The notion of the international canon of children’s literature is a tricky one, because it is based on two main presumptions that may not necessarily be true within children’s literature in different nations: first, that it is indeed an English canon (exception made for very few works originating from other cultures, such as Pinocchio) and second, that the canonical children’s books translated into other languages are still the same books as the original. In my paper I will explore this question taking as an example a very divergent position of the “canonical” A.A.Milne’s Winnie the Pooh in Italy and in Poland. In Italy, in spite of a number of translations throughout the decades, Milne’s book has never entered the “Italian” canon of children’s literature other than in its impoverished and flattened Disney version. In Poland, on the other hand, Winnie’s adaptation made in Thirties by Irena Tuwim emerged as a cult book, both for children and adults, and became definitively a “Polish” canonical work. It has maintained this status until our days, resisting even the pressure of Disney’s industry. What are the reasons for such a blatant disparity of status in thes two countries and how do they reflect a more general problem of translation/adaptation processes in the field of children’s literature?
To Be or Not to Be a Canonical Text of Children’s Literature: Polish and Italian Translations of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ / Wozniak, MoniKa Malgorzata. - STAMPA. - (2013), pp. 195-212.
To Be or Not to Be a Canonical Text of Children’s Literature: Polish and Italian Translations of ‘Winnie the Pooh’.
WOZNIAK, MoniKa Malgorzata
2013
Abstract
The notion of the international canon of children’s literature is a tricky one, because it is based on two main presumptions that may not necessarily be true within children’s literature in different nations: first, that it is indeed an English canon (exception made for very few works originating from other cultures, such as Pinocchio) and second, that the canonical children’s books translated into other languages are still the same books as the original. In my paper I will explore this question taking as an example a very divergent position of the “canonical” A.A.Milne’s Winnie the Pooh in Italy and in Poland. In Italy, in spite of a number of translations throughout the decades, Milne’s book has never entered the “Italian” canon of children’s literature other than in its impoverished and flattened Disney version. In Poland, on the other hand, Winnie’s adaptation made in Thirties by Irena Tuwim emerged as a cult book, both for children and adults, and became definitively a “Polish” canonical work. It has maintained this status until our days, resisting even the pressure of Disney’s industry. What are the reasons for such a blatant disparity of status in thes two countries and how do they reflect a more general problem of translation/adaptation processes in the field of children’s literature?I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.