A “noble battle against darkness, sin, and depravity”: The role of translation in nineteenth-century transnational transfer of philanthropic ideas

Abstract

Nineteenth-century British philanthropic ideas were implemented in Sweden through the agency of translation. The present investigation of translation as a form of nineteenth-century social-reform activism takes the form of a case study of the Swedish translation of two texts by British social purity campaigner Ellice Hopkins (1836–1904). The purpose of the investigation is to explore how particular ideas and intentions, which had originally been presented within a British context, were adapted in translation in order to provide templates on which to model action in Sweden.