“Maxima Debetur Puero Reverentia”: The Histories and Metamorphoses of Latin Translation in Children’s Literature

Abstract

The chapter offers a concise overview of Latin translation in children’s literature over the past 150 years, considering both its historical legacy and its future prospects. While Latin education in the Anglo-American world witnessed a precipitous decline in the latter part of the twentieth century, the Latin translation of contemporary children’s literature has comparatively spiked in production over the past twenty years, including recent translations of books by Dr. Seuss, J. K. Rowling, and Jeff Kinney. Among other considerations, the chapter considers the reverse dynamic of translation into (instead of from) a classical language. It also raises the question of whether these works are translated primarily for children, or whether they are instead intended as accessible Latin primers/entertainment for adults.