engleski

(Evil) children and cruelty to animals in Croatian children's magazines (1864 – 1945)

The aim of the paper is to study the construction of the image of an evil child based on the literary contributions in popular Croatian children's magazines: the first Croatian magazine for young readers „Bosiljak“ (1864 – 1868), then „Bršljan“ (1873 until 1903 but not in continuation) and finally „Smilje“ (1873 – 1945), „Bosiljak's“ successor and the most long-lived Croatian children's periodical. Methodologically based on literary history and theory, childhood studies and cultural and literary animal studies, the analysis shows how in the second half of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century the idea of a bad child was constructed primarily with regard to the child's abusing behaviour towards animals. This is set in contrast with the good child's ability to empathise with the weaker and the helpless. The moral evaluation of the child depended on his or her behaviour towards them in general, and towards animals, seen as equally weak and unprotected, in particular.

Croatian children's magazines, „Bosiljak“, „Bršljan“, „Smilje“, (evil) children, animals, empathy

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