Teen Romance versus "Gay" Propaganda: "Summer in a Pioneer Tie"

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Elena Malisova and Katerina Sil’vanova’s 2021 novel "Summer in a Pioneer Tie" (Leto v pionerskom galstuke) tells the tale of Volodia and Iura, two young men who fall in love at a Pioneer summer camp only to be separated by late-Soviet homophobia and the demise of the USSR. As the only bestselling romance in Russian to depict boys in love, "Summer in a Pioneer Tie" evoked ardent enthusiasm among fans at the same time that it elicited ire among Russian legislators, who used the book to justify strengthening the country’s “gay” propaganda law at the end of 2022. This panel approaches "Summer in a Pioneer Tie" from a variety of perspectives, considering its publication as a literary, cultural, and political event. Presenters will analyze the novel’s reliance on tropes from Soviet children’s and young adult literature, examine it as an instance of the transnational genre of yaoi or boy love, and consider its reception among readers and fans.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Jemma Paek, Harvard U

Papers

• Reader Reception of the Soviet Summer Camp Myth - Sidney Primm, U of Tartu (Estonia)

• Boy Love and the Legacy of Soviet Pop Culture - Aleksey Berg, U of Pennsylvania

• Boy Love Meets Girl Power in Putin’s Russia - Julie A. Cassiday, Williams College

Discussant

• Evgenii Bershtein, Reed College