One of the most interesting aspects of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1999[1946]) is its dual address. The illustrated narrative is at once a charming story for children and an allegory inviting adults to consider philosophical questions. In the graphic-novel adaptation of the book by Joann Sfar (2008), this allegory is obscured:; the abstract, philosophical ideas recede to the background while the material details of the story become more prominent. But this recession of the allegory does not mean that the adaptation turns its back on adult readers completely. The graphic novel creates a web of intertextual references, which, among other things, amplify the suggestion in the source text that the protagonist is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself. It thus displaces the adult interest from allegory to autobiography and the mechanism of adult address from allegory to intertextuality, restricting its adult audience. For those adult readers who remain addressed by the graphic novel, however, the text identifies itself explicitly as a translation, which has consequences for we should think about the “voice” of the translator. Un des aspects les plus intéressants du livre Le Petit Prince d’Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1999 [1946]) tient au fait que le récit illustré est une histoire charmante pour les enfants en même temps qu’il invite les adultes à réfléchir à des questions philosophiques. Dans l’adaptation du récit en bande dessinée par Joann Sfar (2008), les éléments abstraits du livre s’estompent derrière les détails concrets de l’histoire. Cet effacement de l’allégorie ne signifie pourtant pas que la bande dessinée tourne le dos aux adultes : elle crée un réseau intertextuel qui renforce l’impression donnée par le texte source que le véritable protagoniste est Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ainsi, l’intérêt pour les questions philosophiques se reporte sur l’autobiographie et, passant de l’allégorie à l’intertextualité, la bande dessinée sollicite alors moins les adultes. Cependant, pour les adultes auquelles la bande dessinée s’addresse toujours, le texte s’identifie explicitement comme une traduction, ce qui implique une réévaluation du concept de la “voix” du traducteur.

The humor of Mark Twain has long fascinated his readers. Critics such as Messent (2007), Budd (2005), Gerber (1988) and Camfield (2005) have all analyzed Mark Twain’s humor to reveal nuances and to help further the understanding of what makes Twain’s writing humorous. However, there is a distinct gap in the research so far conducted investigating Twain’s humor in relation to young readers, which this paper will begin to address. Twain’s novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2007) poses a relevant subject for this research as Twain explicitly (in the preface to the novel) professes to write both for children and adults simultaneously. Writing in such a way can be categorized as either “double address” or “dual address”, understanding these terms according to the definitions of Barbara Wall (1991). In this paper I will argue that Mark Twain manages to create “dual address” in Tom Sawyer by using what Greg Camfield (2005) calls “amiable humor” and constructing scenes out of childhood in order to produce delight and nostalgia. By reading closely excerpts of the book and analyzing Twain’s specific use of humor through three prominent theories—superiority theory, relief theory and incongruity— it becomes possible to identify what the implied reader is meant to find humorous, and therefore if Twain manages to establish a “dual address”. An understanding of Twain’s humor from the perspective of both young and adult reader furthers our understanding of the novel by revealing Twain’s implementation of complex “dual address” narration and its implications.