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This paper gives an overview of the field of translation of Francophone literature, that is, literature in French from outside of metropolitan France. Whereas it is not uncommon to consider Francophone writers as translators in a metaphorical sense, we are here only concerned with the literal meaning of the word translation. We mainly discuss approaches from postcolonial studies, multilingualism and the sociology of translation (translation flows and agents) and how the reception of this literature in the target culture is negotiated through paratextual and epitextual elements. Many studies have focused on English as target language. However, in order to better account for translation flows, we encourage future research on translations into German and Russian, as translations in other languages tend to follow. We would also like to stress the importance of studying intranslations in Francophone settings. Even though most translations into French are published in France, it is vital to learn more about the aspects of Francophone literature as a receiving literature.

James Joyces Ulysses (1922) är en modern klassiker som kommit att prägla 1900-talets litterära medvetande. Den dag som handlingen utspelas, den 16 juni 1904, har till och med fått en egen benämning, ”Bloomsday”, efter romanens ryktbare antihjälte Leopold Bloom. Den firas numer årligen. Men vad kan Ulysses säga oss i dag? Med anledning av den svenska nyöversättningen 2012 anordnades en heldag vid Humanistiska fakulteten, göteborgs universitet, där forskare och föreläsare från en rad olika håll diskuterade romanen i hela dess vidd: språk, översättning, berättarteknik, religion, historia, exil, (post)kolonialism, genus, sexualitet – och mat. Föreliggande volym presenterar föredragen i redigerad form.

This dissertation analyses seven modern Bible translations in French with respect to their renderings of Koine Greek participles. The sample consists of the Passion Story from the four Gospels (Matt 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24 and John 18-21), and is comprised of 603 Hellenistic participles in all. The participle forms are studied in six categories according to their syntactic function. The comparison focuses on differences in translation strategy, i.e. formal equivalence, omission and different kinds of transpositions, with special attention given to the choice of verb form. There is a discussion of the adequacy of contemporary, explicative theories of systemic differences between the passé simple/passé composé and the imparfait. A large number of examples are analysed in detail. The results of the survey show that the most prominent differences in translation strategies concern the predicative participle. Furthermore, this was the category that occurred most frequently in the sample. The Catholic scientific and literary translation La Bible de Jérusalem (1998) is the most literal of the seven versions. A high level of formal equivalence is also registered in the other scientific translation, La Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible (1988), even though application of this strategy outweighs the use of finite verbs, that is to say, the most common transposition. La Bible en français courant (1996) is the least literal: generally, it transposes the participle of the source text with a finite verb. This transposition is also very frequent in the literary La Bible de la Pléiade (1971). Most of the omissions are recorded in the recent literary La Bible, Nouvelle traduction (2001), which is shown to be the most divergent translation. Omissions are also frequent in the pastoral La Bible des moines de Maredsous (1968) and the liturgical La Traduction liturgique de la Bible (1977). When translated in conjunction with an element comprising a verb in one of the non-indicative moods (infinitive, imperative, participle and subjunctive), both the present and the aorist predicative participles are, to a large extent, rendered by a simple form, expressing non-accomplishment. However, the Bible de Jérusalem stands out with its greater use of compound present participles than any other version. When the predicative participle of the source text is transposed with a verb in the indicative mood, the passé simple is generally used to render the aorist; for the present participle, the imparfait is more frequent than the passé simple. Nevertheless, here too the passé simple accounts for a significant portion of the equivalents, especially in the two translations where transpositions formed by finite verbs are particularly important. There exist a few cases where some translators chose to use the passé simple/passé compose, while others chose the imparfait. The various details, tables and linguistic analyses in this dissertation provide a solid basis for accurately characterizing the various modern attempts made at reproduce this ancient text – a text so often translated, paraphrased, interpreted and deeply integrated in our cultural heritage.

In April 2009 Swedish television broadcast a cultural program focusing on their preference for the local in a more and more globalized world. The first example used in the show to illustrate this trend was the comedy series The Office, which attained worldwide popularity in its original British version but also became popular in a local version. The second feature focused on two Swedish writers, who – to use the reporter’s words – “had encountered problems” as they were about to be introduced on the American book market author’s translation . In order to secure a readership for the American editions the publisher had suggested substantial changes, for example to move the plot from Sweden to California and to omit or rewrite certain parts containing explicit references to sex and therefore considered unsuitable for a teenage audience. The two features discussed the same phenomena but were nevertheless presented quite differently. The localization strategy was not questioned as such when dealing with the various versions of the British sitcom; the American publisher on the other hand was placed in less favorable light.

De romanska språken är de indoeuropeiska språk som utvecklats från latinet. Beteckningen ”romanska språk” syftar även på den akademiska disciplin i vilken de romanska språken och litteraturen från de romanska språkområdena studeras. Denna disciplin, också kallad ”romanistik”, har en lång tradition i Sverige. Den akademiska utbildningen och forskningen i romanska språk i Sverige bildar ämnet för denna antologi, vars bidrag är skrivna av 22 olika forskare verksamma inom fältet. I antologin undersöks den svenska romanistikens historiska utveckling samt bärande tendenser i dagens utbildning och forskning. Frågan om vad som idag kännetecknar romanska språk som akademisk disciplin i Sverige diskuteras grundligt i flera av bidragen. Boken anlägger ett metadisciplinärt perspektiv i den meningen att det är själva disciplinen romanska språk – eller någon aspekt av denna – som utgör studieobjektet. Den vänder sig till alla med intresse för universitets- och lärdomshistoria och för de akademiska språkämnenas utveckling och ställning i ett svenskt högskolesammanhang. Flera av bidragen är därutöver av relevans för läsare med intresse för språkdidaktiska spörsmål och för pedagogisk forskning rörande språkundervisning inom högre utbildning. Förhoppningen är att de reflexioner och undersökningar som samlas i denna antologi ska kunna tjäna som en utgångspunkt för romanistikens utveckling i Sverige i framtiden. The Romance languages are the Indo-European languages developed from Latin. The term ”Romance Languages” also refers to the academic discipline, which studies the Romance languages and literature from the areas where the Romance languages are spoken. This discipline has a long tradition in Sweden. Swedish academic education and research in the Romance languages forms the subject of this anthology, whose contributions are written by 22 different researchers active in the field. The anthology examines the historical development of the study of the Romance languages in Sweden, as well as important trends in current education and research. The question of what characterizes the Romance languages as an academic discipline in Sweden today is thoroughly discussed in several of the contributions. The book brings a metadisciplinary perspective in the sense that it is the discipline itself, Romance languages – or some aspect of it – that constitutes the object of study. It is aimed at anyone with an interest in university and scholarly history and the development and position of academic language subjects in a Swedish university context. In addition, several of the contributions are of relevance for readers with an interest in language didactics and for pedagogical research on language teaching in higher education. The hope is that the reflections and investigations gathered in this anthology will serve as a starting point for the future development of the study of the Romance languages in Sweden.