The thesis examines the life of Zofka Kveder, one of the first professional Slovenian women writers, her lifelong accumulation of economic, social and cultural capital, the development of her habitus, and the influence of these factors on her literary depictions of childhood. The first part of the thesis focuses on a sociological analysis of Bourdieu's concepts of capital and habitus, alongside an overview of childhood at the turn of the 20th century, with an emphasis on Slovenia. This is followed by a presentation of the writer's life drawn from correspondence, short autobiographical prose and third-party biographical accounts. The central part of the thesis comprises an analysis of the writer's representation of childhood, particularly through the lenses of motherhood and social criticism. It examines how factors such as the patriarchal social order, education, family socialization, physical punishment, violence, alcoholism, religion, war, poverty and out-of-wedlock conception shape the lives and fates of children. The analysis demonstrates that the writer's portrayal of childhood was significantly shaped by her personal experiences, her social standing and the forms of capital she accumulated, developed and maintained throughout her life.
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