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Children's Literature in Translation: Challenges and Strategies (review)

Though the study of children’s literature is now well established as an academic discipline, the study of its translation has only recently begun. One reason for this neglect in the English-speaking world is the very small amount of foreign children’s literature currently translated into English, and the domination of foreign markets by translations from Anglo-American children’s books. Latterly, however, issues of multiculturalism, and recognition of the global influence of children’s books (revealed by, for example, the unprecedented success of the Harry Potter series), have led to questions about the principles that should govern such translations, and about their cultural impact. ‘Never has there been a greater demand to be able to read books from other areas of the world,’ writes Ronald Jobe in his contribution to Peter Hunt’s International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature ; ‘children need to read the best literature other countries have to offer. We must meet this challenge by respecting and providing the best in translations or they will be cheated out of part of their global heritage.’ The essays in the collection under review recognize the missionary aspect of translation for children as well as reflecting the increasing scholarly interest in it. In particular, they address issues arising from what they see as a shift in focus from the source text to the target text and therefore to the target readership. But because children’s literature is characterized by a dual audience (of adults as well as children), translators’ choices are inevitably coloured by their desire to cater for adult views on childhood, and by an adult understanding of what it means to write for children. This collection explores the field of translating for children by considering not only general theoretical issues but how individual translators have engaged with specific texts and with particular problems that arise from character Reviews