engleski

Inside and outside: Lived-in spaces in Croatian picturebooks since the 1950s

The paper presents a longitudinal study of the visual discourses of Croatian picturebooks in the second half of the 20th century and in the 21st century. It focuses on real places presented primarily in the visual discourses of Croatian picturebooks and analyses how their selection and representation changes during a period of 65 years. Narrative and non-narrative picturebooks are examined, as well as alphabet books, picture dictionaries and non-fiction picturebooks presenting living spaces. Only picturebooks in which both verbal and visual text are produced by Croatian authors are considered. A comparative content analysis focuses on the categories of home, school, street and the immediately surrounding landscape, the way they are presented as a child’s space of belonging and how they are informed with specific meanings through depicted objects. The form of belonging is also analysed: national/international, political, ideological, family-oriented, peer-group oriented, etc. A diachronic analysis reveals a general shift in focus from outside towards inside spaces. This is explained by the changes in the ideological and political contexts in different periods of Croatian history, in which not only the notion of childhood, but also the idea of children’s literature and its role transforms from open didacticism towards an acknowledgment of the child’s individuality and cultural and literary needs, similar to those of an adult.

Croatian picturebooks ; visual discourse ; lived spaces ; belonging ; representation of childhood ; historical perspective

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