engleski

The implied reader in children's texts: a possible or an impossible term?

This paper explores the term “implied reader” as it is used in theoretical considerations of children’s literature. The notion that the implied reader of children’s literature is a child is widely accepted. However, the term exists among many others closely related to it, such as “intended reader”, “potential reader”, “postulated reader”, “ideal recipient”, “model reader”. The boundaries between these concepts and the ways in which they overlap are not always clear. They tend to be used interchangeably, especially in the realm of children’s literature. Besides, the term “implied reader” appears as one of the key components in the model of narrative transmission. In this context, it is paired with the “implied author” as its counterpart, a term that has a history of its own. The paper presents a short history of these theoretical concepts and their appearance in the studies of the most prominent children’s literature scholars. The notions of the “implied reader” are compared with the concept of the implied reader as an abstract construct placed within the narrative itself. Such a definition leads to the question whether an implied reader understood as a child is perhaps an impossible term, and whether the “child implied reader” can be described as an impossible child. Aiming to explain this situation better, the receiving part of the narrative communication model in children’s texts is analysed with respect to the distinctive features of the narratee, the implied reader and the real reader and their mutual relationships. This issue becomes even more relevant when the model of narrative communication is applied as an analytical tool in studying how children’s texts function in translation and in attempting to clarify the mechanisms of their reception in different cultures. The basic model of narrative communication is extended by the notion of the translator’s voice. The role of the narrator doubles, and the “implied translator” also appears, creating the need to introduce new participants of narrative communication at the receiving end, i.e. thetranslation-induced narratees, implied readers and real readers. This additionally complicates the idea of the implied reader in children’s literature, in part due to the asymmetrical (adult-child) communication structure (O’Sullivan 2005) and in part due to the cultural and other differences between the audiences of the source and target texts in their respective cultures. The analysis of “the implied reader” which has been adopted in children’s literature research carries implications for further studies of the narrative models of (the narrative communication of) children’s texts.

implied reader, child implied reader, narrative communication model, children's literature

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