Censorship in translations of children's literature in the former Yugoslavia (1945-1991)

master's thesis

• Author: Nina Čvek
• Mentor: Marija Andraka (mentor)
• Committee member: Ivana Cindrić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Marija Andraka (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Ivana Milković (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Teacher Education; Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2021-09-17, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology

Abstract

After the establishment of The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed into Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) with Josip Broz Tito as its leader after World War II, the South-Slavic countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia) were united. The Communist Party had the main role in reforms and departments within The Central Committee of the Communist Party, later renamed into League of Communists of Yugoslavia, under the influence of the Soviet Union. The Department for Agitation and Propaganda (Agitprop) controlled the entire political, cultural and educational life in the spirit of socialist realism and ideology. The publishing business, including literature, was strongly controlled and supervised. Agitprop’s role was to decide what could be written and published and which foreign literature could be translated.
The aim of this thesis is to present analyses of translations by choosing several titles of foreign children’s literary works which were translated into Croatian – how they were translated and what was censored during Tito’s Yugoslavia.
An analysis of the children’s books, the contexts in which they appeared and their translations has shown that the socialist regime did not support anything that was related to religion. Besides, strong characters who developed their own opinions were also censored in order to prevent children questioning the socialist regime.

Abstract (croatian)

Uspostavom Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije (kasnije Socijalističke Federativne Republike Jugoslavije) na čelu s Josipom Brozom Titom nakon drugog Svjetskog rata, države Južnih Slavena (Hrvatska, Srbija, Bosna i Hercegovina, Crna Gora, Slovenija i Makedonija) postale su ujedinjene. Komunistička partija Jugoslavije koja je bila na čelu države, provodila je mnoge reforme pod utjecajem Sovjetskog saveza te su stvoreni razni odjeli u sklopu Centralnog komiteta Komunističke partije, kasnije Saveza komunista Jugoslavije. Odjel za agitaciju i propagandu (Agitprop) nadzirao je sva politička, kulturna i obrazovna tijela u Jugoslaviji promovirajući socrealizam i njegovu ideologiju. Izdavačka djelatnost bila je tako pod nadzorom Agitpropa, koji je odlučivao što i kako će biti napisano i objavljeno te koja će se strana djela prevesti ili ne.
Cilj ovog rada je prikazati analize prijevoda stranih dječjih književnih djela na hrvatski – kako su se prevodila, zašto su se prevodila tako i što se cenzuriralo za vrijeme Titove Jugoslavije.
Može se zaključiti da su se strana djela na hrvatski prevodila tako da se promovirala ideologija države, a religijski motivi su bili cenzurirani. Likovi jakog karaktera sa svojim razvijenim stavovima bili su također cenzurirani kako bi se spriječilo preispitivanje socijalističkog režima.

• Keywords: censorship; communist Yugoslavia; translations of children’s literature; socialist realism
• Keywords (croatian): cenzura; SFR Jugoslavija; prijevodi dječje književnosti; socrealizam
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:147:514972
• Study programme: Title: Integrated undergraduated university study with english language and german language; specializations in: English language, Deutsche sprache; Course: English language; Study programme type: university; Study level: integrated undergraduate and graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra primarnog obrazovanja (magistar/magistra primarnog obrazovanja)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2022-07-08 10:15:19