Five short stories by renowned Serb writer Petar Kočić, adapted into comic-book form, have been published in Dutch thanks to writer and translator Nada Golić, who lives in the Netherlands. Her greatest challenge was preserving Kočić’s distinctive humor, satire, defiance and emotion while introducing Dutch readers to the language and spirit of the Zmijanje region at the beginning of the 20th century.
Golić has also translated The Sprouting of Wilderness, a poetry collection by Ljiljana Mačkić, continuing her efforts to introduce Serb literary works to Dutch audiences.
Bringing Petar Kočić’s literary heritage to Dutch readers
Although Kočić’s works have been part of school curricula and literary culture in the region for more than a century, Serb literature remains largely underrepresented in the Netherlands.
“Very few of our writers have been translated into Dutch. That is why I was extremely happy and excited when I had the opportunity to translate Kočić this year,” Golić said during an appearance on RTRS’s morning program.
Translating five of Kočić’s stories proved particularly demanding because of the distinctive language spoken by his characters.
The Zmijanje dialect, rich in archaic words and expressions, can be challenging even for contemporary readers familiar with the region. A literal translation into Dutch, Golić explained, could have distorted the original meaning.
“That is why I decided to translate the dialect passages into standard literary Dutch while trying to preserve everything that makes Kočić recognizable. I wanted Dutch readers to experience his emotions, his defiance and dissatisfaction, but also the tenderness of little Lujo and his childhood innocence. All of that remains in the translation, without literally reproducing the Zmijanje dialect,” she explained.
Rediscovering the characters of The Badger on Trial
Among the translated works, The Badger on Trial holds a special place.
Golić said that rereading the story during the translation process allowed her to discover details she had previously overlooked.
She was particularly struck by the role of David’s unnamed wife, whose significance became more apparent to her during this closer examination of the text.
Another challenge involved expressions and linguistic distinctions that have no direct equivalent in Dutch.
As an example, she mentioned the Serbian verbs ženiti se and udavati se, which distinguish between a man getting married and a woman getting married, whereas Dutch uses a single verb for both.
Such differences required careful adaptation to preserve the meaning and character of Kočić’s writing.
Ljiljana Mačkić’s poetry collection published in the Netherlands
Alongside Kočić’s stories, Golić translated Ljiljana Mačkić’s poetry collection The Sprouting of Wilderness, published in the Netherlands on October 9 under the title Het ontkiemen van de wildernis.
She emphasized that translating poetry presents a different set of challenges because preserving meaning alone is insufficient.
A successful translation must also retain the rhythm, sound and emotional impact of the original verses.
“There is a belief that poetry is not simply translated but recreated in another language. I read Ljiljana’s poems several times, recorded them to hear how they sounded, and then repeated the same process after translating them,” Golić said.
A bilingual presentation of the collection, featuring both Serbian and Dutch, is scheduled for November 12 at the Banski Dvor Cultural Center in Banja Luka.
Plans to translate more Serb authors
During her visit to Republika Srpska and the wider region, Golić has participated in several literary presentations and announced plans for additional translation projects.
One of her priorities is translating her own book, Whirlpools of Life, into Dutch.
She believes the book could appeal to readers in the Netherlands because its stories explore themes and events connected to the Netherlands, Paris and other parts of Europe.
Among the authors whose works she would particularly like to introduce to Dutch audiences are Branko Ćopić, Nobel Prize-winning writer Ivo Andrić and Banja Luka author Ranko Pavlović.
She believes Pavlović’s fairy tales, in particular, could attract considerable interest among Dutch readers.
However, Golić stressed that expanding the number of literary translations requires financial resources and stronger support from cultural institutions.
Translation as a bridge between cultures
For Golić, literary translation is about much more than making books accessible in another language.
She sees it as an opportunity to promote cultural understanding and introduce international readers to the history, identity and literary heritage of the Serb people.
“My goal is to give Serb literature greater visibility in the Netherlands because translation is not merely transferring words from one language into another. It is also an opportunity to introduce our culture, history, identity and literary heritage to a different audience,” Golić concluded.
Source: RTRS
