Broome, AH; (2015) Swedish Literature on the British Market 1998-2013: A Systemic Approach. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

Text Agnes Broome Final thesis without copyrighted material[1].pdf Available under License : See the attached licence file. Download (3MB)

Abstract

This thesis examines the role and function of contemporary Swedish fiction in English translation on the British book market in the period 1998-2013. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Field Theory, Even Zohar’s Polysystem Theory and DeLanda’s Assemblage Theory, it constructs a model capable of dynamically describing the life cycle of border-crossing books, from selection and production to marketing, sales and reception. This life cycle is driven and shaped by individual position-takings of book market actants, and by their complex interaction and continual evolution. The thesis thus develops an understanding of the book market and its actants that deliberately resists static or linear perspectives, acknowledging the centrality of complex interaction and dynamic development to the analysis of publishing histories of translated books. The theoretical component is complemented by case studies offering empirical insight into the model’s application. Each case study illuminates the theory from a different angle, creating thereby a composite picture of the complex, essentially unmappable processes that underlie the logic of the book market. The first takes as its subject the British publishing history of crime writer Liza Marklund, as well as its wider context, the Scandinavian crime boom. The second case study considers the role of multi-platform mediality and media convergence in the case of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s vampire novel Let the Right One In. The Swedish contribution to Canongate’s Myth series, The Hurricane Party by Klas Östergren, is then examined through the lens of a globalising world literature. The final case study widens the scope to the institutional level by analysing the role and impact of the Swedish Arts Council’s efforts to disseminate Swedish literature abroad. Together, the case studies begin to illuminate the functioning of the contemporary translated fiction market in the UK, providing a nuanced understanding of the success of Swedish fiction in English translation.

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