Etika, estetika i ideologija u dječjoj književnosti

Iako zanimanje za etiku, filozofiju morala, traje oduvijek i ne jenjava, čini se da znanstvenu zajednicu, u novije vrijeme, u filozofiji ništa ne zanima više od toga područja. S izraženijim propitivanjima kulture 21. stoljeća, pitanje ljudskoga djelovanja u kontekstu poimanja kreiranja „dobra ili zla“ doživljava vrhunac i to vrlo oprječnih i suprotstavljenih znanstvenih analiza i interpretacija. Stalno se raspravlja o (ne)etičnosti svijeta koji nas okružuje, prečesto i površno shvaćajući ili tek doživljavajući taj pojam, a u umjetnosti i književnosti upravo razvoj suvremenih književnih teorija doprinosi i intenzivnijem razvoju etičke kritike, interdisciplinarne poveznice filozofije i znanosti o književnosti. Ovaj rad kroz različite kritičke pristupe raspravlja o ulozi etike i etičke kritike, estetike i ideologije u dječjoj književnosti te kritički analizira pozitivne i negativne vidove danih fenomena.

Oceanic Spaces in American Girl Historical and Contemporary Literary Discourse

The American Girl series is a constantly evolving book series for children featuring the lives of girls living in different historical periods of the US, starting from the colonial era up to nowadays. The aim of this paper is to study the verbal and nonverbal portrayal of the oceanic spaces of the past in the books about the historical characters and their rediscovery in the books about the contemporary characters. An attempt is made to analyse the different roles of oceanic images in stories of migration and mobility of the American Girls, their families, friends, acquaintances both in the past and in the present. The images of the oceans in the books about the historical characters and in those about the contemporary characters are analysed separately and the results are compared and contrasted. It is assumed that the oceans which are depicted both verbally and nonverbally in the American Girl series have become not only territorial borders for some of the characters but also metaphoric ones.

Why Write Stories about the Past?

The article focuses on three representative literary works for children between 9 and 12 by Christos Boulotis, a renowned contemporary Greek writer of children’s literature. His works which are exemplary of a broader tendency of contemporary Greek historical literature for children revolve around the concepts of the personal and public past and of personal and collective memory. We show that the specific works by Boulotis tend not only to make the concepts of the personal and public/historical past an issue but also to stress the importance of these concepts for the lives of contemporary people. At the same time, we show that because literature for children is inevitably ideological, the concepts of the personal and public historical past are used by Boulotis as a resource for the promotion of specific contemporary ideologies which are at the forefront of the public debate in contemporary Greek society, such as the universality of the experience of being a refugee, anti-racism, and pacifism.

Bijaše jednom, kako nikad prije nije bilo

Grimmove bajke vjerojatno su najpoznatije i najomiljenije priče na svijetu. One su nadahnule ne samo mnoge druge autore bajki nego su vječita inspiracija i ostalim umjetnostima. Postoji mnoštvo književnih adaptacija Grimmovih bajki; tako je Aliz Mosonyi, mađarska književnica za djecu, nanovo ispričala tri bajke: Csipkerózsika [Trnoružica] (2007.), Jancsi és Juliska [Ivica i Marica] (2007.) i Piroska és a farkas [Crvenkapica] (2008.). Zatim je prepričala još nekoliko Grimmovih bajki u knjizi Egyszer volt, ahogy még sose volt – tizenkét és fél Grimm mese [Bijaše jednom, kako nikad prije nije bilo – dvanaest i pol Grimmovih priča] (2014.). U ovom se radu analiziraju navedene reinterpretacije klasičnih Grimmovih bajki uspoređujući ih s izvornim Grimmovim tekstovima te se istražuje kako ilustracije u tim knjigama vizualno prikazuju svježe dosjetke, fin humor i moderan jezik Aliz Mosonyi, pri čem se promatra i intermedijalni odnos crteža i teksta u spomenutim knjigama, uočavajući pritom razlike između suvremenih ilustracija i onih kanonskih.

Loyalty and Javanese Women in Indonesian Folktales for Children

This study analyses the representation of the loyalty of Javanese women in Indonesian folktales for children. We apply a textual analysis from the perspective of feminism and some elements of the literary sociology approach to the analysis of four Indonesian folktales. We conclude that in Indonesian folktales Javanese women are obliged to be loyal to rulers and institutions – which are functionally one and the same. Javanese women who display loyalty often earn symbolic and other benefits, while those who are disloyal or defiant meet a tragic end. The voices of women are not conveyed by the authors of the analysed texts. Therefore, Indonesian folktales impress upon young readers, particularly children, the notion that loyalty to the state and authorities is of paramount importance.

Representations of Museums and Museum Visits in Narrative Picturebooks

Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks to illuminate various aspects of visual and textual representations, this study analyses the ways museums, museum visits, and museum exhibits and activities are represented in contemporary narrative picturebooks featuring a child character going to a museum for a variety of reasons. Analysis of approximately fifty museum picturebooks using a multimodal content analysis tool led to the construction of findings in the following themes: representations of museums; representations of museum exhibits; museum visitors; reasons for museum visits; museum activities and events; children’s attitudes while visiting museums; and metaleptic transgressions in picturebook representations. The findings suggest the potential implications of these multimodal texts in the hands of teachers and young readers.

Unhappy Birthdays in the Novels by F. H. Burnett (A Little Princess) and Charles Dickens (David Copperfield)

This article deals with “unhappy birthdays” in the novels of Charles Dickens and Frances Hodgson Burnett. Both writers follow the folklore tradition of depicting young characters who have to take care of themselves after a parent’s death. In the novels David Copperfield and A Little Princess, the news of their parent’s death comes on the child’s birthday. This article studies why this particular day is chosen, under what circumstances the children survive their trauma and what makes them capable of moving on. The news of the parent’s death on the child’s birthday seems to mark the start of a new period in each character’s life, a test that has to be passed. Having passed the test and won a moral victory over the circumstances, the child gets an opportunity to move on and be happy again.

Pitanje žanra u stripu na primjeru Andrije Maurovića

U ovom prilogu naglasak je na definiranju stripa i na problematizaciji tema i žanrova u tom mediju na primjeru opusa Andrije Maurovića. Semiotički gledano, strip razvija drugačiji tip tekstualnosti od tradicionalnoga književnoga teksta jer u procesu formiranja značenja paralelno uključuje vizualnu i verbalnu sastavnicu svojega diskursa. Također, primjeri odabranih Maurovićevih naslova i njihov tematsko-žanrovski presjek implicitno vode u smjeru prihvaćenoga književnoteorijskoga zaključka o relacijskom karakteru pojma žanra i subverzivnom karakteru umjetnosti. S obzirom na složenu evoluciju stripske umjetnosti, u prilogu se okvirno raspravlja i o umjetničkim medijima i formama koje sa stripom imaju neke dodirne točke, kao što su književnost, dječja književnost, ilustrirane knjige, slikovnica, itd.

Pjesme o mačkama za djecu i odrasle

Knjiga starog mačka o mačkama svakodnevnim (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, 1939.) zbirka je pjesama Thomasa Stearnsa Eliota, velikana engleskoga pjesništva prve polovice dvadesetoga stoljeća. Izvorno namijenjene djeci, Eliotove pjesme o mačkama interpretativno su bogate i kao takve zahvalno štivo za raznoliku publiku. Ovaj rad bavi se pitanjem imena i identiteta oslanjajući se na književno-animalističko iščitavanje Eliotovih stihova pri čemu se uočava negiranje antropocentrične hijerarhije živih bića. Baveći se identitetom personificiranih mačaka, Eliot potiče čitatelja na humanije razmišljanje o mačkama i svojim živopisnim prikazima mačjih tipova i dogodovština upućuje na to da je njihov život jednako vrijedan i opterećen sličnim problemima kao što su ljudski, evocirajući ono što će se tek desetljećima kasnije nazivati bioetičkim egalitarizmom, posthumanizmom i teorijom identiteta. Dok u pojedinim književnim tekstovima mačke figuriraju samo kao simboli dobre ili loše sreće, smrti, čarobnjaštva, i sličnoga, kod Eliota one su punopravna živa bića koja dijele ovaj zemaljski dom s ljudima i drugim neljudskim bićima.

A Psychoanalytic Reading of Selected Persian Children’s Plays

Once theatre aims at children, who are the citizens and decision makers of the future, it can influence the course of society through the values and worldviews that it promotes. The exceptional capacity of this medium in engaging the audience, along with children’s receptiveness, necessitates a meticulous study of the ideologies embedded in plays. This study unravels how these ideological factors can hamper the theatre’s main purpose which is to encourage the audience to form individual fantasies. Accordingly, Žižek’s theories are drawn upon for their hints on ideology, fantasy, reality, and subjectivity. Taking his psychoanalytic views into account, four Persian plays are examined to determine what ideologies underlie these plays’ motifs and instructions, as well as what may justify their presence in plays. On close inspection, it becomes evident that these plays are loaded with conscious manipulative ideologies which are intended to train homogeneous social members rather than present objective glimpses of real life.