Queering Time through Queer Desire. Futurity in Two Post-Yugoslav Novels

Dara Šljukić

doi:10.25038/am.v0i28.642

Authors

Dara Šljukić Central European University, Vienna, Austria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.642

Keywords:

futurity; queer time; post-Yugoslav hope; post-Yugoslav literature; Lejla Kalamujić; Lamija Begagić.

Abstract

The present article approaches two post-Yugoslav literary texts, Zovite me Esteban (Call Me Esteban) by Lejla Kalamujić (2015) and U zoni (In the Zone) by Lamija Begagić (2016), through the conceptual lens of queer utopian hermeneutics by José Esteban Muñoz. Focusing closely on a few moments/chapters from the texts, it aims to sketch out one way of recognizing futurity and hope in post-Yugoslav literary narratives. At the beginning, the article explores how queer desire produces ecstatic moments in the chapter/story “Bella Ciao” from Zovite me Esteban. Remembering the ecstatic moments further nurtures the narrator’s utopic imagination, as well as her emotional recovery, propelling the narrative forward. In the next section, the article analyzes how queer desire generates joys of gender dissidence and the pleasures of collective belonging, serving as glimpses of future in the present in the novel U zoni. Ultimately, the analysis reveals that both texts suggest queer futurity is inextricably linked to the knowledge of the past, specifically of the local anti-fascist heritage, offering a distinct regional perspective on the concept of queer time.

Author Biography

Dara Šljukić, Central European University, Vienna, Austria

Dara Šljukić (1993) is a Doctoral Candidate at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, researching future-oriented remembrance in post-Yugoslav literary and autobiographical narratives. During her doctoral studies, she undertook research stays at the University of Copenhagen and Humboldt University in Berlin, supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (Marietta Blau Grant). Most recently, she conducted a research stay at the University of Vienna. She holds a BA and an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Belgrade, as well as an MA in Gender Studies from the CEU in Budapest. She has been a member of the post-Yugoslav regional network of feminist literary critics, known as Rebel Readers (Pobunjene čitateljke) since 2016.

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Queering Time through Queer Desire. Futurity in Two Post-Yugoslav Novels

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Author Biography

Dara Šljukić, Central European University, Vienna, Austria

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