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Cromwell in the Shtetl: Translations of Non-Jewish Literature in Early Hebrew Periodicals for Children

Publication date: 06.2023

Studia Judaica, 2023, Issue 1 (51), pp. 69 - 94

https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.23.004.18221

Authors

Agnieszka Jagodzińska
University of Wrocław, plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3953-4280 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

Cromwell in the Shtetl: Translations of Non-Jewish Literature in Early Hebrew Periodicals for Children

Abstract

This article presents preliminary research on literature translated into Hebrew and published in the early Hebrew press for children. The periodicals under study are Olam Katon (Jerusalem, 1893), Gan Sha’ashu’im (Lyck, 1899–1900) and Olam Katan (Vienna/Cracow, 1901–1904). The article discusses not only what was translated in these periodicals, but also how and why certain pieces were translated. As the majority of the translated children’s literature was written by non-Jewish authors, the author is especially interested in the translators’ strategies of dealing with the sometimes obviously Christian content and how they negotiated the extent of “otherness” to which they exposed Jewish children. In addition to identifying some general tendencies, the author offers a close reading of three translations of stories by Mark Twain, Agnes Giberne and Edmondo de Amicis which serve as illustrations of the discussed problems.

References

1. Primary sources

Periodicals

Gan Shaashuim (Lyck, 1899–1900).

Olam Katan (Vienna/Cracow, 1901–1904).

Olam Katon (Jerusalem, 1893).

Literary works

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Cuore. Libro per i ragazzi (Milano, 1889), https://archive.org/details/cuorelibroperira00deamuoft/page/n7/mode/2up[retrieved: 13 Mar. 2023].

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Ha-ben ha-tov (sipur) [The Good Son (a Story)], trans. Israel Shaf (Cracow, 1907).

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Ha-ben ve-avivḥoleh (sipur) [The Son and His Sick ‘Father’(a Story)], trans. Israel Shaf (Cracow, 1907).

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Ha-naarah ha-giborah (sipur) [The Hero Girl (a Story)], trans. Israel Shaf (Cracow, 1907).

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Kadur sheleg (sipur) [Snowball (a Story)], trans. Israel Shaf (Cracow, 1907).

Amicis, Edmondo, de, Naar shovav (sipur) [Naughty Boy (a Story)], trans. Israel Shaf (Cracow, 1907).

Giberne, Agnes, Among the Stars, or Wonderful Things in the Sky (London, 1885).

Giberne, Agnes, Unter den Sternen, oder wunderbare Dinge am Himmel, trans. E. Kirchner (Berlin, 1897).

[La Fontaine, Jean de], Mishlei La-Fontaine. Meshalim nivḥarim [La Fontaine’s Fables. Selected Fables], trans. Shmuel Leib Gordon (Kraka [Cracow], 1907).

Niemojewski, Andrzej, „Matka i dziecko” [Mother and Child], in id., Prometeusz. Szalony bieg. Ludzie z zawiązanemi oczyma. Matka i dziecko [Prometheus. Mad Race. Blindfolded People. Mother and Child] (Warszawa, 1900).

Prus, Bolesław, „Z legend dawnego Egiptu”[From the Legends of Ancient Egypt], in id., Cienie. Z legend dawnego Egiptu. W górach [Shadows. From the Legends of Ancient Egypt. In the Mountains] (Warszawa, 1895).

Twain, Mark, “Death Disc,” http://www.twainquotes.com/DeathDisk.html [retrieved: 11 May 2022].

2. Secondary sources

Assaf, David, “‘Katan ve-ḥamim’? - Ha-shir ‘Oyfn pripetshik’ve-ha-shinui bedimuyav shel ha-ḥeder”[Small and Cozy? The Song ‘Oyfn pripetshik’and the Transformation of the Image of the ḥeder], in Immanuel Etkes, David Assaf (eds.), Ha-ḥeder: meḥkarim, teudot, pirkei sifrut ve-zikhronot [The ḥeder: Studies, Documents, Literature and Memoirs] (Ramat Aviv, 2010).

Copson, Belinda, “Agnes Giberne,”in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (8 Apr. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/58972 [retrieved: 12 June 2022].

Daw, Gillian, “On the Wings of Imagination: Agnes Giberne and Women as the Storytellers of Victorian Astronomy,” The Victorian 2 (2014), 1.

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Even-Zohar, Itamar, “Polysstem Theory,”in id., Polysystem Studies [= Poetics Today 11 (1990), 1].

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Jagodzińska, Agnieszka, “How to Create a Hebrew Reader? Olam Katan (1901– 1904) and the Young Hebrew Reading Public,” Childrens Literature in Education (2022), https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10583-022-09520-w.pdf [retrieved: 22 Dec. 2022].

Kaleta, Patrycja, „Ciąg dalszy nastąpi. Kilka uwag na temat powieści gazetowych w odcinkach” [To Be Continued. Some Remarks on Serial Novel in Newspapers], in Ewa Bartos, Marta Tomczok (eds.), Literatura popularna [Popular Literature], 1: Dyskursy wielorakie [Multiple Discourses] (Katowice, 2013).

Kogman, Tal, “The Emergence of Scientific Literature in Hebrew for Children and Youth in the Nineteenth Century: Preliminary Directions for Research,” Jewish Culture and History 17 (2016), 3.

Krzywiec, Grzegorz, Polska bez Żydów. Studia z dziejów idei, wyobrażeń i praktyk antysemickich na ziemiach polskich początku XX wieku (1905–1914) [Poland without Jews. Studies on the History of Antisemitic Ideas, Phantasms and Practices in the Polish Lands of the Early Twentieth Century (1905–1914)] (Warszawa, 2017).

Ofek, Uriel, Sifrut ha-yeladim ha-ivrit ha-ḥadashah ha-hatḥalah [New Hebrew Children’s Literature –the Beginning] (Tel Aviv, 1979).

Reshef, Yael, “The Re-emergence of Hebrew as a National Language,”in Stefan Weninger et al. (eds.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (Berlin–Boston, 2011).

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Shavit, Zohar, “Deutsche Einflüsse auf jüdische Kinderliteratur”[German Influences on Jewish Children’s Literature], Ariel 97 (1994).

Shavit, Zohar, “From Friedländer’s Lesebuch to the Jewish Campe: The Beginning of Hebrew Children’s Literature in Germany,” The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 33 (1988), 1.

Shavit, Zohar, “‘Hachi ba-bayit ba-olam.’Al ‘biyut’be-sifrut ha-yeladim hameturgemet le-ivrit”[‘Go Abroad and Feel at Home’ –on Domestication in Translated Children’s Literature], Bikoret u-farshanut 46 (2020).

Shavit, Zohar, “Hebrew and Israeli Children’s Literature,”in Peter Hunt (ed.), International Companion Encyclopedia of Childrens Literature (London, 1996).

Shavit, Zohar, “The Status of Translated Literature in the Creation of Hebrew Literature in Pre-State Israel (the Yishuv Period),” Meta 43 (1998), 1, https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/meta/1998-v43-n1-meta172/004128ar.pdf [retrieved: 25 July 2022].

Shavit, Zohar, “Translation of Children’s Literature as a Function of Its Position in the Literary Polysystem,”in Itamar Even-Zohar, Gideon Toury (eds.), Translation and Intercultural Relations [= Poetics Today 2 (1981), 4].

Shavit, Zohar and Yaacov, “Lemale et Ha-arets sefarim. Sifrut mekorit leumat sifrut meturgemet be-tahalikh yetsirato shel ha-merkaz ha-sifruti be-Erets Yisra’el”[To Fill Erets Yisra’el with Books. Original Literature versus Translated Literature in the Process of Creating the Literary Center in Erets Yisra’el], Ha-sifrut 25 (Oct. 1977).

Toury, Gideon, “An Enlightened Use of Fable: Christian Fürchtegott Geliert in Hebrew Literature,”in Dirk de Geest et al. (eds.), Under Construction: Links for the Site of Literary TheoryEssays in Honour of Hendrik Van Gorp (Leuven, 2000).

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Information

Information: Studia Judaica, 2023, Issue 1 (51), pp. 69 - 94

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Cromwell in the Shtetl: Translations of Non-Jewish Literature in Early Hebrew Periodicals for Children

English:

Cromwell in the Shtetl: Translations of Non-Jewish Literature in Early Hebrew Periodicals for Children

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3953-4280

Agnieszka Jagodzińska
University of Wrocław, plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3953-4280 Orcid
All publications →

University of Wrocław, plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland

Published at: 06.2023

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Agnieszka Jagodzińska (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

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Publication languages:

English