Open this publication in new window or tab >>2024 (English)In: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, ISSN 0030-8129, E-ISSN 1938-1530, Vol. 139, no 1, p. 82-96Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy is part of a global hypercanon of popular fiction and thus a major commercial enterprise. In the translation of these works, the author and translator are joined by a host of shadowy figures—the source language publisher, scouts, literary agents, target language publishers, editors, and proofreaders—who transform the texts for a particular readership. This essay connects the market-oriented metamorphosis of paratext with substantial alterations to literary content itself. It is based on a computational study of the novels in Swedish and English that singled out major alterations to paragraph meaning and length across the three novels. The study showed that about 6.3% of the paragraphs have been cut or shortened by at least 30%. These extensive changes reveal a process of creative remaking, in which published works become raw content to be reshaped by commercial expectations and the demands of high production speed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Keywords
Stieg Larsson, Nordic Noir, translation, translation studies, publishing studies
National Category
General Literature Studies
Research subject
Literature
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-527084 (URN)10.1632/s0030812923001207 (DOI)001203253300015 ()
2024-04-232024-04-232024-05-13Bibliographically approved