This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Publishing, translation, archives Nordic children’s literature in the United Kingdom, 1950-2000 Charlotte Berry PhD University of Edinburgh 2013 I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. It has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. Charlotte Berry 24 October 2013 ABSTRACT This thesis uses a multidisciplinary approach drawing primarily on archival and bibliographical research as well as the fields of children’s literature, book history and translation to explore British translation of Nordic children’s fiction since 1950. Which works of Nordic children’s literature have been published in the UK during the period in question? And how were Nordic children’s authors and texts selected by British publishers, along with British translators and illustrators? Chapter One gives an overview of limited past research in this area, focusing on publishing and book history and Translation Studies (particularly Polysystem Theory). Chapter Two considers bibliographical research already undertaken in Children’s Literature Translation Studies and is followed by a detailed study of the British National Bibliography (1950-2000). This methodological approach has documented for the first time the depth and breadth of the corpus of British translations of Nordic children’s fiction since 1950, enabling key authors, publishers, translators and genres to be identified. A brief analysis is given of the Golden Age of Nordic children’s literature in British translation up to 1975, followed by a decline into the twenty first century. The thesis then goes on to examine the principles and practices of text and translator selection as its second major research element, with extensive use made here of archival sources. Chapter Three explores publishing archives as a research resource and details issues in their distribution and potential use. Chapter Four gives an overview of the key role of the editor as a centre pin in the process of publishing works in translation, drawing on a wide range of publishing archives as well as introducing the case study part of the thesis which examines an independent press and a major international academic publishing house. Chapter Five looks in detail at the role of author-educator-publisher Aidan Chambers in publishing Nordic children’s literature in the early 1990s through small press Turton & Chambers. Chapter Six examines the role of Oxford University Press in publishing Nordic authors from the 1950s to the 2010s, in particular Astrid Lindgren. This thesis aims to make a significant and unique scholarly contribution to the hitherto neglected study of the translation of children’s literature into British English, offering a methodological framework (bibliographical and archival) which has potential for use with other language systems and with adult literature in translation. Dedication In memory of N M Berry (1945-2003) Who loved languages, literature and Denmark CONTENTS Acknowledgements i List of abbreviations v List of figures vii Notes ix PART ONE INTRODUCTION 1 1. SCHOLARSHIP AND PRACTICE: RESEARCH INTO THE PUBLISHING AND TRANSLATION OF (NORDIC) CHILDREN’S BOOKS IN THE UK 10 1.1 Our friends in the North: the twentieth century ‘Nordic wave’ in the UK 10 1.2 Bibliography, publishing and book history 20 1.2.1 Theorists and practitioners in book history 1.2.2 Literary manuscripts and archives 1.3 Children’s literature (in Britain and the Nordic countries) 33 1.3.1 Theorists and academics in children’s literature 1.3.2 Practitioner-led research in children’s literature 1.4 Translation 49 1.4.1 Theorists and practitioners in Nordic translation in the UK 1.4.2 Descriptive Translation Studies and Polysystem Theory 1.4.3 Studying the translation of children’s literature 1.4.4 The translation of Scandinavian children’s literature 1.5 Conclusion 65 2. UNVEILING NORDIC CHILDREN’S TRANSLATION: THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CORPUS APPROACH 73 2.1 Introduction 74 2.1.1 British translation of Nordic children’s literature prior to 1950 2.1.2 Existing research into bibliographies of Nordic and children’s literature 2.1.3 Graves’ study of translated Swedish children’s literature, 1950-1975 2.1.4 Nelson’s study of translated Danish children’s literature, 1826-1973 2.1.5 Frank’s study of French translations of Australian children’s literature, 1900-2000 2.1.6 Desmet’s study of the translation of English narrative fiction for girls into Dutch, 1946-1995 2.1.7 Meerbergen’s study of Dutch picture books into Swedish, 1975-2006 2.1.8 Thomson-Wohlgemuth’s study of English-language children’s fiction translated into German, 1961-1989 2.1.9 Sturge’s study of fiction translated into German, 1933-1944 2.2 Survey of the British National Bibliography (1950-2000) 106 2.3. Overall findings for the period 1950-2000 112 2.3.1 Nordic-friendly publishing houses 2.3.2 Text selection and author choice 2.3.3 Illustrators and illustrations 2.3.4 Translators 2.3.5 Gender summary 2.3.6 Decade overviews 2.3.7 Genres and categorisation 2.4 Nordic children’s literature in translation 1950-1975: a ‘golden age’? 134 2.5 Nordic children’s literature in translation 1976-2000: decline and fall? 136 2.6 Beyond 2000: the future of the translation of Nordic children’s literature 140 2.7 Conclusion 143 3. REVEALING THE EDITORS AND TRANSLATORS: ARCHIVAL AND ORAL HISTORY RESEARCH INTO PUBLISHING HOUSES 151 3.1 Primary resources in children’s literature and translation studies 152 3.1.1 The role of oral history: an archival substitute? 3.1.2 Archives in children’s literature, book history and translation studies 3.2 Publishing archives: definitions and issues 162 3.2.1 Business archives 3.2.2 Publishing archives 3.2.3 Literary archives 3.2.4 Archives of translation 3.3 Locating archives 173 3.3.1 National Register of Archives and ARCHON 3.3.2 Location Register of Twentieth Century English Literary Manuscripts 3.3.3 Other online archive catalogues 3.3.4 British Literary Publishing Houses, 1881-1965 3.3.5 Contacts with individual repositories 3.3.6 Contacts with publishing firms 3.3.7 Personal contacts and use of mailing lists 3.3.8 Contacts with authors 3.4 Curating archives 185 3.5 Using archives 187 3.6 Overview of relevant record types 191 3.6.1 Aidan Chambers (Turton & Chambers, and Macmillan Topliner) 3.6.2 Oxford University Press 3.6.3 Andre Deutsch 3.6.4 Random House (including Methuen, Egmont, Andersen Press) 3.6.5 Puffin 3.6.6 Chatto & Windus 3.6.7 Ernest Benn and Tove Jansson 3.7 Conclusion 199 PART TWO 4. THE MAKING OF BOOKS 205 4.1 Gentleman publishers to international conglomerates, 1950-2000 206 4.2 The role of the editor within translated literature 209 4.2.1 Choosing texts and authors 4.2.1.1 Book awards and fairs 4.2.1.2 Reader’s reports 4.2.2 Commissioning translations 4.2.3 Production and Public Relations 4.2.3.1 Illustrations 4.2.3.2 Selling rights 4.2.3.3 Public Relations 4.3 Conclusion 225 5. CASE STUDY ONE AIDAN CHAMBERS: ‘UNUSUAL, INNOVATIVE, IN TOUCH’ 229 5.1 Introduction 229 5.2 The ‘triple view’ of Aidan Chambers: publisher, teacher and author-reader 231 5.3 Early writing and editing: Macmillan’s Topliner series and Joan Tate 234 5.4 ‘In spite of being a translation’: Aidan Chambers and translation 240 5.5 The founding of Turton & Chambers: ‘quality not quantity’ 244 5.6 Original language consultants, translators and text selection in Turton & Chambers 249 5.7 Nordic titles in Turton & Chambers 255 5.7.1 A Way from Home (1990) and Noah is my Name (1991), Maud Reuterswärd, tr. Joan Tate 5.7.2 Johnny, my Friend (1991), Peter Pohl, tr. Laurie Thompson 5.7.3 Zeppelin (1991), Tormod Haugen, tr. David R Jacobs 5.8 An end to Turton & Chambers 286 5.9 Conclusion 292 6. CASE STUDY TWO OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: ‘TOP OF THE TREE’ 304 6.1 Introduction 304 6.2 History of the Press and its publishing for children 306 6.3 Bell and George’s Lindgren legacy, 1949-1974 312 6.3.1 The Pippi trilogy 6.3.2 Post Pippi: new Lindgren avenues 6.4 The Binding and Kamm years, 1974-1979 331 6.4.1 Irmelin Sandman Lilius: Fru Sola 6.4.2 Cecil Bødker: The Leopard and Silas and the Black Mare 6.5 Heapy and Cross: Nordic inactivity and rejuvenation into the 21st century: 352 6.5.1 Jan Lööf’s picture books 6.5.2 Lindgren publishing activity elsewhere in the UK 6.5.3 Lindgren re-issues and re-translations from 2007 6.6 Conclusion 369 7.