Slavica TerGestina (Dec 2019)

Голубой/-ая Literature and Russian Holiness

  • Javornik, Miha

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23 (2019/2)
pp. 152 – 167

Abstract

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In a short reflection, we are dealing with the issue of Russian LGBT culture. In understanding literature and LGBT culture in Russia, we come from the ambivalent attitude of the Russians to the Law. From the beginnings of the Russian state, homosexuality was, by law or canon law strictly forbidden. But in reality there was a lost of homosexuality and it was tolerated. We proceed from the assumption: if God’s Word is holy, everything written in fiction is also sacred – the book is the bearer of truth and beauty. There is no room for talk about homosexuality. Apart from smaller, masked homosexual deviations in Lermontov, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky or Chekhov, even writting about homosexuality is considered a sin. Why is this so?

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