Looking sideways

Quebec literature in Swedish translation 2000–2020

Abstract

This article presents an overview of contemporary bibliomigrancy patterns of translated fiction from the province of Quebec to Sweden, between 2000 and 2020. Quebec and Sweden offer an interesting comparison, since French is considered a central language but the province of Quebec occupies a peripheral position in comparison with its Anglophone neighbours, whereas Swedish is considered a semi-peripheral language but Sweden occupies a central position in the Scandinavian subsystem. Drawing on theories on bibliomigrancy and polysystem, the article investigates 26 titles from the point of view of external translation history, focusing on the following questions: What was translated? When was it translated? Where was it translated? Who translated it? Why was it translated? The analysis shows that different genres, notably novels, picture books, and graphic novels, have been translated into Swedish during the investigated time frame, with different patterns regarding factors such as publication interval, translators, and translation subsidies. The increasing tendency of Quebecois titles appearing in Swedish follows the increasing trend of French as a source language in Sweden’s literary market, in contrast to the more even pace of translated literature into Swedish more generally. The results further suggest that a region’s language may have a more significant influence than its geopolitical position in the international market of translations.