Bibliomigration från periferi till semi-periferi

Om den samtida spanskkaribiska litteraturen i svensk översättning

Abstract

Bibliomigration from Periphery to Semi-Periphery. About Contemporary Spanish Caribbean Literature in Swedish Translation

The aim of this article is threefold: firstly to describe the bibliomigration patterns of contemporary Spanish Caribbean literature to Sweden, secondly to test the Double Consecration Hypothesis, and thirdly to discuss the importance of translation in relation to World Literature. The material studied consists of 25 novels written by 15 Spanish Caribbean authors from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic translated into Swedish during the period 1990–2015. The consecration processes of the involved cosmopolitan intermediaries in the study are reconstructed in order to map out the bibliomigration. It was brought to light that the Spanish literary consecration culture is pluri-centric and the Anglo-American duo-centric, which ultimately affects the bibliomigration patterns to Sweden. Three patterns were discovered: One for Spanish Caribbean authors who write in Spanish, one for Spanish Caribbean authors writing in English and one for literature written in Spanish, published in Spanish in Sweden and then translated into Swedish. In the first case nine out of the novels verified the Double Consecration Hypothesis. Hence it seems that Spanish Caribbean literature written in Spanish has to be consecrated primarily within the Spanish colonial and postcolonial literary centers and then within the American and British consecration centers in order to be selected for translation into Swedish. In the second case ten out of the 25 Spanish Caribbean
novels were written in English, and thus not in need for double consecration to reach Sweden. In the last pattern consecration is local rather than cosmopolitan. The three patterns discovered can be described as three different forms of vernacularizing translation.