Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY FORMATION

A THESIS IN ENGLISH/ARABIC

TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING

Presented to the faculty of the American University ofSharjah

Colleges of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS

By: YARA MOURAD

B.A. 2001

Sharjah , UAE

May 2005

©2005

YARA MOURAD

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

AND CULTURAL IDENTITY FORMATION

Yara Mourad , Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree

American University ofSharjah , 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 4

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 5

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER TWO: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE 8

2.1. Definition of Children’s Literature 8

2.1.1. Children’s Literature as a Part of Adult Literature 8

2.1.2. Children’s Literature as a Separate Genre 9

2.1.3. Islamic Perspective on Children’s Literature 9

2.2. History of Children’s Literature 10

2.2.1. History of Children’s Literature in the Arab world 11

CHAPTER THREE: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: THE CURRENT SITUATION 13

3.1. Aims and Usages 13

3.2. Problems Encompassing Children’s Literature 14

3.2.1. Obstacles on the Academic Level 14

3.2.2. Political and Cultural Obstacles 16

3.2.3. Obstacles in Publications 18

CHAPTER FOUR: THE TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE 19

4.1. Lack of Relevant Data and Information 19

4.2. Cultural Influence 21

CHAPTER FIVE: TRANSLATION: A THEORETICAL PLAN 23

5.1. Translation Models 23

5.1.1. Linguistic Systems 23

5.1.1.1. Formal Equivalence: J.C. Catford 23

5.1.1.2. Dynamic Equivalence: Eugene Nida 23

5.1.1.3. Pragmatic Criteria: Werner Koller 24

5.1.1.4. Textual Equivalence: Hatim and Mason 24

5.1.2. The Cultural Model 25

5.1.2.1. Translator Invisibility: Lawrence Venuti 25

5.2. Ideology as a Case Study 25

5.2.1. Cultural Penetration 25

5.2.2. Illustrations in Children’s Literature 27

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 29

REFERENCES 31

Arabic References 31

English References 31

ABSTRACT

Children’s literature and its translation are considered new fields in the literature arena. In this paper, the issue of translating children’s literature is addressed and the specific problem of children’s identity formation in the Arab Islamic world is examined.

This study then explores translation theories related to ideology formation. Finally, suggestions and recommendations for preservation of cultural identity are put forward.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All praise and thanksbe to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, for His Providence and Devine Guidance and for helping me see this work through.

Many people had played a role in the completion of this work. I would like to extend my gratitude to my professor and supervisor of this MA thesis Dr. BasilHatim for his constant support, insight and guidance that saw me through the MA program and assisted me in accomplishing this task. My sincere thanks also goes to my professors at the American University ofSharjah , Dr. SaidFaiq who for the past three years has been a mentor and an inspiration and Dr.Rana Raddawi who never hesitated to extend an assisting hand. I am also grateful to the American University ofSharjah , United Arab Emirates, for allowing me use of its facilities that helped carry out this work.

Finally, I would like to extend my utmost appreciation and heartfelt thanks to my father who never ceased to believe in me and helped in realizing my dreams and to my family and friends for their back-up and encouragement. Last but not least, I am forever grateful to my fiancé for his support, patience and goodhumour that was a continuous drive and motivation.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Children’s literature is considered one of the most prominent doorways through which a child is first introduced and exposed to the real world. Its influence on the child’s development and shaping of ideologies has been brought to the attention of many intellectuals and educationalists. Therefore it naturally followed that restrictions and limitations were applied on nations’ governmental levels as means for controlling and manipulating the information accessible to children.

Yet the question that comes to mind is who bears the responsibility of supervising what is being written and/or translated for children and how is it being applied on real grounds? Furthermore, how is writing and translating children’s literature affecting the structuring of a child’s identity? And what are the means and mechanisms employed to accentuate these effects or rather, how is the lack of mechanisms in supervising children’s literature on its various levels negatively influencing the child’s identity formation?

This paper will strive to shed some light on some answers by presenting the views already put forth by scholars in this field in addition to giving an overview of the status of children’s literature translation and its role in children’s identity formation in the Arab Islamic world specifically. The following chapters will attempt to present a general view on the factors influencing Children’s literature and its translation.

Chapter one is divided into two sections. Section one will give a review on the existing definitions in the field of children’s literature and the controversies found in trying to define it, whereas section two will attempt to present a briefing on the history and development of children’s literature both on the global level and the Arab Islamic world.

Section one of chapter two will move on to introduce the current situation of children’s literature and the aims that it was employed in so far. The second section will attempt to point out the various problems encountering the field of children’s literature which the reader will notice to be branching out and present on many different levels- political, social and economical.

The translation of children’s literature is addressed in Chapter three. This chapter will try to give an overview of the status of the translation in addition to its relation with the status of writing for children’s literature.

In chapter four, there will be a concise summary of some theories of translation in the first section and then the main theme of the paper, which is the influence of children’s literature and its translation on children’s ideology formation, will be highlighted in section two of the chapter.

Finally, some suggestions for the restriction of the negative influence of children’s literature and its translation on the Arab Islamic child’s identity and the development of the field will be put forward in the concluding chapter.

Overall, this paper does notendeavour to give the reader clear cut solutions or even representations of the influence and status of children’s literature translation, for the presence of different views and perspectives makes it difficult to render final answers. But rather it is just an attempt to portray and collect the existing data in this new field in hope that it can be used as a reliable base for future research and development.

CHAPTER TWO: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

Defining Children’s literature and its history of development are both controversial issues in the field of literature. This chapter will present the different views present in both arenas with an emphasis on the Arab Islamic world.

2.1. Definition of Children’s Literature

Since what a literary author writes about is, more often than not, his or her perspective on life, society and ideology rather than the reality itself, thereexists a controversy between the literary schools of thought in defining the concept of literature in general and what characteristics it possesses.

This makes it an even harder task to define children’s literature (CL) as the fact remains that CL, being a new theme that has been introduced into mainstream literature, has not yet established norms and conventions. Furthermore, this also makes it open to different speculations and theories that might even be extreme, regardless of the fact that they were not scientifically proven or well researched.

A general definition of children’s literature can be summarized as the literature that is aimed at children in their growing years and is suitable for their stage of mental and psychological development. This includes written material for children that are not yet interested in adult literature (AL) or do not yet possess adult reading skills (Bika’ee , 2003).

Roger Sale highlights the problematic issue of trying to define and categorize children’s literature as follows:

‘Children’s literature is the only literary category that defines an audience rather than a subject or anauthor’( cited in Stahl, 1992, p. 12).

The age span for CL is believed to start from childbirth and specifically from the stories that are narrated to the child by its mother, i.e. oral literature, and can stretch to as much as 24 years (which is the complete childhood phase). In this case, CL would include both oral and written literature and comprises songs, theatre, poems, cinema, television and story.

The question thatstill concerns theorists of CL is does CL exist as a genre on its own or is it considered part of AL. There are opinions supporting both viewpoints each with their own supporting arguments which will be presented below.

2.1.1. Children’s Literature as a Part of Adult Literature

AbuMu’al (2000) defines general literature as the effect that is induced in a reader when reading or hearing the literature, be it with the aim of entertainment or mere interest, or the effect that induces change in the individual's stances and perspectives of life i.e. that moves our emotions and minds. For him, CL is a part of AL and therefore the same definition of AL applies to CL, only difference being that CL addresses a specific audience in the society.

He elaborates to say that CL links between tradition and social experiences which in turn pass down from generation to generation. It is a way of experiencing the deep meanings of life and preparing children for exposure to the outer world by teaching them about life in the past, present and future. This is in addition to the fact that since adults write and narrate this literature, CL is not isolated from mainstream AL, as it is conveyed from the same ideology and imagination of the adult’s who have the authority and power to control what is addressed to children.

Therefore, as the effect of literature is believed to be the same on both adults and children, CL cannot have a definition independent of AL and should not be considered a genre of its own because it just differs from AL in children’s conception, mentality and experiences compared to adults.

2.1.2. Children’s Literature as a Separate Genre

The other opinion claims that CL is a genre of its own and must be separated from AL in both definition and characteristics. PerryNodelman states:

Children’s literature is not just literature written for children in mind, nor is it just literature that happens to be read by children. It is a genre, a special kind of literature with its own distinguishing characteristics. Identifying those characteristics and defining that genre are the major tasks immediately confronting serious critics (cited in Gannon, 1992,p . 59).

Eman Bika’ee (2003) believes that CL is the product of literature that is addressed to children and takes into consideration their characteristics, needs and levels of development. But although CL is simple and straightforward it cannot be considered a smaller version of AL as it has its own characteristics that are related to the nature of children. Children cannot be considered young adults but rather they differ from them in both the degree of development and the direction in which they develop. Hence they have different needs and characteristics that are only inherent in their time span which will eventually disappear when these children grow up and reach the adulthood phase. In effect, writers of CL must take into consideration the child’s abilities and stages of mental, psychological and social developments. Subsequently, this viewpoint concludes that it is faulty to deduce that AL can be transformed to CL by merely simplifying the language by which children are addressed.

2.1.3. Islamic Perspective on Children’s Literature

As this thesis will focus on CL in the Arab Islamic world, it is essential to clarify how CL is defined and understood from an Islamic perspective.

According toKilani (1998), unlike mainstream literature, Islamic literature emanates from an Islamic perspective derived from the Islamic monotheistic creed (Quran andHadith ) and the history of Islamic nations. This is not to say that Islamic literature should be isolated from society, for the Islamic author shoulders the responsibility of presenting society, depicting its problematic issues and analysing their dimensions objectively bearing an Islamic perspective and taking into account all literary factors such as entertainment and linguistic prose.

As for its differentiation from AL, Islamic CL is believed to only differs from mainstream Islamic literature in the fact that it is addressing children as a specific audience, and those children although have limited experiences possess unlimited and vast imagination.

HenceKilani defines CL as the literature that is inspired from the Islamic values, principles and creed and is used as a basis to build the structure of the child mentality, psychologically, spiritually, attitude wise and physically. Furthermore, CL also contributes in building the child’s natural skills and different abilities in accordance with the Islamic educational basis while bearing in mind the clarity of vision, logic and credibility. This literature includes story, theatre, acting, poetry,nasheed and song in addition to general every day manners.

2.2. History of Children’s Literature

The evolution of CL has undergone various stages and upheavals which influenced the direction of the path taken in defining its role and characteristics.

In old times, literature was based on myths that were narrated orally and later progressed to stories that had influence on maintaining the tribe and preserving culture while bearing in mind the aim to instil tribalism in children’s nature (Bika’ee , 2003).

Historians agree that CL existed where childhood existed due to it being part of the child’s daily life, yet no CL documentation is found as it was not studied or recorded probably because of the conception that CL was considered part of the everyday duties of the family, grandmother, mother, father etc. As a result, CL was under the influence of personal or individual judgment and it became an essential part of inherited stories of culture and society i.e. folk takes and oral tradition.

Children did not have their own literature as an established field in the sense that became known in modern times until after the 20th century. There were factors that paved the way for CL through those who wrote stories that captured the children’s interests and narrated them as tales. Children used to relate to CL orally and it was only after education was introduced that they started reading CL from books (AbuMu’al , 2000).

In contemporary times, human sciences developed and research on child psychology increased. Child literature crystallized and started being addressed in 17th century Europe (Kilani , 1998). However CL become a specialized field of its own only after the separation of child psychology from general psychology in the 30s of the 20th century, despite the fact that it was slowly growing since the 17th century (Ba’albaki , 2000).

‘Child literature’ appeared as a specialized term in France in the 17th century but at that time, authors of CL used pseudonyms for fear of being demeaned in front of the general public as acknowledged writers. It was not until CharlesPerreaux wrote the children’s story ‘Mother Goose’ under a pseudonym that the general perception of children's authors changed. The book was well received and favoured by the public which drovePerreaux to write another children’s story series but this time using his own real name (AbuMa’al , 1998).

It was when Jean Jacque Rousseau took the first steps of studying children as individual identities that the angle of CL research in France changed into a more serious form during the 18th century. Later on,books like ‘A Thousand Nights and One’ were translated into French and the first children’s magazine in the whole world was issued. The stories aimed to entertain children and expand their imagination.

England followed on France’s steps in CL development and started translating French stories. Industrialization in the early 19th century brought about the need for education so as not to threaten the security of the establishment. Sunday schools were first used as means of child education then later on progressed to the establishment of a national day school system which lead to the increase in demand for children’s school books (Mdallel , 2003).

The Englishman John Newberry, who is considered the father of CL in England, was the first person in the world to form a children’s library. He requested that literary authors write for children and simplify AL, like Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s travels, according to their childhood stage. The 20th century witnessed the golden age for CL as the printing and publishing houses specializing in this field increased.

From there on, CL spread to other countries like Germany, Denmark, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, America and Japan.

2.2.1. History of Children’s Literature in the Arab world

There also exists controversy regarding the origins of CL in the Arab world. Was it actually present there all along or was the birth of CL in the Arab world a direct result of both its birth in 17th century Europe and the translation of literary texts from foreign languages into Arabic?

CL did not become a clear concept in the Arab world until the 20s of the 20th century (Kilani , 1998). It grew rapidly between the 70s and 90s until a number of well written literary texts were available in every Arab country and it is believed that CL started out as morals derived from stories of adventures and hardships of life due to the tough living environment. CL later on developed to father-child narratives of crops and environment in order to introduce children to life and have them learn through exposure.

Tribes were then formed and CL took up a new style ofstory telling which was based on war stories, chivalry and courage. Prior to Islam, AL, especially the renowned stories and news, used to work for children. Tribes recited poetry and stories of adventures, wars and victories and children at those times were able to grasp the concepts of culture and society through them. This form of social education was taken a further step by the women in the tribe who later on narrated the same stories to the children in a more simplified manner.

After Islam, storytellers acquired their CL from the stories recited in the Holy Quran which spoke of previous prophets, prophet Mohammad-Peace Be Upon Him-and past nations. The stories, simplified to suit children, later on expanded with the expansion of the Islamic nation to include the companions of the prophet, the history of Islam and its spreadthrough out the world.

This brings us to the dilemma concerning the origins of CL.Bika’ee (2003) states that CL appeared in the Arab world in the 17th century as a result of the spread of CL from France and Europe in general. It appeared in Egypt in particular on the hands of Mohammad Ali andRafa’a AlTahtawi through translation, and AhmadShawqi who was considered the first person to write a book for CL. The Arab world followed the footsteps of Europe and replaced the oldQuranic schools with the European educational model after contacting the west through the colonization period (Mdallel , 2003).

Kilani (1998) on the other hand believes that the roots of CL in our world extend from the depth of Islamic history where it was performed as part of everyday duties of the family and community. Al Faisal (2001) supports this view and believes that despite the different opinions on this issue, Arabic CL began as poetry written for children and not in the form of novels and short stories and thus it existed in the Arab world before the translation of CL from other languages. She believes that the writing of stories like ‘Kalila Wa Dumna ’ and ‘A Thousand Nights And One’ was in fact having Arab products revert back to Arabs through cultural exchange or acculturation i.e. it was a process ofarabicization and not translation as these stories were Arabic in origin before being translated into French.

Despite the fact that the beginning of CL in its formal form differed in time between the Arabs and Europeans, the style of literature was similar. Many factors contributed to the development of Arab CL in modern times for several reasons and the most important ones were:

The appearance of the child in the global cultural arena.

Spread of education.

Acculturation.

External effects of the book, illustrations, pictures colours etc.

The language that addresses the child and is part of his language dictionary.

The understanding of the moral issues and its affect on child behaviour.

Whether CL is a genre of its own or not many questions still remain. It can be deduced from the above views that when examining these issues it is essential to take into consideration the perspective from which these definitions come from. When considering that children are just ‘young adults’ who view life and its experiences from the same spectrum as adults, it would be natural to assume CL to be part of AL. Whereas if one should look at children as individuals with distinctive needs and characteristics it might induce viewing CL as a separate genre. This factor is linked to the history of CL as it is related to the development of theories of child psychology which need to be addressed in a separate research study. The next chapter will examine the next stage of CL which is its aims and the problems associated with them and thus might help further grasp its alluded sense as a concept.

CHAPTER THREE: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: THE CURRENT SITUATION

When examining CL and its translation, it is very significant to first look at the aims and usages that it has taken on during different times and places. Not only does this reflect a certain ideology in that given time span and culture but it also helps shed a light on the roots of the problems that have evolved in this field, as there exists a direct relation of cause and effect between them. This chapter aims to study these issues in more depth.

3.1. Aims and Usages

The developed studies and research in child psychology resulted in altering the old fashioned belief regarding the aim of education. To give a child some education used to mean accumulating the child’s brain with as much information and data as possible. Modern studies stress that the aim of child education is not just to accumulate information but also to educate the child in all aspects of his or her life whether physical, emotional, mental or social without compromising one for the other.

Through out the development of CL no boundaries or rules were set to determine the real aim for CL and its role when addressing children. This it seems depends largely on the culture that CL is presented in and what it holds as its priorities. CL has always been considered a means for educating children and is related to didactics even though there have been changes in perspective regarding what is to be taught. This is a tendency which is gradually decreasing in the western world but is still alive in Arab societies (Mdallel , 2003). In general, CL should be able to satisfy the child’s curiosity and imagination while providing experiences. Its importance also lies in the fact that it should enrich the child’s language, knowledge, imagination, focus and entertainment.

According toKilani (1998), the aims of CL are one of three, either to provide entertainment, didactics, or to combine both aims of providing entertainment and didactics. One view is that CL, whether in the past or present, aims to educate children and teach them good conduct, for what the role of CL should be is to help children understand the meaning of life and its repercussions and then help them understand the relationships present between them and others in the society they live in. The child should be able to use it as a tool to learn about his or herself and physical surroundings and environment in addition to social experiences which in turn makes CL not just a means of entertainment but also a means for acquiring knowledge and presenting human experiences.

Thus the main aim for CL is first didactic and not entertainment but nevertheless, entertainment is needed and must be used in order to establish the link between the idea the author wants to convey and the child. Therefore, creative writing skills are a necessity for every CL author to be able to merge both elements and achieve the required effect. CL must aim to appeal to children through benefit and entertainment by good plot, characters and artful writing skills and then only after achieving the entertainment would the author of CLbe able to put forward the idea or concept that he or she wants to convey.

As for the Arab Islamic world, CL is mainly didactic and aims to teach children to grasp the dichotomy between good and evil (Mdallel , 2003). It is a form of translation of goals and aims and so is considered a means to an end and not an aim in itself. Promoting nationalism and Islam are major themes governing CL in the Arab world (ibid). In a study published in 2001, Arab scholar AzizaManaa set the spreading of Islamic morals as the main aim for children’s literature. For example, theseera (life story) of the prophet Mohammad-Peace Be Upon Him-is written for children with the intention of using him as a guide and idol for them and this stems from the heart of Islamic belief that Islam is a way of life.

On the other hand, there are who believe that CL should be written for the mere aim of pleasure and entertainment.Faiza Nawar (ibid), for example, criticizes the lack of imagination present in CL in the Arab world and blames it on the cultural taboos and religious constraints that govern any choices regarding writing for children.

3.2. Problems Encompassing Children’s Literature

CL is still considered a marginalized concept in many cultures and has many boundaries which stand in the way of its development and progress as a professional field. The constraints and obstacles are present on many different levels. There are hindrances emitting from the governmental political situation of a given country, the authors of children’s literature, the publishing houses, society and culture. This section will present these obstacles and will try to address the factors leading to their increase.

To begin with, it is not easy to undergo a research study on children’s literature due to its marginalization and lack of institutions dedicated to children’s literature in general, and in the Arab world in particular, as the field is still very new.Zohar Shavit argues

Because the field is new; the field is young; the field is currently establishing a range of sound and responsible scholarly work which is, at the same time, refreshingly stimulating. As a legitimate field of academic scholarship,children’s literature is only beginning to make a name foritself , yet its status is ambivalent and often patronizingly addressed (cited in Suleiman, 2005, p. 2).

3.2.1. Obstacles on the Academic Level

Suleiman (2005) believes that unlike the case in western cultures, CL in the Arab world is almost non-existent and the marginality of CL is evident on both the institutional and individual levels.

On the institutional level, there are no specialized departments in universities (this is also the case in western institutions), no Nobel Prize nominees, lack of books and resources on CL in libraries. On the individual level, writers use pen names to deny that they specialize in this field as it is considered of less importance than AL. Yet despite this, CL did exist in the Arab world as was mentioned above even if it was not in a documented form.

One of the major obstacles facing the development of CL is the lack of consensus between authors and educationalists on how to define it. The accumulation of CL makes it essential to be able to categorize this field before attempting to study it, but since it has not been agreed whether to accept it as a genre of its own or as part ofAL, it is inevitable that the first step in the path of studying CL is unstable.

A second important issue is the lack of documentation of CL in the Arab world. The only bibliographical guide available in the Arab world on CL is Al Hajji’s book‘Bibliographical Guide to Arab Children’s Books’ published in three volumes (Al-Hajji 1990, 1995 and 1999) which presents figures on the different genres of CL (Mdallel , 2003). This in itself reflects the problems existent in CL documentation as it is noticed that in volume one, which was between the period of 1950 and 1990, only 11 publications were documented before 1978. One reason can be that the author failed to find all the published titles during that period or it can be that one third of the bibliographical entries have no date of publication. This phenomenon is less apparent in volumes two and three. Moreover, volume one contains 1051 entries only whereas there is a total of 6000 entries in the bibliography. Furthermore, the bibliographical guide does not include publications from all Arab countries either because they are scarce, non-existent or the author was unable to find them all (ibid).

A third factor is the status of CL in the Arab world. Despite the increasing number of CL books and authors in the Arab world, it has been noticed that regardless of the quantity of CL currently available, the quality of the literature has taken on a low status. On the level of the CL authors, this is due to a number of reasons. The first reason is the lack of understanding of child psychology, situations, ability and needs in society. In order to address children, the CL authors must be well acquainted and well knowledgeable in issues concerning child psychology and development otherwise, they will fail in building bridges with the children in order to convey the message required or to achieve the entertainment effect. Authors tend to believe that the main criterion for CL is simplifying the language to lead to easy reading. But one must remember that children are honest critics who reject and accept openly with no reservations by simply relying on pure instinct and feeling of entertainment rather than literary academic skills, which they will not be expected to possess at this stage.

Therefore, for an author to be successful in writing CL he or she must abide by two necessary criteria, the first being knowledge of children’s psychology or at least seeking the help of child psychologists and educationalists, the second is employing an entertaining and stylistic literary prose so as to capture the child’s attention and interest (Kilani , 1998).

The second reason is the profit orientated perspective that the authors of CL might adopt. Due to the increasing need for CL in the market, publishing houses seek profit gain which in turn leads to CL being written for commercial purposes only rather than educational and/or entertainment. They are therefore consciously or unconsciously harming CL rather than benefiting it due to their ignorance of its characteristics and profit oriented aims. This attitude leads to publishing CL books that have no scientific or educational basis. Furthermore, CL books that do not have any literary characteristics start accumulating and in turn raise another question which is whether these books should be actually considered as part of general literature mainstream. (Bika’ee , 2003)

A fourth obstacle that has to do with literary authors in general and CL authors in particular is their tendency to adopt an individualistic attitude in their work. What is meant by individualistic attitude is the lack of organization and planning amongst CL authors on what should or should not be written.

In her book, Al Faisal (1998) refers to three studies that analysed the moral content in the texts addressing the Arab child. The three studies had almost similar results. The main findings pointed to the individuality in proposing morality to children and the lack of a common value system amongst authors of Arabic CL because they concentrated on some morals and excluded others. For example, they concentrated on promoting values of knowledge, behaviour, success, freedom and patriotism and ignored values of forgiveness, modesty, obedience, religion and the unity of separated countries. The only evident reason is that the authors addressed issues from their own perspective, experience and education without acknowledging what their co-authors have put forth. If promoting the value of knowledge for example, is evident in one or two texts then it can be acceptable but when all the authors address this same concept then it becomes redundant and thus unacceptable and leads to a negative impact on children in general and CL as a field.

The current situation necessitates that the relationship of the Arab author with moral values elevates from the level of individualism to objectivity. Arab literalists seem to understand the importance of values but fail to realize its scientific nature i.e. its ability to direct the actions of children and the fact that they reflect reality of the environment and society around. The concepts of what is good and evil, right and wrong are relative which is why Arab CL authors need to detach themselves from personal prejudices and subjectivity. In order to overcome this dilemma there mustexist a common basis for judgement. A solution proposed by Al Faisal (1998) is to study and analyze the history of the Arab Islamic heritage so as to come up with a system of values which promote a whole Arab child identity. This system, she believes, will then help in reflecting the present and in defining future ambitions and aims. A great challenge is set with this proposal. Various studies and research must be conducted, and cooperation between scholars and government officials on the level of all Arab countries must take place in order to reach a common agreement. This is in itself difficult to implement and adhered to as will be clarified later in the chapter.

Yet one must not overlook the fact that most authors of CL feel the need to carry the responsibility of promoting positive values to children through their individual experiences. But this should be done by forming a basis of agreement with co-authors in the same field on values that must be further promoted. As a result, the values will complete each other and one whole value system will be achieved rather than having to repeat what specialized institutions in education and child rearing already present.

3.2.2. Political and Cultural Obstacles

One other factor that added to the negative effect of focusing on specific values and ignoring others is the Arab authors’ reactions and experiences as a direct consequence of political separatism and media in the Arab world.

The political separatism that the Arab nations are suffering from resulted in the birth of governmental systems that differ in political policies and promote values that support their agenda and bring it to realization. The CL author is naturally both affected and restricted by the governmental system and values of his or her country and thus these values are endorsed in the texts written for the children while the values that the policy of his or her government does not promote or all together ban are consequently ignored.

This problem is further enhanced by the fact that Arab authors are not only affected by political separatism but are also being influenced by its repercussions and that is the current status of Arabic media. For example, during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in 1982 and the national resistance in the south and later the Palestinian Intifada, the Arabic media was promoting the values of resistance, defending ones country and dying for it. These values were apparent in the texts of CL during that period. Accordingly, Al Faisal (1998) believes that CL is actually a follower of media and dependent on it rather than being the initiator of values. This belief was confirmed when these values gradually faded away from CL books after the media’s interest in these issues decreased. Whether this phenomenon of focus and ignorance is a direct result of author individualism or influence of national policies, the main result is that CL remains not united.

The culture in which the CL exists in is a main player in influencing its direction.Nawar (Mdallel , 2003) believes that there is a lack of imagination in the Arab world due to the taboos and traditions which are a result of traditional education and religious affiliations (ibid). The didactics being the main concern in the Arab culture had most CL authors view the Arab child as an empty page that needs to be filled with knowledge. This unfortunately is the society’s concept of what a child is and goes hand in hand with the school systems that share the same view and take the same stance of solely providing knowledge to the child. Therefore when a child approaches a literary text voluntarily in hope of finding entertainment and suspense and then ends up discovering that what is in those CL books are very similar to what is already being given in schools, he or she rejects such redundant literary work.

An interesting point that Suleiman (2005) brings up is that the marginality of CL also emits from the fact that some cultures assign the organization of CL at the institutional level to women. This might be due to the cultural and/or ideological belief that motherhood; hence womanhood and childhood go hand in hand. This is further accentuated by the fact that theaudience of CL are children who hold a subordinate relationship to the adults who control what must be given to children; despite the fact that children are the ones that must acknowledge CL and determine whether or not this literature is for them. Thus women being already marginalized in most cultures, Arab culture being one of them, and CL being a new field with a non-adult audience adds up to augment the peripheral condition of CL.

3.2.3. Obstacles in Publications

There are other apparent and concealed problems of Arabic CL, some of which are mentioned below. As for the apparent problems there is the lack of copies being published and accessible to children, probably due to the lack of profits gained from the books that are not considered commercial. Another constraint is the restriction of some books to travel across Arab borders due to either governmental bans or lack of organization and planning.

Some concealed but rather serious concerns facing CL in the Arab world and need more attention are the weaknesses of ‘internal and external’ effects present in CL. External effects refer to issues like the suitable size of the books, font, paper type, cover page etc. The internal effects are the concepts that help develop the spiritual imaginary world of children and their methodology of thinking and emotions, i.e. contribute in building their character.

The workers in the field of CL realize that the weaknesses present in the internal and external factors stem from the fact that CL authors did not study child psychology deeply enough and did not live with the Arab children to understand their needs, interests and perspectives. For as mentioned above, they thought that having literary skills was sufficient for writing and thus lost the factors that attract the child to the hobby of reading. Even when it comes to children’s libraries, it was just an issue of book collection rather than choosing the proper book for the proper development stage and age span. There is also another evident concern that literary books prevail over scientific ones and that there exists a deficiency in books that teach children their rights and role in the society as individuals. All these problems reflect our understanding, or lack of it, of the significance of reading for children yet this does not mean that there is no positive progress in this regard but rather that these problems must be dealt with in order to prepare children to enter the 21st century.

As was evident from the above, the problems facing CL are a result of various factors most of which require adequately conducted studies and research. Yet many constraints might hinder such developments. The next chapter will look at the translation of CL and examine the factors enveloping its growth.