Edvard Kocbek (1904-1981), Jože Udovič (1912-1986) and Ivan Minatti (b 1924) developed highly-articulated lyrics within the cultural expression of the Slovene national resistance during World War II and continued their writing into the post-war era, while Karel Destovnik-Kajuh (1922-1944) and France Balantič (1921-1943) lost their lives on different sides, at the start of their promising careers. Kocbek later became an important dissident and an influential symbol as well as a fruitful poet and essayist.

A new generation appeared with ‘The Poems of Four’, which introduced Kajetan Kovič (b 1931), Janez Menart (1929-2004), Tone Pavček (b 1928) and Ciril Zlobec (b 1925) who were to remain on the scene until the beginning of the 21st century, thus representing one of the most influential groups in Slovene poetry.

Their contemporaries Gregor Strniša (1930-1970) and Dane Zajc (1929-2005) brought a more radical and dark modernism through poetry and drama. Dominik Smole, with his version of Antigone, became the leading dramatist of his generation. The poetry collection Tercine za obtolčeno trobento ('Tercets for the Damaged Trumpet', 1985) by Veno Taufer (b 1933) broke away from previous linguistic experiments, opting rather for an intimate and personal lyricism. Taufer was followed by younger authors such as Niko Grafenauer (b 1940), who attempted to solve his existential conflict through a formalistic and stylistic penetration into language, and Svetlana Makarovič (b 1939), whose originality sprung from pessimistic existential feelings. Tomaž Šalamun (b 1941), a poet who aimed not to imitate reality but rather for a fluid and sophisticated word play, constantly and radically defied the traditions of the older generation.

The group of poets born around 1950, including Ivo Svetina (b 1948), Milan Dekleva (b 1946) and in particular Milan Jesih (1950), triumphed in the 1970s and remained influential throughout the 1980s. Jure Detela (1951-1992), during his short yet intense life, and Ifigenija Zagoričnik (b 1933) explored the relationship between the Self and the Other, while Boris A Novak (1953) pledged loyalty to aesthetic formalism.

Post-war prose writers, like Rudi Šeligo (1935-2004), Vladimir Kavčič (b 1932), Andrej Hieng (1925-2000) and Lojze Kovačič (1928-2004) brought different achievements in modern storytelling, Šeligo being the most radical and closest to the French nouveau roman (Ali naj te z listjem posujem, 1971), while Kovačič seems to have left the deepest impact with his existential, rough prose ('The Newcomers', 1984-1985), together with the older but ever experimenting Vitomil Zupan (1914-1987) ('Menuet for a Guitar' 1975). First tendencies to post-modernism may be observed in Drago Jančar's (b 1948) novel Severni sij ('The Northern Light', 1984) and short stories Smrt pri Mariji Snežni ('The Death at Marija Snežna', 1985) and Pogled angela ('Angel Look', 1992).

Marko Švabić (1949-1993), Berta Bojetu (1946-1997), Branko Gradišnik (b 1951), Milan Kleč (b 1954), Uroš Kalčič, and Boris Jukić, all born around 1950, wrote the pages of imaginative, playful, poetical and experimental prose, sometimes with elements of metafiction (Gradišnik) or magical realism (Jukić). Brina Svit (born as Brina Švigelj, 1954) started her career as a Slovene authoress (Con brio, 2002) and now, after having moved to Paris, continues writing in French (Moreno, 2003).