The Success of Swedish 19th-Century Women Writers on the French-speaking book market: Fredrika Bremer and Emilie Flygare-Carlén versus C.J.L. Almqvist and Viktor Rydberg

• In the mid-19th century, Swedish women writers such as Fredrika Bremer and Emilie Flygare-Carlén wrote some of the most popular and widely disseminated European novels, while novels by their contemporary male colleagues seldom reached readers outside the Nordic countries. For international success of Swedish fiction, the dissemination of novels in German was important, as translations into other European languages were often based on German translations. The most striking exception to this pattern was the reception of Swedish literature translated into French. This article examines the reception of Swedish 19th-century novels that were directly translated into French. After an introductory survey of the general transnational reception of Swedish novels in the mid- and late 19th century, the French reception is explored in order to examine its characteristics and how it differed from the reception in other languages. After the success of the bestselling novelists Bremer and Flygare-Carlén is examined, the arbitrary distribution of Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s and Viktor Rydberg’s stories is presented. Differences in terms of the number of French publications, translators, publishers, and places of publication are investigated. The role of Swedish mediators in the introduction of certain writers in French is emphasised, along with the possible consequences of being launched in French from Sweden by Swedish publishers, compared with those of being introduced by French mediators. Based on the Swedish case, the national perspective and the focus on Paris as the capital of letters in former studies are contested.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Literary Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Literary transfer

French reception

Swedish 19th-century novels

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)