Naslov
Love and Death in Croatian Children's Literature

Autori
Flegar, Željka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Play and Risk in Children’s and Young Adult Literature - Children’s Literature Association 40th Annual Conference

Mjesto i datum
Biloxi (MS), Sjedinjene Američke Države, 13.06.2013. - 15.06.2013

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
postmodernism; metafiction; children's detective novel; Ivan Kušan; cross-genre novel; intergenerational novel

Sažetak
The presentation will discuss the techniques of metafiction and intertextuality as a means of depicting some of the important elements of Croatian children's literature by using the example of the novel Love or Death (1987) by Croatia's legendary author Ivan Kušan. In 1956 the first novel in the Koko series, The Mystery of Green Hill, was one of the publications that marked the beginning of Croatian modern children's literature which distanced itself from didacticism and focused on the child reader engaged in the process of aesthetic reading. After the adventures in novels such as Koko and the Ghosts (1958) and Koko in Paris (1972), in 1982 the character of Koko appears during the rebellion of various Kušan's characters in Terrible Cowboy (1982) and offers Kušan his own manuscript for revision. The name of the manuscript is Love or Death. Raising the issue of authorship, authority and truth characteristic of metafictional practices, Love or Death is a novel in which the main protagonist Ratko Milić Koko assumes ownership of the narrative, whereas Kušan as the author is "demoted" to the role of a "proofreader, " commenting, correcting and doodling with a red pen in the margins of Koko's text. The novel as an integral part of the series represents a turning point for the Croatian modern children's novel towards postmodernism. Thus, Love or Death retains the legacy of modernity and its markings in the context of Croatian writing for children. Yet, the novel also contains visual deviations, word play, playfulness, irony, cross-genre writing, parody of literary "classics, " hyperbolising, intertextuality, trivialising, character/authorial intrusion, mass media synchronicity, and dissolution of language in its standard form, characteristic of postmodern literary practices (Hranjec 2001). As a cross-genre novel, Love or Death combines elements of realistic fiction with those of modern fantasy and adventure, and in the spirit of Croatia's "father of modern crime novel" features a mystery set in an urban sorrounding. Moreover, the novel is strongly intergenerational, placing the main protagonist on the threshhold of adolescence, and its humour resulting from the power struggle between the authors of a different age and their respective discourse. Due to the fact that Love or Death brings together a very important part of Kušan's opus, as well as various aspects of writings for children pertaining to their target audience, modernity and narrative structure, this work of fiction allows for an overview of trends, genres and crucial turning points in Croatian children's literature. Furthermore, by discussing literary influences at work in Kušan's prose, such as those of Mark Twain or Erich Kästner, as well as juxtaposing Love or Death to other representative works of metafiction by authors such as Edith Nesbit, Roald Dahl or J. K. Rowling, it will be shown that this novel is a superb example of children's metafiction and a valuable contribution not only to its domestic culture, but to children's literature in general.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA