How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games"

Jakovljević, Marco

doi:10.15291/csi.4889

Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, Vol. 22. No. 1., 2026.

Prethodno priopćenje

How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games"

Marco Jakovljević orcid.org/0009-0007-0270-6225 ; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska *

* Dopisni autor.

Puni tekst: hrvatski pdf 308 Kb

str. 249-273

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APA 6th Edition

Jakovljević, M. (2026). How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games". Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, 22. (1.). https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4889

MLA 8th Edition

Jakovljević, Marco. "How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games"." Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, vol. 22., br. 1., 2026 https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4889. Citirano 24.08.2026.

Chicago 17th Edition

Harvard

Jakovljević, M. (2026). 'How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games"', Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, 22.(1.). https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4889

Vancouver

Jakovljević M. How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games". Croatica et Slavica Iadertina [Internet]. 2026 [pristupljeno 24.08.2026.];22.(1.). https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4889

IEEE

M. Jakovljević, "How the Enemy Becomes a Beast: The Portrayal of the Enemy in Children's Literature by Hrvoje Hitrec "The Smogovci at War" and "The Canyon of Dangerous Games"", Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, vol.22., br. 1., 2026. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4889

Sažetak

This paper analyses the portrayal of the enemy in children’s
literature by Hrvoje Hitrec from the 1990s, focusing on the
novels Smogovci u ratu (The Smogovci at War, 1994) and
Kanjon opasnih igara (The Canyon of Dangerous Games,
1994), as well as their post-war television and film adapta-
tions, which gained relative prominence in Croatia due to
the limited production of live-action films at the time. The
analysis is grounded in imagology (Leerssen) and prior stud-
ies on the history of children’s literature (Zima, Majhut) and
employs narratology and contextual reading. Particular att-
ention is given to identifying the narrative function of child
characters and examining various forms of stereotyping
and mechanisms of dehumanising the Other. The analysis
shows that in Hitrec’s works, the enemy – represented by
the “Chetnik,” often used pars pro toto to signify Serbs – is
consistently portrayed as the bearer of collective evil. The
collective is stereotypically marked through negative coding
of language, appearance, and behaviour, especially through
the attribution of an ethnically conditioned violent habitus.
Furthermore, the analysis reveals that, alongside the narra-
tor and adult characters, even child characters participate in
conveying negative stereotypes and legitimising the con-
flict. The notable propagandistic features of Hitrec’s novels
prompt a critical re-examination of the role of children’s li-
terature in shaping ethnic and moral perceptions and under-
score the need for more responsible representations of the
Other in contexts marked by wartime trauma.