Musil’s children – Essayistic writing in contemporary children’s and young adult literature

Abstract

Facing an increasingly complex social reality and ever-accelerating developments in the 21st century, essay writing has become more topical. Following up Robert Musil’s understanding of “essayism”, this article makes the term accessible for the first time to study works in contemporary children’s and young adult literature. First, the characteristics of essayistic writing will be presented. Objects of the subsequent literary analysis are texts by Christoph Hein, Bibi DumonTak and Sarah Michaela Orlovský.