Utebliven nyöversättning i svensk översättningshistoria

Retranslations are often discussed in relation to temporal dimensions. For example, it is often assumed that literary works age and should be updated for every generation.

This project studies the inversed phenomenon: non-retranslations – translations that are republished over a long period of time in several editions but are not retranslated.

One example is John Steinbeck’s Vredens druvor [The Grapes of Wrath], which was published in 18 editions between 1940 and 2019 using the Swedish translation by Thorsten Jonsson.

The phenomenon of non-retranslations challenges many assumptions put forth in scholarship on retranslations while at the same time constituting an exciting area in its own right. Still, the topic has only attracted limited scholarly attention.

The aim of this project is two-fold: 1) to investigate the temporal dimensions of non-retranslation, historically and in the present; 2) to publish an open-access database consisting of Swedish non-retranslations from the 20th century, which will inspire and facilitate future research.

The project is interdisciplinary in nature, combining retranslation studies, translation history, sociology of literature, publishing studies, and digital humanities to explore non-retranslations in relation to the temporal dimensions of canonization processes, value negotiation, and market adaptation in the Swedish literary field.