Naslov
How did Fairy Tales Become a Genre of Croatian Children’s Literature? Book History without Books

Autori
Hameršak, Marijana

Izvornik
Primerjalna knjizevnost (0351-1189) 35 (2012), 1; 65-77

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
book history; Croatian literature; children’s literature; 19th century; fairy tales; publishing; book market

Sažetak
Fairy tales were a marginal genre of Croatian children’s literature until the turn of the 1870s, when three illustrated book series were launched. These three book series were the first to define fairy tales as the representative genre of popular Croatian children’s literature and the first to publish Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Little Brier-Rose etc., which would become ubiquitous children’s literature narratives in subsequent decades and centuries. The differences between these and the previously published fairy tales are discussed, comparing the communications circuits of fairy tales published in the 1860s and the 1870s, on the one hand, and fairy tales published in these book series, on the other. The starting point of the article is the fact that the history of these book series is in fact a book history without books. The history of these three book series in particular is a book history without books, because the majority of the discussed books have been lost. Two of these editions (one named Priče … and the other Tisuć i jedna noć) are completely lost and books from the third series (named Pričalice) are only partially available today. These circumstances redirect the interpretation from texts and peritexts towards epitexts ; from headings, subtitles and the text of the narrative towards advertisements, subscription lists, reviews, catalogues etc. They also redirect the interpretation from texts to books as material objects and historically specific social and cultural aspects of materiality. Paradoxically, books from these book series were not included in the material heritage collections such as libraries and archives, because of their pronounced materiality (luxury book design, larger formats, number and type of illustrations etc.) which set them apart from the late nineteenth-century concept of a book and moved them closer to the concept of a toy.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Etnologija i antropologija

POVEZANOST RADA