(Anti)religious propaganda in the soviet and post-soviet works of fiction for young readers

The article presents a comparative analysis of two novels for young readers focusing on anti-religious and religious propaganda: The Miracle Worker (Chudotvornaya, 1958) and Serafima’s Extraordinary Journey (Neobyknovennoye Puteshestiviye Serafimy, 2016). Although the novels feature a similar set of characters, the writers use different techniques for their portrayal subject to the pursued objective. The article analyzes how similar lexical units and stylistic devices may be used for the opposite purposes. The analysis reveals the reversal of values between Soviet and post-Soviet societies resulting in the shift of the focus of the didactic messages conveyed through children’s literature. © 2020 eum (Edizioni Università di Macerata, Italy).