Eighty years of The Paul Street Boys in Croatian children’s literature

Majhut, Berislav and Kralj, Sanja Lovrić (2016) Eighty years of The Paul Street Boys in Croatian children’s literature. Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 61 (2). pp. 397-416. ISSN 0039-3363

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Abstract

Recently, we marked 80 years since the first appearance of Molnar’s novel in Croatia (the translation by L. Matijević was published by Minerva in 1933). The novel was first published in 1906. Like other classical works of children’s literature that entered Croatian children’s literature, The Paul Street Boys had to be adapted to the literary and socio-historical context. Turbulent relations between Croatia and Hungary in the early 20th century, on one hand, and the changes in the social context, in particular after 1945, on the other hand, had a considerable impact on Croatian editions of the novel. This study focuses on censorship and adaptation of the text to the circumstances in which it was published. Interventions introduced by the translators and editors that very often went deep into the content of the novel did not have an adverse effect on the popularity of the book with the children’s audience. However, they certainly testify about the times when ideological correctness of the published book was paramount to all other considerations, even esthetical and ethical ones.

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