Pleasure and Adaptation

A survey of studies about adaptation indicates that although researchers have concentrated on simple writing and applying elements of fiction in rewriting, yet adaptation of ancient texts for children has not developed much. Since such works lack element of pleasure in children's literature, they have not been popular. It seems what has yet been important is familiarizing children with ancient texts, not creating an appealing text for them. Nodelman has established a new approach for writers by investigating the properties that bring pleasure in children stories and attracting the readers toward the text. By enumerating pleasure indicators, Nodelman has concluded that if a children's literary text is without these indicators there would be no pleasure for the child addressee. Using Nodelman's approach this study analyzes five adaptations. It is argued how and with what techniques, adaptation can be placed into the child literary scope and make it pleasurable for its readers. The uncertainty resulting from duality of ancient text and new text and also the divided consciousness these texts give their readers are the most important reasons of pleasurablity of these texts indicated by techniques like antithesis, contrast, gap and allusion.