‘Boy’ and Homosexuality. Literature, the Law, and That Scaring ‘homoerotic’ In Person Cover Image

Boy i homoseksualizm. Literatura, prawo i ten przerażający homoerota we własnej osobie
‘Boy’ and Homosexuality. Literature, the Law, and That Scaring ‘homoerotic’ In Person

Author(s): Wojciech Śmieja
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Tadeusz ‘Boy’ Żeleński; Polish Journalism (interwar period); Homosexuality; Gender Studies; Queer Theory.

Summary/Abstract: This essay presents the place afforded to homosexuality by Tadeusz ‘Boy’ Żeleński in his social and literary journalism. On the literary plane, whilst remaining apparently accepting toward homosexual themes, that author cast them away of the area of his interest. The proper place for such topics is, to his mind, trivial literature – romance or love story in the first place. The image of homosexuality and homosexuals in Boy’s social commentaries is highly stereotypised. Although Boy postulates that homosexuality be depenalised, his texts are imbued with linguistic means creating a distance between the author and the topic of their utterance. The present essay is not intended to diminish Boy’s role as a reformer of morals, it rather aims at defining certain nuances within this image.

  • Issue Year: 2008
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 64-74
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Polish