From the shadows to the light

Paradoxes of queer literature in post-Soviet Estonia

Bibliographic Data

ID11264653
AuthorsPiret Viires (Tallinn University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume56
Issue2
Pages363-383
Publication date2025-04-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Baltic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-9778 • E-ISSN: 1751-7877
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01629778.2025.2485054
OpenAlexW4409149352
LanguageEN
References cited20

This article provides a short overview of queer literature in Estonia, focusing primarily on representations of queer themes in post-Soviet Estonian literature in the 1990s. A brief historical context is given, outlining social and legislative attitudes toward homosexuality in Estonia from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Some examples of queer literature from the interwar Estonian Republic and Soviet Estonia are introduced. The central focus is Emil Tode’s novel Border State (1993), exploring its portrayal of queer topics and the novel’s controversial reception in transition-period Estonia in the 1990s. Additionally, the article introduces some examples of Estonian queer literature from the twenty-first century

Political economy · Political science · Queer · Sociology · European history and politics · Gender Studies · German History and Society · Soviet and Russian History

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