In the master's thesis at hand, I engage with contemporary Slovenian young adult novels that thematize the issue of addiction in various ways. A comprehensive overview of Slovenian young adult novel production spanning from 1983 to 2021 has been prepared, focusing on works addressing the chosen thematic framework. Eight young adult novels, intended for young readers but potentially appealing to adults as well, have been included for further analysis. This research endeavors to investigate how literary personas, specifically the primary literary characters, experience and address addiction and how their environment responds to these circumstances. First-person narrators, often coinciding with the central literary figures in their adolescent years grappling with a specific form of addiction, are most frequently encountered within the texts. The core of these works revolves around their confrontation with addiction and its resolution. The causes of their addiction are reacurring motifs in the novels, which include: disordered family dynamics, the desire to escape from the real world, low self-esteem, and peer influence. While some successfully overcome their addiction, others succumb to it, resulting in a tragic denouement. Conclusively, the endings are predominantly conclusive and do not necessitate further continuation. The authors of the selected novels draw attention to the issues and, notably, the consequences of addiction among young individuals. Simultaneously, they offer a nuanced perspective on this complex problem through the lens of the youth. These literary works engage and educate young readers by acquainting them with the issue. The objective of this master's thesis is to present and analyze the corpus of selected Slovenian young adult novels thematizing addiction, and to provide an overview of the production of such novels in Slovenia.
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