The Dutch are experts in making cheese and in growing tulips. It is what we are known for. (I can say ‘we’ since I am a Dutchie, a book addict and a cheese lover, hence the title of this blog.) Unfortunately, our children’s literature is not getting across the borders as much as our cheese and flowers, despite its quality. I think that is a pity since I would argue that children’s literature gives us a valuable insight into our cultural differences and similarities. Aidan Chambers said in one of his essays that ‘One of the things that makes books from other cultures so interesting is that their view of the world is a little different from our own – a different perspective, a different set of attitudes and assumptions, not least assumptions about what is all right for children to know and read about’ (119). I agree with Chambers, and I would add that in our globalized world it is vital to visit each other’s literary bubbles.
According to research done in 2016, only 3,5% of fiction sold in the UK is translated from other languages. A higher percentage of translations is sold in the Netherlands. I would like to see more translated work in our mutual bookshops. I feel we are all missing out. I am not only referring to Dutch books which are not available in English. I also see some great English titles missing in Dutch translations. Why is there no recent translation of Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden? Where is the Dutch translation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses? And why is ‘Elke dag een druppel gif’’ - a heartbreaking account about a young boy who is sent off to a ‘Hitler school’- by Wilma Geldof not on the English market yet?
These blog posts are written as part of an assignment for the MA Children’s Literature at Roehampton University that I am currently doing. This term, we have looked at historical novels, picturebooks and concepts of time, which is why I have chosen one classical historical novel, one time-slip novel and one wordless picturebook to discuss. In my blogs, I will show the reader why I think these books have international significance.
Bibliography:
Chambers, Aidan. “In Spite of Being a Translation”. Reading talk. Thimble Press. 2001
Man Booker Prize. (2016). First research on the sales of translated fiction in the UK shows growth and comparative strength of international fiction | The Man Booker Prizes. [online] Available at: www.themanbookerprize.com/international/news/first-research- sales-translated-fiction- uk-shows-growth-and-comparative-strength [Accessed 2 May 2021]
Flood, A. (2016). Translated fiction sells better in the UK than English fiction, research finds. [online] The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/09/translated- fiction-sells-better-uk- english-fiction-elena-ferrante-haruki-murakami [Accessed 1 May 2021]
© All images and all written content on this blog is created by me, apart from the images from ‘The Stripe’ which were provided by Natascha Stenvert. For more information on sources used, please see bibliographies underneath every post. This blog is made for educational purposes only.