How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children’s Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec The Smogovci at War and The Canyon of Dangerous Games

Abstract

This paper analyses the portrayal of the enemy in children’s literature by Hrvoje Hitrec from the 1990s, focusing on the novels Smogovci u ratu (The Smogovci at War, 1994) and Kanjon opasnih igara (The Canyon of Dangerous Games, 1994), as well as their post-war television and film adaptations, which gained relative prominence in Croatia due to the limited production of live-action films at the time. The analysis is grounded in imagology (Leerssen) and prior studies on the history of children’s literature (Zima, Majhut) and employs narratology and contextual reading. Particular attention is given to identifying the narrative function of child characters and examining various forms of stereotyping and mechanisms of dehumanising the Other. The analysis shows that in Hitrec’s works, the enemy – represented by the “Chetnik,” often used pars pro toto to signify Serbs – is consistently portrayed as the bearer of collective evil. The collective is stereotypically marked through negative coding of language, appearance, and behaviour, especially through the attribution of an ethnically conditioned violent habitus. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that, alongside the narrator and adult characters, even child characters participate in conveying negative stereotypes and legitimising the conflict. The notable propagandistic features of Hitrec’s novels prompt a critical re-examination of the role of children’s literature in shaping ethnic and moral perceptions and underscore the need for more responsible representations of the Other in contexts marked by wartime trauma.