“My Friend, Ol’ga”: Rereading Vladimir Kiselyov's novel, The Girl and Birdplane

Abstract

In this article, Vladimir Kiselyov's novel, The Girl and Birdplane, is reexamined. It was written during the Thaw period (1966) and it was aimed at the teenage audience. Critics of the late 1960s considered the novel to be the text about complex relationships between different generations. A modern re-reading of the novel with the application of various categories adopted by gender studies permits the modern reader to recognize clear representations of the gender role conflicts during the Soviet Era.

Keywords: children’s literature, school novella, re-evaluation, critique of children’s literature, gender, Thaw period