"Šegrt Hlapič": od čudnovatog do čudesnog ed. by Berislav Majhut, Smiljana Narančić Kovač, and Sanja Lovrič Kralj (review)

The international conference "From the Strange to the Wondrous: 100 Years of The Strange Adventures of Hlapić the Apprentice" (April 17-20, 2013; Zagreb and Slavonski Brod, Croatia) was the central event in the year-round, nationwide centenary celebration of Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića (The Strange Adventures of Hlapić the Apprentice; published in English in 1971 under the title The Brave Adventures of a Shoemaker's Boy and in 1972 as The Brave Adventures of Lapitch), a Croatian children's novel penned in 1913 by the four-time Nobel Prize nominee Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938). The celebration of this important occasion, instigated and coordinated for the most part by the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children's Literature, encompassed numerous scholarly, educational, cultural, artistic and other events, organized by more than 150 institutions around Croatia (schools, museums, theaters, libraries, etc.).

One of the most famous and widely read children's novels in the Croatian language, Hlapić holds the distinction of being the most published Croatian children's novel and possibly even the most published Croatian novel in general. The story follows a kindhearted shoemaker's apprentice who runs away from his cruel master with the intention of breaking in an overly tight pair of boots. During his seven-day journey, the little apprentice encounters numerous lively characters, such as the circus girl Gita and the mysterious dark man who steals his boots. Through its numerous translations—the first one, into the Czech language, was published in 1930)—the many (mis)adventures of Hlapić have become an important part of European and world literary heritage.

Given its popularity, impact, and cultural significance, it is hardly surprising that the first Croatian conference dedicated in its entirety to a single work of children's literature had Hlapić at its center. Written versions of the majority of the papers (fifty-six, to be exact)—delivered by participants from Croatia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia—were collected in one dense, eclectic volume entitled "Šegrt Hlapić": od čudnovatog do čudesnog (Hlapić the Apprentice: From the Strange to the Wondrous) and edited by Berislav Majhut, Smiljana Narančić Kovač, and Sanja Lovrić Kralj. Bringing together a variety of approaches and disciplines, this immensely informative and in many ways unique collection within Croatian academia not only provides new insights and models for future research of Brlić-Mažuranić's classic novel but also bears testament to its unabating vitality, complexity, and ability to inspire fresh readings and perspectives.

As is common for publications of this type, the contributions vary considerably in length, depth of discussion, relevance, and overall quality. One thing that is sorely missed in a collection as rich and diverse as this one is a general index that would facilitate readers' navigation among the plethora of assembled material. Fortunately, this lack is partly compensated by the summaries (in Croatian and English) that accompany each paper and the well-considered organization of the book as a whole. The editors are to be commended for successfully arranging the large number of thematically and methodologically diverse contributions into a meaningful whole that maintains a coherent sense of purpose throughout.

Following the editors' introduction, the opening section of this collection contains written versions of speeches delivered at the opening of the Conference (by Dubravko Jelčić and Hans-Heino Ewers) as well as the keynote lectures (by Vinko Brešić and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer). Taken together, the four papers provide a comprehensive introduction to the historical, social, and cultural context in which Hlapić was first published. Through a dialogue with an early review of Brlić-Mažuranić's novel, the work of Croatian writer A. G. Matoš, Jelčić's opening speech highlights the novel's plot, style, and...