From the shadows to the light: paradoxes of queer literature in post-Soviet Estonia

This article provides a short overview of queer literature in Estonia, focusing primarily on representations of queer themes in post-Soviet Estonian literature in the 1990s. A brief historical context is given, outlining social and legislative attitudes toward homosexuality in Estonia from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Some examples of queer literature from the interwar Estonian Republic and Soviet Estonia are introduced. The central focus is Emil Tode’s novel Border State (1993), exploring its portrayal of queer topics and the novel’s controversial reception in transition-period Estonia in the 1990s. Additionally, the article introduces some examples of Estonian queer literature from the twenty-first century.