Didacticism in Croatian Translations of Children’s Literature on Examples From Anglophone Literature

Abstract

Reading any literary work with the intention of finding life’s truths and lessons or authorial views, political, or ideological messages in the text, we will find a series of explicit or implicit attempts to teach or direct the reader. If we specifically look for it, the element of didacticism can be found in every literary work. However, didacticism is most often associated with children’s literature because it is often believed that it is precisely children readers who need this kind of instruction, message, and direction. Didacticism is recognised by the intention to direct the reader towards an idea or behaviour, and thematically encompasses a spectrum from moral lessons to socio-political dogmas. In the Croatian context, the phenomenon of annotated editions of works included in the required and recommended reading lists is interesting. Methodically annotated works are special for their final overall form and interpretation possibilities, because the literary text is joined by a paratext composed of a methodical instrument, usually in the form of accompanying texts, annotations, and a dictionary of foreign words. In this way, the work acquires the direction of probable interpretation in the educational context and in younger readers. Although both Croatian titles and translations appear in methodically annotated editions, this paper will analyse elements of didacticism in translations of children’s literature on the example of two works from Anglophone literature, Peter Pan and Winnie-the-Pooh. Both works are considered classics of children’s literature and their Croatian translations have been included on Croatian primary school required and recommended reading lists for many years.