pesnikov in zgodovinarjev, med katerimi so bili nekateri tudi sami vojaki. Članek ugotavlja podobnosti in razlike v njihovi rabi ironije, spiritualizaciji vojne, pogovorih z mrtvimi in apokaliptični motiviki ter išče odgovor na vprašanje, ali obstajajo razlike in podobnosti v pisanju in v recepciji literature pesnikov, ki so o vojni pisali kot civilisti ali kot vojaki na fronti
