The national identity of the source culture often constitutes an important hermeneutic flame fi＇om which a translated text is understood. At the same time, literary texts themselves sometimes have a tendency to resis...The national identity of the source culture often constitutes an important hermeneutic flame fi＇om which a translated text is understood. At the same time, literary texts themselves sometimes have a tendency to resist cultural narratives and stereotypical ideas of a certain nation. This article explores how such a resistance is made in the English translations of four Swedish novels from the 1930s. These novels are all central texts in the history of Swedish literature, as they form the very basis of a literary current that had a huge impact on the development of the Swedish welfare state--proletarian fiction. In the translations of Harry Martinson＇s, Moa Martinson＇s, Eyvind Johnson＇s, and Ivar Lo-Johansson＇s breakthrough novels, the Anglophone target reader is faced with different kinds of disruptions of the Swedish national identity. Some of these disturb the conception of Sweden as a unified cultural space; others resist the idea of Sweden as a distinct cultural space. There is, however, no general rule to these disruptions： All four novels have their own, specific way of creating narrative resistance.展开更多
This article explores the intricate relation between translation and the Nobel Prize in Literature through the lens of a special case:the 1939 award to Finnish novelist Frans Eemil Sillanpää.The discussions ...This article explores the intricate relation between translation and the Nobel Prize in Literature through the lens of a special case:the 1939 award to Finnish novelist Frans Eemil Sillanpää.The discussions in the Nobel committee,and the decision of the Swedish Academy to select Sillanpääfor the prize,were deeply affected by the long and complicated political and cultural history of neighbors Sweden and Finland,as well as the Soviet bombings of several Finnish cities in the autumn of 1939.This article argues,however,that the translations of Sillanpää’s novels into Swedish were just as important,and what mattered was not only that they were translated but also how and by whom they had been made accessible for Swedish-speaking readers.The 1939 Nobel Prize to Frans Eemil Sillanpääis a case of two neighboring nations with a common colonial past,two close and overlapping cultural and political positions,and two very dissimilar languages.展开更多
Mu Shiying＇s first short story collection, North Pole, South Pole （Nanbeiji） from 1932, is usually seen as socialist or proletarian literature preceding his later modernist writings. I argue that this view needs to...Mu Shiying＇s first short story collection, North Pole, South Pole （Nanbeiji） from 1932, is usually seen as socialist or proletarian literature preceding his later modernist writings. I argue that this view needs to be revised. In one short story Mu deliberately parodies the social agenda of contemporary leftist writers. The protagonists are neither enlightened workers nor victims of social injustice. On the contrary, they turn to rage, misogyny, and self-righteous violence, and their motives are rooted in their sexual frustrations and inability to cope with modem life. Their righteous ideals are based on fiction and an imagined tradition. Mu＇s construction of the fictive tradition plays an important part in these early short stories, and, in this respect, I compare them with Shi Zhecun＇s writings.展开更多
文摘The national identity of the source culture often constitutes an important hermeneutic flame fi＇om which a translated text is understood. At the same time, literary texts themselves sometimes have a tendency to resist cultural narratives and stereotypical ideas of a certain nation. This article explores how such a resistance is made in the English translations of four Swedish novels from the 1930s. These novels are all central texts in the history of Swedish literature, as they form the very basis of a literary current that had a huge impact on the development of the Swedish welfare state--proletarian fiction. In the translations of Harry Martinson＇s, Moa Martinson＇s, Eyvind Johnson＇s, and Ivar Lo-Johansson＇s breakthrough novels, the Anglophone target reader is faced with different kinds of disruptions of the Swedish national identity. Some of these disturb the conception of Sweden as a unified cultural space; others resist the idea of Sweden as a distinct cultural space. There is, however, no general rule to these disruptions： All four novels have their own, specific way of creating narrative resistance.
文摘This article explores the intricate relation between translation and the Nobel Prize in Literature through the lens of a special case:the 1939 award to Finnish novelist Frans Eemil Sillanpää.The discussions in the Nobel committee,and the decision of the Swedish Academy to select Sillanpääfor the prize,were deeply affected by the long and complicated political and cultural history of neighbors Sweden and Finland,as well as the Soviet bombings of several Finnish cities in the autumn of 1939.This article argues,however,that the translations of Sillanpää’s novels into Swedish were just as important,and what mattered was not only that they were translated but also how and by whom they had been made accessible for Swedish-speaking readers.The 1939 Nobel Prize to Frans Eemil Sillanpääis a case of two neighboring nations with a common colonial past,two close and overlapping cultural and political positions,and two very dissimilar languages.
文摘Mu Shiying＇s first short story collection, North Pole, South Pole （Nanbeiji） from 1932, is usually seen as socialist or proletarian literature preceding his later modernist writings. I argue that this view needs to be revised. In one short story Mu deliberately parodies the social agenda of contemporary leftist writers. The protagonists are neither enlightened workers nor victims of social injustice. On the contrary, they turn to rage, misogyny, and self-righteous violence, and their motives are rooted in their sexual frustrations and inability to cope with modem life. Their righteous ideals are based on fiction and an imagined tradition. Mu＇s construction of the fictive tradition plays an important part in these early short stories, and, in this respect, I compare them with Shi Zhecun＇s writings.
