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Images of the North : An imagological analysis of Nordic noir book covers in Greece and Spain

Smaragdi, Marianna LU and Johansson, Ingela LU (2018) IULMA-UJI Entretextos 2018
Abstract
Although Scandinavia is arguably peripheral in the global literary system, it nevertheless holds a surprisingly prominent position in the field of translation, Swedish and Danish being among the ten most translated languages in the world (Lindqvist, 2015). What literature is selected for translation and introduction into new linguistic contexts is not a coincidence, but has to do with economic factors that may be based on cultural expectations on the Other. According to imagologist Leerssen (2007), stereotypical images of the Other are often transmitted by means of fictional literature and need to be questioned. In our presentation, we will expose an analysis of the book cover images of a selection of Nordic noir literature, mainly... (More)
Although Scandinavia is arguably peripheral in the global literary system, it nevertheless holds a surprisingly prominent position in the field of translation, Swedish and Danish being among the ten most translated languages in the world (Lindqvist, 2015). What literature is selected for translation and introduction into new linguistic contexts is not a coincidence, but has to do with economic factors that may be based on cultural expectations on the Other. According to imagologist Leerssen (2007), stereotypical images of the Other are often transmitted by means of fictional literature and need to be questioned. In our presentation, we will expose an analysis of the book cover images of a selection of Nordic noir literature, mainly Swedish, published in Greece and Spain in the period of 2000-2017. According to Genette, the covers are crucial to the paratextual signal system. We aim to compare the original book covers to the covers of the translated volumes. Our hypothesis is that the Greek and Spanish book markets reproduce and emphasize the stereotypical images of the North that have been identified in studies on borealism. We will also make a comparison between the two countries of reception. Both countries belong to the Southern European region, with cultural, political and historical similarities, but at the same time also have linguistic and cultural differences. We will investigate how the images of the covers of the translated books differ from one country of reception to the other.
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Book covers, Nordic noir, imagology, translations, borealism, book covers, Nordic noir, imagology, translations, borealism
conference name
IULMA-UJI Entretextos 2018
conference location
Castellón de la Plana, Spain
conference dates
2018-10-25 - 2018-10-26
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Leerssen, Joep (2007). ”Imagology: History and Method”, in: Beller, Manfred & Leerssen, Joep (eds.) (2007). Imagology: the cultural construction and literary representation of national characters: a critical survey. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Lindqvist, Yvonne (2015). “Det skandinaviska översättningsfältet – finns det?”, Språk & Stil. 25: 69-87.
id
e2225c4b-a100-475b-b00f-0f63da15ba9a
date added to LUP
2019-01-23 13:46:37
date last changed
2021-03-22 16:09:03
@misc{e2225c4b-a100-475b-b00f-0f63da15ba9a,
  abstract     = {{Although Scandinavia is arguably peripheral in the global literary system, it nevertheless holds a surprisingly prominent position in the field of translation, Swedish and Danish being among the ten most translated languages in the world (Lindqvist, 2015). What literature is selected for translation and introduction into new linguistic contexts is not a coincidence, but has to do with economic factors that may be based on cultural expectations on the Other. According to imagologist Leerssen (2007), stereotypical images of the Other are often transmitted by means of fictional literature and need to be questioned.  In our presentation, we will expose an analysis of the book cover images of a selection of Nordic noir literature, mainly Swedish, published in Greece and Spain in the period of 2000-2017. According to Genette, the covers are crucial to the paratextual signal system. We aim to compare the original book covers to the covers of the translated volumes. Our hypothesis is that the Greek and Spanish book markets reproduce and emphasize the stereotypical images of the North that have been identified in studies on borealism. We will also make a comparison between the two countries of reception. Both countries belong to the Southern European region, with cultural, political and historical similarities, but at the same time also have linguistic and cultural differences. We will investigate how the images of the covers of the translated books differ from one country of reception to the other.<br/>}},
  author       = {{Smaragdi, Marianna and Johansson, Ingela}},
  keywords     = {{Book covers, Nordic noir, imagology, translations, borealism; book covers; Nordic noir; imagology; translations; borealism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Images of the North : An imagological analysis of Nordic noir book covers in Greece and Spain}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/57153206/Images_of_the_North._An_imagological_analysis_of_Nordic_noir_book_covers_in_Greece_and_Spain.pdf}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}