engleski

Glimpses into Contacts between Croatian and Anglo-American Children’s Literature through Translations

The paper gives an overview of Anglo-American literature offered to Croatian child and young adult audiences from the first translations to the present day, and presents translations of Croatian children’s literature into English. The dialogue between the cultures involved is unbalanced, as there are only a few English translations of Croatian works for children that may have reached the child readers in the English-speaking world. Yet, some crucial texts were translated into English and published abroad, such as the works of the Croatian major children’s classic, Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, as well as novels by contemporary authors Ivan Kušan and Miro Gavran. These and other English translations of Croatian texts are described and exemplified in this paper and the contexts of their occurrences are explained. On the other hand, the interest for the Anglo-American literature has been recorded in the Croatian context since the appearance of Mlajši Robinzon in 1796 ; the translation of a German adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson, it was nevertheless the first, albeit indirect, encounter of Croatian children with English literature. Throughout the 19th century, Anglo-American texts were often mediated through translations into other languages, especially German. Nevertheless, novels by Scott, Cooper, Bulwer-Lytton, Goldsmith, Dickens etc. were popular among the Croatian educated population and younger readers, and were sometimes read in English. Direct Croatian translations from English, which were read by younger readers, appeared in the mid-19th century: The Vicar of Wakefield was translated in 1848, Stowe’s texts emerged in the magazine Neven in 1853, and several Anglo-American texts appeared in the first Croatian children’s magazine Bosiljak (1864-1868), including passages by Livingstone and Smiles. Picturebook versions of chapters from Gulliver’s Travels appeared in 1881. Yet, only in the 1890s did the publishing of translated Anglo-American works take root. Texts for children, as well as popular narratives were offered to Croatian young readers, sometimes promptly following the originals. This trend persisted into the 1930s, bringing Croatian translations of children’s classics by Barrie, Burnett, Kipling, Lofting, Marryat, Stevenson, Twain, etc., as well as of popular authors adopted by children (Burroughs, London, Conan Doyle, Zane Grey, Poe, etc.). Carroll’s Alice was published in 1944. Translators were guided by individual interests and preferences, and established the foundations for the periods to come. However, such activities gradually diminished during the 1940s. In the following decades available translations were re-published, especially those of books listed as required reading at school, while new Croatian translations were scarce. This situation changed in the early 1980s, and especially in the 1990s. Some debts have recently been compensated through Croatian translations of major works by such authors as Baum, Milne, Lewis, Potter, etc. Today contemporary Anglo-American literature is promptly translated and readily available to Croatian children. The paper explains the wider contexts and circumstances that influenced the depicted developments.

Children's literature; young-adult literature; Anglo-American literature; Croatian literature; translation; cultural contacts

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