Book translations and the autonomy of genre-subfields in the Dutch literary field, 1981–2009

Abstract

This article sets out to understand the development of translations in the Dutch literary field between 1981 and 2009. The analysis shows that there is a minor increase in the relative share of translations, followed by a decline after 2003. As such, the rise of globalization does not straightforwardly transpose into an unlimited growth of translations. Moreover, while the concentration of translations rises, the diversity also increases as more and more languages are represented in translation. Comparing translations in four main genres, this analysis shows that translation flows differ across genres in line with the opposition between the small-scale and large-scale logic of cultural production. However, over time, translations in the four genre subfields develop relatively independently, which implies that these subfields also have an autonomous internal dynamic that influences translation flows.

Keywords:

• sociology of translation
• globalization
• literary field
• genre
• linguistic diversity
• linguistic concentration

Note on contributor

Thomas Franssen is a cultural sociologist who works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. He recently defended his thesis “How Books Travel: Translation Flows and Practices of Dutch Acquiring Editors and New York Literary Scouts, 1980–2009”, which he wrote as a PhD candidate in cultural sociology at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) of the University of Amsterdam.

Notes

1. See http://www.unesco.org/xtrans/bsstatlist.aspx.

2. For more information on the classification system, see http://www.boek.nl/nur.

3. The Royal Dutch Book Trade Organisation provides yearly updates on the number of books sold: see http://www.kvb.nl/feiten-en-cijfers/kerncijfers.

4. These correlations between crime fiction and romance are .475 (.009)/.490 (.007)/.483 (.008).