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QUEER READING IN THE CONTEXT OF SLOVAK LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS

R. Rusnak

Abstract

The literal translation of “queer theory” might be considered as a “theory of oddity”, or “theory of strangeness”. Initially negatively perceived designation became the official theory name in the second half of the 20th century, which deals dominantly with a marginal – in order to analyse the mainstream cultural construct. Although the “queer reading” in the Western-European society plays a significant role still not only within the area of literature theory, but also in politics, culture, economics, or education, in the Slovak literature for children and YA (and its literary-scientific reflection) is the theory of queer considerable tabooed until today. Our study has an ambition to join the discourse extension on the issues that are relevant not only to readers of literature for children and young adults, but also to the wider cultural community. We do not offer detailed interpretation studies of selected works from children literature in the Slovak translation (literary tales and novels) – we are interested primarily in the artistic texts from the “queer reading” position, and at the same time as a base for an analysis of gender role function in terms of narrower Slovak, as well as wider European professional discourse. The study is concluded with personal view of the queer theory issue in the literature for children and YA in the Slovak society context.

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