This chapter examines the contemporary reception of Matilde Serao's works in Swedish newspapers from 1885 to the first years of the twentieth century. This analysis provides a historical background for understanding why Serao's masterpiece Il paese di cuccagna (1891) was translated in Swedish as early as 1892. In fact, Serao was already known to the Swedish public through the activity of C.D. af Wirsén, an important conservative critic who reviewed her original work and contributed to establishing Serao's reputation as a major contemporary author. Furthermore, examination of recently digitalized Swedish newspapers shows that Serao's short stories were published on at least twenty occasions from 1888 to 1897. These anonymous translations can be attributed with a high degree of probability to the pen of Ellen Lundberg-Nyblom, the translator of Il paese di cuccagna. Swedish reviewers greeted Serao as a master of vivid description and an insightful painter of human passions. At the same time, the fact that Serao, being a woman, was professionally active as a journalist and a newspaper editor attracted attention of Swedish media, transforming the Neapolitan author into a public figure known to a broader audience.
Ce chapitre traite de la réception des œuvres de Matilde Serao dans les journaux suédois, de 1885 aux premières années du xxe siècle. Avant la traduction de son chef-d’œuvre Il paese di Cuccagna (1891) dès 1892, Serao était déjà connue en Suède grâce au critique C.D. af Wirsén, qui l’a présentée comme une autrice contemporaine de premier plan. Les traductions anonymes des nouvelles de Serao, publiées entre 1888 et 1897 et attribuées ici à Ellen Lundberg-Nyblom, ont joué un rôle tout aussi important.