Few stories have been translated so often and into so many languages as the classical fairy tales. As such, they are a true challenge for translation studies. This article proposes a methodology for investigating fairy tales in translation. The suggested method is essentially a comparative textual analysis, inspired by translation studies, literary theory, linguistic criticism and discourse analysis. It can be applied to the synchronic research of fairy tale translations within a restricted period as well as to the diachronic research of translations of one or more fairy tales over a longer period of time. A step-by-step model is presented, which makes it possible to classify and analyse changes in translations as well as adaptations. In order to bridge the gap between content and linguistic levels, a linguistic analysis is linked to focal points, grouped under categories from literary studies. The examples come from six recent Dutch translations of Sleeping Beauty, published between 1995 and 2007. In the final part of this study, a scheme is offered for the interpretation of the changes brought to light by the analysis. It takes into account individual as well as social factors and it is based on the concepts of norms, systems and functions. Such a structured method of analysis is hoped to offer new possibilities for the study of fairy tales in translation.

The article opens with an overview of the Polish reception of fairy tales, Perrault’s in particular, since 1700. The introductory section investigates the long-established preference for adaptation rather than translation of this genre in Poland and provides the framework for an in-depth comparative analysis of the first Polish translation of Mother Goose Tales by Hanna Januszewska, published in 1961, as well as her adaptation of Perrault’s tales ten years later. The examination focuses on two questions: first, the cultural distance between the original French text and Polish fairy-tales, which causes objective translation difficulties; second, the cultural, stylistic and linguistic shifts introduced by Januszewska in the process of transforming her earlier translation into a free adaptation of Perrault’s work. These questions lead not only to comparing the originality or literary value of Januszewska’s two proposals, but also to an examination of the reasons for the enormous popularity of the adapted version. The faithful translation, by all means a good text in itself, did not gain wide recognition and, if not exactly a failure, it was nevertheless an unsuccessful attempt to introduce Polish readers to the original spirit of Mother Goose Tales.

The article discusses difficulties with translating Grimms’ fairy tales into Polish. The first part describes the specific features of the original text and presents Bruno Bettelheim’s conclusions about “the meaning and importance of fairy tales.” The second part reviews the existing Polish translations. The third part discusses the main goals of a new Polish translation. The conclusion stresses that the new Polish translation should be addressed to a double audience (both children and adults), as is the case with the original Kinder- und Hausmärchen.

A positive answer to the above question seems obvious after a critical analysis of the reception of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and stories in Poland in the second part of the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century. On the one hand, over a hundred years ago the writer was classified as an author of children’s literature due to intended or unintended misinterpretations of his prose. This classification was then inherited by next generations of readers and translators. On the other hand, numerous translatory mistakes depleted Andersen’s unique style. The analysis shows how Andersen’s narration was changed to traditional literary style, especially when it came to dialogues; how humour and irony were overlooked, misunderstood or judged improper for children; how translators miscomprehended Danish grammar and vocabulary; and how little attention was paid to the coherence of the text. The analysis compares the complete edition of 167 fairy tales and stories translated from Danish (Sochańska 2006) and the complete editon of 155 fairy tales and stories translated from German (Beylin and Iwaszkiewicz 1956), which has enjoyed a canonical status. The comparison not only indicates the difficulties in translating Andersen; it also demonstrates how his prose could be restored to its original shape and how it could again address both young and adult readers.

A brief overview of translation within folklore studies and children’s literature studies leads to the focal point of this article: nineteenth-century Croatian versions of German fairy tales. The analysis concentrates on the textual and paratextual features of the Croatian texts, their relationship to the source texts and their involvement in national integration. Moreover, they are examined as part of empirical research in the history of reading: children’s reception of German children’s books in nineteenth-century Croatia. Finally, they are discussed from the book history perspective: adoption of German children’s literature genres and publishing strategies in the field of nineteenth-century Croatian children’s literature. The discussion of these three aspects indicates that the appropriation of German fairy tales in nineteenth-century Croatian society followed various (oral, written, German-language, Croatian-language) routes and had different outcomes. The complexity of these processes reminds us that literature is not only a symbolic (written, textual), but also a material (reading, editing, publishing) enterprise. It also reminds us that children’s literature is entangled not only in concepts of childhood and literature, but also in other cultural concepts such as nation and class.
 

The translation of Maria Konopnicka’s O Krasnoludkach i sierotce Marysi (The Brownie Scouts) into English is an interesting fusion of two translation strategies usually considered mutually exclusive. At first glance, this careful and faithful rendering of passages describing Polish tradition, culture, history, geography and folklore is a good example of foreignisation. Taking the reader who represents a dominant culture on a trip to an unknown peripheral culture, it seems to counter Lefevere’s understanding of how cultural capital and asymmetries between cultures influence the translator’s decision to adapt the source culture’s exotic elements to the target reader’s horizon of expectations. Thus, her decision not to domesticate the original positions Katherine Żuk-Skarszewska (née Hadley) in a group of translators called bridgeheads by Cay Dollerup. They aim at familiarising the target language audience with most interesting and valuable aspects of the source language culture. Yet this assumption is undermined by Żuk-Skarszewska’s frequent use of reduction technique, which helps her to deal with the culture-specific elements she considers less important. The Brownie Scouts uses two strategies: the translator’s efforts to faithfully preserve some items and fragments characteristic of the source language culture are counterbalanced by her decisions to cut other elements and passages in order to make room for what she judges more worthwhile. As a result, reduction controls the intensity of the overall foreignising effect. This unusual strategy becomes even more interesting to observe, as the elements most readily given up are usually those related to the child (characters, subject-matter and folklore). Paradoxically, it is children who lose most in this translation of the book about them.

The article opens with the introduction of Joel Chandler Harris and his literary output. As one of “local colourists,” Harris depicted American plantation life in 19th-century Georgia and included many cultural as well as folk elements in his works. The following analysis of his stories about Uncle Remus focuses on (1) the levels of narration; (2) the linguistic complexity of the text (the stories abound in slang and dialectal expressions); (3) the form; and (4) the folklore value. These four aspects guide the discussion of the only Polish translation of the Uncle Remus stories. Prepared by Władysława Wielińska in 1929, it was addressed to children. Therefore, the article aims to determine the profile of the translation as a children’s book, to consider it in relation to the skopos of the source text and to establish the extent to which it preserved the peculiar character of the Uncle Remus stories.

The existing Polish translations of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, created in the early 20th century, seem faulty nowadays, mainly due to the loss of various stylistic features of the original. One possible explanation may be a generic absence: a lack of comparable prose style in Polish at the time. In my article I attempt to point out the drawbacks of the two Polish translations of Kipling’s “The Cat that Walked by Himself.” I also present my own, alternative, version.

This article investigates the concept of adaptation in the context of globalization and points to the considerable potential of research into contemporary adaptations. It provides an overview of selected theoretical approaches to the adaptation of children’s literature as well as presents adaptation from a historical perspective. Furthermore, it focuses on selected Disney adaptations of Peter Pan published in Poland at the turn of the 21th century. Of special interest in these Disney adaptations are pictures: identical in different editions, although the accompanying texts differ widely. The visual is thus “recycled,” whereas the textual modifies the style, depiction of characters, use of tenses and culture specific items. The article also introduces the category of glocal adaptations, that is, Disney adaptations retold by Polish verbal masters, such as Jeremi Przybora or Jacek Kaczmarski. Though examples of cultural homogenization, these adaptations are partly indigenized by well-known local figures and may be viewed as glocal texts, where the global and the local overlap.
 

The article opens with the concept of the “world republic of childhood” without geographical and political borders, as conceived by Hazard and promoted after the Second World War. According to O’Sullivan (2004, 2005), this concept of childhood, and consequently of children’s literature, is idealistic and does not address real problems connected with the process of translation. As a matter of fact, translating a book for children from one language into another is not as easy as it might seem: frontiers and custom houses do exist (Bertea 2000: 94). A peculiar cas limite is the reception of the picture book in Italy. Introduced thanks to the pioneering work of the Emme Edizioni publishing house and its translators, the genre was later rejected. Italy had to wait a decade to see the same and similar picture books republished, but it is still paying the price for having initially closed its borders, despite the fact that the translators had paid customs- and import duties. These were determined not only by the child image dominant in the Italian society, but also by the different image of the adult, who was meant to read picture books aloud and who was ready to put on a performance for the child recipient (Oittinen 2000). In particular, the article investigates examples of the discrepancy between the adult and child images of the source and target texts selected from American and English picture books and their Italian translations.

The article starts with a short overview of the fundamental role played by food in children’s literature. The motif of food can convey deep psychological as well as philosophical meanings, and Astrid Lindgren made use of it with various purposes in mind: symbolical, comical, anti-didactic or educational. The main analysis is limited to the Polish translation of the name of one dish in the old Swedish cuisine – palt – which appears in different contexts in Astrid Lindgren’s trilogy about Emil of Lönneberga.

No doubt the world without Winnie the Pooh, Pippi Longstocking, Pinocchio or Moomin Trolls would have been less colourful. Characters from fairy tales imperceptibly slip into young readers’ minds and tend to stay there forever. Children accept them unconditionally and do not ask questions about their descent. Children’s response to books is usually very spontaneous: a love at first sight or an immediate dislike. Therefore, it is very important that they receive “the best” – not only beautiful and wise books but also books that are skillfully translated. Discussing the role of the translator of children’s literature, this article focuses on the child – translator relationship and the translator – author dichotomy. It points to different attitudes toward the translator’s creativity and “visibility.” It examines terminological ambiguities of such notions as “adaptation,” “reconstruction,” “rewriting” and “translation.” Finally, it deals with translation challenges that arise from didactic, entertaining and aesthetic functions of children’s books

This comparative analysis of two translations of Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre” shows how the French conte was adapted for children in England at different moments and reflects different projects. Robert Samber’s “Cinderilla: or, The Little Glass Slipper,” published in Histories, or Tales of Past Times. With Morals (1729), is known as the first English translation of the tale. More recently, Angela Carter’s retranslation “Cinderella: or, The Little Glass Slipper,” published in The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (1977), pays homage to Samber but also modernises the tale to carry a more emancipatory message. While Samber’s translation reflects the working conditions of Grub Street writers and acculturation of Perrault’s fairy tale in Protestant England, Carter gives it a feminist twist as she turns it into a “fable of the politics of experience”. She would later rewrite it as “Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost” (1987), this time using Manheim’s English translation of the Grimms’ “Aschenputtel” as a starting point.