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century,includingindustrialization,variouspopularmovements,emigration,the
arrivalofdemocracyand–sincethelatterpartofthetwentiethcentury–
absorptionofaconsiderablenumberofimmigrants.Andyet,translationactivity
duringthislastandmostextendedperiodischaracterizedbyaremarkable
degreeofcontinuity,whileatthesametimebeingdistinctlydifferentona
numberofcountsfromtranslationduringearlierperiods.
Duringthismodernperiod,weseenewgenresoffictionbeingtranslatedfor
massproductioninordertoprovidesimpleentertainmentforthegeneralpublic.
Commercializationrequireshighspeedproductionandtheuseoflinguistic
formswhichcanbeunderstoodbytheordinaryreader.Alogicalconsequence,
orperhapsanecessaryprerequisiteofthis,hasbeentheappearanceofthe
professionaltranslator,adevelopmentwhichstartedinthepreviousperiod.
Withintheliteraryestablishment,ontheotherhand,prioritywasgivento
creativityandoriginality,andliteraryoutputwasgovernedbytheprevalent
aestheticvaluesofGermanRomanticism.Thisnaturallyledtoalackof
appreciationofimitativeactivitiessuchastranslation,andconsequentlyalsoto
anattitudeofindifferencetowardstranslatorsandtheirachievements.In
nineteenthcenturySweden,theprofessionaltranslatorwasahumblecraftsman
wholackedtheauraofromanticgenius,a‘whitecollarproletarian’working
underdifficultconditions.Asubstantialnumberoftranslatorsduringthisperiod
werewomen(HjelmMilczyn1983).
Aswiththeseventeenthcentury,aconsiderableamountofinterestingstatistical
evidenceisavailabletodayforliterarybookproduction(bothoriginaland
translation)innineteenthandtwentiethcenturySweden.Weknow,for
instance,that213titlesofprosefictiontranslatedintoSwedishfromvarious
languageswerepublishedbetween1866and1870(Torgerson1982).Sixty
yearslater,between1926and1930,thecorrespondingfigurewas1,490titles.
Afteranothersixtyyears,in198690,thisfigurerosetoapproximately5,500
titles(Wollin2002).ThefiguresfororiginalSwedishprosefictionpublished
duringthesamethreeperiodsare187,1,120andapproximately1,500titles
respectively.Itseemsevidentfromthesefiguresthattherewasasixorseven
foldincreaseintheoverallproductionofprosefiction,translatedaswellas
original,duringthefirst60yearperiod;therealsoseemtohavebeenmore
translationsthanoriginalwriting,notwithstandingminortemporaryfluctuations
withintheperiodandchangesindominantsourcelanguages.Inthesecond60
yearperiod,translatedbookproductioncontinuestoincrease,thoughinslightly
lowerproportions,whereasoriginalwritingremainsrelativelystagnant.The
averagetranslationratioforthefirsttwoperiodsis55percent,forthethirditis
roughly80percent.
Today,nonliterarygenresareconsiderablylesssignificantthanliterarygenres
intermsoftotalbookproductioninSweden.Fictionaccountsforthemajority
ofbooktranslationsand,inturn,translationdominatesfictionwriting.One
reasonablehypothesis(asyetuntested)isthatthisrelativebutconstantly
growingoverlapbetweentranslationandfictiondatesbacktotheemergenceof
commercialliteraryfictionsome200yearsago.Ifthisistrue,thenthe
translationoffictionmaybesaidtohavehistoricallymarginalizednonliterary
booktranslationinSweden.
Thesourcelanguagesoftranslationshavechangedovertime.Thedominanceof
FrenchandGermanintheearlynineteenthcenturywasdisruptedbythearrival
ofEnglishinthemidnineteenthcentury:therelevantfiguresfortheperiod
1866–70are50titlesfromGerman,55fromFrenchand68fromEnglish.For
theperiod1926–30,thefiguresare178,196and814respectively;for1986–
90,the(approximate)figuresare140,260andnolessthan4,400.American
EnglishhasgraduallygainedgroundattheexpenseofBritish,proceedingfrom
almostnoshareoftheEnglishfiguresinthe1860storoughlyaquarterinthe
1920sandconsiderablymorethanahalfinthe1980s.
ThisgrowingAngloAmericandominanceispartlycounterbalancedbya
parallelincreaseintherangeofothersourcelanguages.Forexample,inthe
period1926–30,sourcelanguagesincludedNorwegian(99titles),Danish(51),
Russian(50)andItalian(30titles),plusfewertitlesfromSpanish,Hungarian,
Dutch,Polishandadozenothersourcelanguages,practicallyallEuropean.For
1986–90,thelistissimilar,thoughnowslightlyenrichedbyafewtitlesfrom
majornonoccidentallanguagessuchasArabic,