BERTA BOJETU BOETA’S DYSTOPIAN VISIONS

Abstract

This article examines two novels by the Slovene writer Berta Bojetu Boeta: Filio is Not at Home (Filio ni doma) and The House of Birds (Ptičja hiša), both published in the 1990’s. The two works depict dystopian societies focused on repression and aimed at generating systematic alienation. The plots are set in remote and isolated places (an island, a mountain, a prison, a brothel) whose inhabitants are enslaved and subjected to violence which mainly affects women. The denial of freedom that characterises these societies is one of the fundamental aspects of dystopian fiction. Despite the extreme limitation of their possibilities, the characters narrated by Bojetu find ways of resisting repression through painting, reading and the creation of human bonds, thus managing to escape from dystopian environments and keep their humanity alive.

Keywords

• Berta Bojetu Boeta
• Slovene literature
• dystopia
• societal repression