engleski

The Analysis of Paratexts in the (Re)translations of Oliver Twist into Croatian

Translation history has in recent years attracted considerable academic interest around the world. However, research on retranslations in children’s literature in Croatia and its correlation with any of Pym’s four principles (1998) central to investigating translation history, i.e. attention to causation, a focus on the human translator, a hypothesis projecting intercultural belonging, and the priority of the present, is still in its infancy. The aim of the present study is to examine paratextual elements in the Croatian (re)translations of Charles Dickens’ classic social novel Oliver Twist ; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (1837-39), published in many reprints and editions in Croatia. In other words, supplementary verbal and non-verbal material accompanying the (re)translations (such as forewords, afterwords, footnotes, acknowledgements, illustrations etc.) will be analyzed and discussed in detail, bearing in mind that the narrative structure of a translation, inter alia, may be affected by the translator’s voice (Schiavi 1996). In this study, we will explore the presence of the translators’ voices in the (re)translations of Oliver Twist, and how this (in)audibility, conditioned by differing socio-cultural contexts, might have affected the reading and interpretation of the novel that has been on the reading lists for Croatian primary schoolers ever since the early 1950s.

paratexts, retranslations, Croatian translation history, children’s literature, translator’s voice

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