world_pictures

It remains our aim to draw up a follow-up to the present shortlist which will
include the ten best contemporary (post 1970-) Slovenian picture books to
outline the development of Slovenian picture book output to the present
day. The shortlisted entries will cover talented emerging authors of younger
generations, a diversity of trends and tendencies, the richness of different
visual vocabularies and idiosyncratic styles that go beyond a local context and
carry a universal potential for the world at large.
Note: The entries are listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the writer
and the translations have been done by Tina Mahkota.
1
Niko Grafenauer • Marjan Manček, ill.
Pedenjped [The Littleman]
Mladinska knjiga, 1979 • ISBN 9789610117599
Ever since its first appearance, The Littleman,
brainchild of Slovenian poet Niko Grafenauer (b.
1940), has enjoyed a massive popularity and has
become almost a folk-like character of Slovenian
poetry for children. The richness and versatility
of his extra-literary life can be compared only
to Župančič’s character Ciciban and to Levstik’s
Najdihojca. Following its first publication in 1966,
The Littleman has appeared in many editions of
selected poems and illustrations. However, it is
the sixth edition, featuring ten poems about the
Littleman, illustrated by Marjan Manček (b.1948)
that has gained a true nationwide appeal.
The poems carry a quintessential signature
of Grafenauer’s subtle interplay between the
word sound and sense. The poet’s idiosyncratic
neologisms (starting with the very name of
the character itself, Pedenjped, which would
literally translate as ‘Nine-Inch Man’) are subtly
juxtaposed by colloquial expressions to give the
poems a familiar and cosy local colour. In terms
of form, a consistent trochaic verse pattern
follows either an alternate (ABAB) or a repetitive
(AABB) rhyme scheme, which makes the poems
very regular and firmly structured. Due to their
acoustic quality the poems are especially suitable
and appealing to young readers. The Littleman is
visually represented as a brat with unkempt hair,
picking his nose, but also as a precocious young
“artist” with a vivid imagination. However, his
nearest and dearest do not always understand
or appreciate his musical, artistic and scientific
experiments and antics. It is precisely these
character features that allow young readers to
easily identify with the Littleman almost 50 years
after his first appearance, and provide many a
cue to laugh with and about him.
Pedenjped Nika Grafenauerja (roj. 1940) je
nedvomno eden najbolj znanih, že skoraj ponarodelih
likov slovenske poezije, razvejanost njegovega
zunajliterarnega življenja pa se verjetno lahko kosa
le še z Župančičevim Cicibanom ali Levstikovim
Najdihojco. Pedenjped se je od leta 1966 slovenskim
bralcem predstavil večkrat, v različnih prepletih izborov
pesmi in ilustracij. Šesti ponatis zbirke iz leta 1979
je najverjetneje najbolj znana kombinacija desetih
pesmi o Pedenjpedu in ilustracij Marjana Mančka
(roj. 1948). Pedenjpeda zaznamuje Grafenauerjev
značilni občutek za zven in pomen: domiselnim
neologizmom (z imenom glavnega junaka na čelu)
se občasno pridružijo posamezne pogovorne besede,
ki besedila obarvajo domače, vse pa povezujeta
stalna trohejska stopica in prestopna ali zaporedna
rima, kar zagotavlja močan ritem in trdno strukturo
besedila, ki sta še kako pomembna pri pesmih za
otroke. Pedenjped je predstavljen kot majhen pobalin
s prstom v nosu in razmršenimi lasmi, hkrati pa kot ne
povsem razumljen mali “umetnik” z veliko domišljije –
njegovih glasbenih, slikarskih ali učenjaških poizkusov
doma ne razumejo/sprejemajo najbolje. Kot tak malim
bralcem še po skoraj pol stoletja ponuja tako možnost
samoidentifikacije kot iztočnico za veliko smeha –
bodisi s Pedenjpedom ali o Pedenjpedu.
the world through picture books • books from slovenia • 171