“Once upon a time… and still going on”. The inclusion of the traditional tale in contemporary children’s literature: literary, educational, and translation issues

Call for papers for Issue 13 of the International Journal Syn-Thèses published by the School of French Language and Literature Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

“Once upon a time… and still going on”. The inclusion of the traditional tale in contemporary children’s literature: literary, educational, and translation issues

Over the past forty years, the folk and literary tale has been enjoying an extraordinary revival. Contemporary writers have been inspired by traditional tales and have explored their motifs in a variety of ways in their own fiction, including novels, short stories, plays, as well as new tales. A volume entitled L’épanchement du conte dans la littérature, edited by Christiane Connan-Pintado, Pascale Auraix-Jonchière and Gilles Béhotéguy (2018), brings together several interesting texts that question the relationship of the tale with different literary genres, which it hybridizes by being incorporated into them.

In the forthcoming issue of the journal Syn-Thèses, we propose to address this renewed and hybrid presence of the tale within children’s literature, aiming to highlight the literary, educational, and translation issues that this new tale-writing is confronted with.

Without this being a comprehensive list, here are some questions that could be addressed from one of the following perspectives:

Literary issues

-What do these stories, which are based on traditional tales of all origins, bring to the table, either through an original rewriting or through the use of themes, motifs and characters?

- What is of particular interest in this fusion of genres on a narrative level?

- How can we explain the current enthusiasm over these modern rewritings, which appear in a poetic, theatrical or fiction form, and in which the genre of the tale is updated?

- What does this meeting place of genres have to offer, and how can this hybridisation reflect the problems of today's society (new conceptions of the family, of children, women, changes in intergenerational relations, reflections on violence, social precariousness, problems of identity, etc.)?

- What is the function of humour, parody, and ‘détournement’ in of all these adaptations for children?

- What is the relationship between text and image, and its impact on the narrative, particularly in children's books which have been produced in abundance in recent years?

- How can literary devices, such as allusion, irony, metaphor, etc., be translated into an image? How does this fertile alternation between two semiotic systems operate?

- What is of interest in a comparative study between two different versions of the same tale, for example, the original narrative version and its dramatisation or audiovisual adaptation?

Educational and teaching issues

- How much present are these modern rewritings of tales in teaching-learning methods and/or textbooks?

- How can the intercultural, humorous, and multimodal dimensions of the tale or its adaptations be utilised in class?

- How could the tale be used for didactic purposes within the framework of an active pedagogy: familiarisation of the learner with the world of writing, creative writing workshops, transmission of cultural heritage, bringing together different cultures - French and North African, for example -, etc.?

- How can we develop media and digital literacies, transliteracy, or even the learning of plural languages through storytelling?

Issues arising during the translation process

- What cultural hierarchies over-define the translational choices regarding stories at all levels?

- What is the role of ideology in the translation of tales?

- What translation strategies and techniques allow for the cultural dimension of the text to be restored?

- How are humour, intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as the symbolic dimension of the tale rendered in the target language-culture? What is the impact on orality, musicality and rhythm?

- How can the linguistic message of stories be translated intersemiotically?

- What is the role of the media in the translation of tales?

- How does the target audience and the norms of the genre affect translation choices?

References

Connan-Pintado, C., Auraix-Jonchière, P., & Béhotéguy, G. (Dir.). (2018). L’épanchement du conte dans la littérature. Presses universitaires de Bordeaux.  Coll. Modernités43. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pub.7664

Submission of abstracts: October 11^th, 2022

Submission of articles: February 11^th, 2023, Politimi Makropoulou (politimi@frl.auth.gr) Olivier Delhaye (delhaye@frl.auth.gr) and Simos Grammenidis (simgram@frl.auth.gr )

Language: French, English, Greek

Editorial standards: https://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/syn-theses/about/submissions#authorGuidelines  

Scientific Committee

Marie-Christine Anastassiadi, University of Athens

Olivier Delhaye, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Titika Dimitroulia, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

George Floros, University of Cyprus

Simos Grammenidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Polytimi Makropoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Evangelia Moussouri, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Ioannis Pagalos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Marita Paparoussi, University of Thessaly

Tasoula Tsilimeni, University of Thessaly

Freiderikos Valetopoulos, University of Poitiers