Par coeur : twórczość dla dzieci i młodzieży raz jeszcze

Abstract

The monograph Par Coeur. On works for children and young people again is comprised of twelve analytical essays as well as an introduction in the form of an interview (Czarne krasnoludki. Zamiast wstępu – rozmowa / Black Dwarves. A Conversation in Place of the Introduction), conducted by the editors of the monograph with Aleksander Nawarecki, the author of Mały Mickiewicz (Little Mickiewicz) and a pioneer in micrological studies in Poland. The volume has been designed as a collective attempt at expressing and analysing the oftforgotten debt that academics of various sorts – literary scholars, historians, theoreticians and linguists – contracted in their childhood from the books they used to read at the time. It also becomes a pretext to utilize the professional apparatus and competences of the authors in the context of the works of the so‑called “fourth literature”. The volume, therefore, consists of essays drawing from literary texts which vary significantly in terms of genre, time period and scope. Wioletta Bojda, in an article entitled Dziwna książka (A Strange Book) reflects on the 1969 book by Anna Świrszczyńska, Arkona, gród Świętowita (Arkon, the Castle of Świętowit), a mysterious novel about the magical past of the Slavic people inhabiting the Rugia island. The author thoroughly analyses not only the characters but also the plot twists, showing the ways in which the initial idea of writing a novel with a very clear message ends in a creative failure and the novel becomes instead a story about disillusionment. In the following essay, Sara, mała księżniczka królestwa wyobraźni (Sara, the Little Princess of the Kingdom of Imagination) Karolina Jędrych returns to the book of her childhood, in order to read the 1905 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a story of the saving power of imagination, thanks to which a beggar can remain a princess and withstand the cruel test of character. Joanna Kisiel, in her essay W świecie kobiet. O „Królowej Śniegu” Hansa Christiana Andersena (In the World of Women. On Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’) mitologie dla najmłodszych: strategie i pomysły / Contemporary Mythologies for Children: Strategies and Ideas) constitutes an attempt at a review and assessment of the ways in which Greek and Roman myths are incorporated in children’s literature. The author utilises the knowledge regarding older methods of familiarising myths in order to assess the contemporary strategies. Małgorzata Wójcik‑Dudek, an avid Moomin enthusiast, in her essay (U)kochać swój los. Przypadek Filifionki / To Love Your Lot. The Case of the Mrs Fillyjonk discusses one of the secondary characters in Tove Jansson’s series. She presents the Mrs Fillyjonk as an existentialist heroine, for whom the storm, which destroys her house, becomes ultimately a liberating power that allows her to abandon her dreams of a safe place and love her lot in life instead, which brings both happiness and sadness. The penultimate text by Beata Mytych‑Forajter (Wyprawa po ogień. „Krzesiwo” Hansa Chrystiana Andersena / The Quest for Fire. “The Tinderbox” by Hans Christian Andersen) constitutes an attempt at a rereading of the childhood tale. The author poses a question regarding the culture‑forming role of fire, presenting its connection with the narrative, with intensified along with the intensity of the flame: a source of warmth, light, but also history. The closing essay of the volume is a text by Iwona Gralewicz‑Wolny, Od Winifredy do Jakuba, czyli Puchatek była kobietą? (From Winifred to Jacob, or: Was Winnie‑the‑Pooh a Girl?). The author discusses the reasons for the rejection of Monika Adamczyk’s translation of A.A. Milne’s Winnie‑the‑Pooh (Fredzia Phi‑Phi), at the same time rehabilitating it thanks to employing a gender‑oriented interpretation as well as presenting a new outlook on the function of translation and the role of children’s literature.