Cover not available
Part of
Translation Flows: Exploring networks of people, processes and products
Edited by Ilse Feinauer, Amanda Marais and Marius Swart
[Benjamins Translation Library 163] 2023
► pp. 149–162

Chapter 8
Maryse Condé and the Alternative Nobel Prize of 2018

| Stockholm University

Inspired by the methodological framework of histoire croisée, this paper examines the bibliomigrancy of the French Caribbean author Maryse Condé. To this end, four major causal series of events leading up to her nomination and selection for the 2018 Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature are analyzed. The first causal series of events consists of the translation bibliomigrancy of French Caribbean fiction to Sweden over the past 40 years. The second causal series of events briefly covers the authorship of Maryse Condé and her reception in Sweden. The third causal series follows the effects and repercussions of the cancellation of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018, as well as the particular consequences related to the reorganization of the Royal Swedish Academy. The fourth causal series of events entails the foundation of the “New Academy” and the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature. Closing remarks discuss Maryse Condé’s chances of being awarded the regular Nobel Prize in Literature.

Keywords: Maryse Condé, the Alternative Nobel Prize of Literature, histoire croisée, Caribbean translation bibliomigration, double consecration
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • French Caribbean translation bibliomigrancy to Sweden
  • The literary production and translation bibliomigrancy of Maryse Condé
  • The Royal Swedish Academy and the cancellation of the Nobel Prize in literature in 2018
  • The New Academy
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.163.08lin
References
Batchelor, Kathryn
2017 “Introduction: Histoire croisée, microhistory and translation history”, in Kathryn Batchelor and Sue Ann Harding (eds.) Translating Frantz Fanon across Continents and Languages, London: Routledge, 1–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brems, Elke, Orsolya Réthelyi, and Ton van Kalmthout
(eds) 2017 Doing Double Dutch. The International Circulation of Literature from the Low Countries. Leuven: Leuven University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casanova, Pascale
2004 The World Republic of Letters. Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chitnis, Rajendra, Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen, Rhian Atkin, and Zoran Milutinovic
(eds) 2020 Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Damrosch, David
2009 “Framing World Literature”. In: Simone Winko, Jannidis Fotis, and Gerhard, Lauer (eds.). Grenzen der Literatur. Zum Begriff und Phänomen des Literarischen. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. 496–515. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duke, Yukiko
2010 “Jag kände mig vit och fransk när jag var barn” [I felt white and French when I was a kid]. Vi läser. 4. 54–58.Google Scholar
D’Hulst, Lieven
2012 “(Re)locating Translation History: From Assumed Translation to Assumed Transfer”. Translation Studies 5 (2): 139–155. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
English, James. F.
2005 The Economy of Prestige. Prizes, Awards and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Cambridge, Massachusetts/London: Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Espmark, Kjell
1986 Det litterära Nobelpriset. Principer och värderingar bakom besluten. [The Nobel Prize of Literature. Principles and Valuations behind the Decisions]. Stockholm: Norstedts.Google Scholar
2001 Litteraturpriset : hundra år med Nobels uppdrag. [The Literature Prize – A Hundred Years Mission]. Stockholm: Norstedt.Google Scholar
Flakiersk, Gregor
2007 Nobelpris till Karibien? [Nobel Prize to the Caribbean?] LO-tidningen. October 5.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary
2002 Soundings in French Caribbean Writing since 1950. The Shock of Space and Time. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harlitz-Kern. Erika
2018 A closer look at the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature longlist. Book Riot. [URL] (Accessed 2020–02–03).
Jonsson, Stefan
2007 “Maryse Condé: Färden genom mangroven. Dagens Nyheter”. Kultur. September 18.Google Scholar
Kullberg, Christina
2011 “Ett ‘jag’ som sträcker sig utåt”. [An ‘I’ which reaches outwards] Karavan. 4. 16–19.Google Scholar
2017 “Fanon in Scandinavia. Words and Actions”. In: Translating Frantz Fanon Across Continents and Languages (eds). Kathryn Batchelor and Sue-Ann Harding. London: Routledge. 222–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindqvist, Yvonne
2010 “Dubbel konsekration – en förutsättning för svensk översättning av utomeuropeisk litteratur? Maryse Condé som exempel”. [Double Consecration – A Prerequisite for Translation of Literary Peripheries? Maryse Condé as an Example] In: Språk och stil. Nr 2. 40–170.Google Scholar
2016 “Det skandinaviska översättningsfältet – Finns det?” [The Scandinavian translation field – Does it exist?]. Språk och stil. 25. 69–87Google Scholar
2018a “Introduction to Lost and Found: Translation and Circulation”. World Literatures: Exploring the Cosmopolitan-Vernacular Exchange. (eds) Stefan Helgesson, Annika Alling Mörte, Yvonne Lindqvist, and Helena Wulff. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. 289–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018b “Translation Bibliomigrancy: The Case of Contemporary Caribbean Literature in Scandinavia”. In: World Literatures: Exploring the Cosmopolitan-Vernacular Exchange. (eds.). Stefan Helgesson, Yvonne Lindqvist and Helena Wulff. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. 295–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 “Translation Bibliomigration. The Case of French Caribbean Literature in Sweden”. Meta. International Journal for Translation Studies. 64 (3). 600–630.Google Scholar
Mani, Venkat
2014 “Bibliomigrancy: Book Series and the Making of World Literature”. In: Teo D’haen, David Damrosch, and Djelal Kadir (eds). The Routledge Companion to World Literature. London/New York: Routledge. 283–296.Google Scholar
2017 Recoding World Literature, Libraries. Print Culture and Germany’s Pact with Books. New York: Fordham University Press.Google Scholar
Nilsson, Camilla
2011 “I semesterparadisets bakgård” [In the Backyard of the Vacation Paradise] 12 October. Nt. Accessed August 24, 2020. [URL].
Perera, Ylva
2018 “Den Nya Akademiens litteraturpris är intressant som process och protest – men spelar det nån roll vem som får det?” [The Literary Prize of the New Academy is Interesting as a Process and Protest – but does it matter who gets it?] Yle. Accessed April 14, 2020. [URL].
Sapiro, Gisèle
(ed.) 2008 Translatio. Le marché de la traduction en France à l’heure de la mondialisation. Paris: CNRS Éditions. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sapiro, Gisèle and Mauricio Bustamante
2009 “Translation as a Measure of International Consecration Mapping the World Distribution of Bourdieu’s Books in Translation”. Sociologica. Italian Journal of Sociology online. 2–3. Società editrice il Mulino, Bologna. Accessed September 28, 2017. [URL].
Torgerson, Sten
1982 Översättningar till svenska av skönlitterär prosa 1866–1870. 1896–1900. 1926–1930. Göteborg: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet.Google Scholar
Watts, Richard
2005 Packaging Post/Coloniality. The Manufacture of Literary Identity in the Francophone World. New York/Toronto/Oxford: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Werner, Michael and Bénédicte Zimmermann
2003 “Penser l’histoire croisée: entre empirie et réflexivité”. Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 58, 7–36. Accessed June 21, 2022. [URL]. DOI logo
2006 “Beyond Comparison: Histoire croisée and the Challenge of Reflexivity”. History and Theory 45 (1): 30–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wrede, Hedvig
2018 “Ingen skillnad på nobelpriset och det alternativa nobelpriset”. SVT nyheter. December 10. Accessed April 14, 2020. [URL].