Youth literature can be researched by either applying a traditional or a modern approach. The first approach studies youth literature merely within the context of education and didactics. The second approach is more recent, studying youth literature as an independent art form. What is particularly important is the process of institutionalising youth literature as an area of teaching at universities in Slovenia, especially after the year 1990. Here a contributing factor was also internationalisation, which has been the driving force of the development of literature and theory. Since its beginnings in themid 19th century, youth literature has frequently stood at a crossroads in various national formations (the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, independent Slovenia, and, since 2004, Slovenia as a member of the European Union).
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