NIEOBECNA. OBRAZY MATKI W POWIEŚCIACH MIKITY FRANKO
ABSENT. IMAGES OF THE MOTHER IN THE NOVELS BY MIKITA FRANKO

Summary/Abstract: Mikita Franko, the author of three novels qualified by critics as queer literature for young adults, made his debut on the Russian literary market in 2020. Brought up in Kazakhstan in a same-sex family, Franko was a critic of the Vladimir Putin regime even before February 24, 2022; also after the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, he did not stop making critical comments in social media. The novels of the young writer deal with the problem of searching for one’s own identity and living in an intolerant society. The non-traditional families presented in the works (same-sex, monoparental) face various difficulties, most severely felt by the heroes in adolescence. Franko reflects on the current social changes by showing alternative family models and comparing them with traditional models. It is worth emphasizing that the families portrayed by the writer consist mainly of men, which encourages a careful examination of the role of the mother and her significant absence in the lives of the characters. Based on traditional ideas about motherhood, as well as anthropological and sociological works and queer-literature researchers, in this article, I will attempt to analyze the image of the mother in the above-mentioned novels.

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