Endless Change

Abstract

Adaptations and rewritings of children's literature are often determined by the prevalent ideology and attitudes in a particular society. Numerous scholars have supported this assertion, such as Zohar Shavit in Poetics of Children's Literature (1986), Göte Klingberg in Children's Fiction in the Hands of the Translators (1986) and Nike Kocijančić Pokorn in Post-Socialist Translation Practices (2012). Stories are adapted to fit the needs of readers in different contexts, and translators have the power to decide what should be adapted and for what purpose. Taking a broad view of adaptation in the specific field of children's literature, the volume under review tackles a variety of adaptation processes, such as transmediality, the orientation of adaptations towards the ideology associated with the pre-text, reverse adaptation, etc. The volume covers a variety of topics, ranging from fairy tale and story adaptations, through retellings of South African stories and ancient myths, to adaptations of comics.The volume contains a collection of essays presented at the 2011 "Adaptation of Canonical Texts in Children's Literature" Conference, held at Ghent University and aimed at bridging the gap between adaptation and canonisation studies. The preface is followed by an introductory chapter (both texts are written by the editors), which explains that many stories live on by means of adaptation. However, since stories are frequently adapted so as to correspond with the new context, they are constantly being reshaped in order to live on and suit new readers. Hence the title, inspired by Michael Ende's book Neverending Story, shows how adaptation allows canonical texts to develop into never-ending stories. Three fundamental concepts of adaptation -socio-political, socio-cultural and transmedial adaptation -are elaborated in three parts of the volume through a number of case studies.Part 1, dealing with the socio-political aspects of adaptation, contains three texts which illustrate the engagement of children's literature with social, political and ethical issues. The three case studies show how canonical texts (Tarzan, Shahnameh and the myth of Prometheus) can be employed to convey outspoken ideological messages. The first text (by Sanna Lehtonen) provides an analysis of a Finnish adaptation of the American classic Tarzan of the Apes, which places the main character, now called Tarsa, in the period during and after the war between Finland and Russia, attempting to create a national identity for Finland by constructing a heroic Finnish identity.The next text ("Adapting the Rebel" by Tahereh Rezaei and Mohsen Hanif) -about reading Shahnameh in Tehran -discusses how an original text can be adapted in different ways during a 20-year period to suit three different regimes, with each of the adaptations emphasising different aspects of the work. In the third text, Sylvia Warnecke tackles writing for children in the context of the German Democratic Republic, using the example of an adaptation of the myth of Prometheus, which diverges ...