The making of a bestseller-in-translation
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Idun Heir Senstad
Abstract
The Cuban-American author Cecilia Samartin’s books became huge bestsellers, although exclusively in Norway and in translation into Norwegian. This chapter explores the agency surrounding this unusual case of a so-called bestseller-in-translation, with particular attention to the popular-fiction novels Drømmehjerte (2008b, orig. Ghost Heart, 2004) and Doña Maria (2012a). Both novels tell Cuban stories, although imbued with perspectives from the anti-Castro discourse of the Cuban diaspora. I suggest that a fortunate combination of thematic timing, unconventional publishing strategies, and the author’s physical presence and active communication with readers in Norway helps explain Samartin’s popularity among this readership. The activities of a few agents – particularly the publisher – were crucial for Samartin’s success. I argue that the publisher’s agency conditioned how Samartin, an American of Cuban background, became a Cuban voice in Norway.
Abstract
The Cuban-American author Cecilia Samartin’s books became huge bestsellers, although exclusively in Norway and in translation into Norwegian. This chapter explores the agency surrounding this unusual case of a so-called bestseller-in-translation, with particular attention to the popular-fiction novels Drømmehjerte (2008b, orig. Ghost Heart, 2004) and Doña Maria (2012a). Both novels tell Cuban stories, although imbued with perspectives from the anti-Castro discourse of the Cuban diaspora. I suggest that a fortunate combination of thematic timing, unconventional publishing strategies, and the author’s physical presence and active communication with readers in Norway helps explain Samartin’s popularity among this readership. The activities of a few agents – particularly the publisher – were crucial for Samartin’s success. I argue that the publisher’s agency conditioned how Samartin, an American of Cuban background, became a Cuban voice in Norway.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Part I. Opening the field
- Introduction 3
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Part II. Charting the field
- The Scandinavian singer-translator’s multisemiotic voice as performance 21
- Translators, editors, publishers, and critics 39
- The making of a bestseller-in-translation 61
- Contextual factors when reading a translated academic text 81
- When poets translate poetry 101
- Translators in search of originals 119
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Part III. Traveling the field
- Unraveling multiple translatorship through an e-mail correspondence 133
- Silenced in translation 159
- The voice of the implied author in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe 181
- Three voices or one? 201
- The voices of Cieza de León in English 223
- References 241
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Part I. Opening the field
- Introduction 3
-
Part II. Charting the field
- The Scandinavian singer-translator’s multisemiotic voice as performance 21
- Translators, editors, publishers, and critics 39
- The making of a bestseller-in-translation 61
- Contextual factors when reading a translated academic text 81
- When poets translate poetry 101
- Translators in search of originals 119
-
Part III. Traveling the field
- Unraveling multiple translatorship through an e-mail correspondence 133
- Silenced in translation 159
- The voice of the implied author in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe 181
- Three voices or one? 201
- The voices of Cieza de León in English 223
- References 241
- Index 263
