Apolodor and Zebegény Cover Image

Apolodor és Zebegény
Apolodor and Zebegény

On Gellu Naum's works written for children and their translations

Author(s): Imre József Balázs
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Translation Studies
Published by: Korunk Baráti Társaság
Keywords: desire; Apolodor; Zebegény; parody; children’s literature

Summary/Abstract: Characters in books of children’s literature,as stated in recent theories, are largely defined by their desires – and these desires usually emerge in ’realistic’ plots as a linear succession of events. But what happens when a book of children’s literature assumes a paradoxical view on desire? Gellu Naum(1915–2001), one of the most influential poets of Romanian surrealism created in 1959 an animal character (a penguin) whose name, Apolodor rhymes with the Romanian word for desire: „dor”. This character assumedly and repeatedly defines himself through his desires, but these desires change throughout the story written in verses,presenting the journey of Apolodor also as aparodic quest for the self.The article explores how the differring editions of Apolodor change also the nature of this quest and explains what is the effect of changing the character’s name in the Hungarian translation of Erik Majtényi.The Second Book of Apolodor (1964) being a work illustrated by the author himself, the analysis reveals also a stronger connection between image and verse within the book.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 09
  • Page Range: 23-32
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Hungarian