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Article published In:
Translation in Society
Vol. 2:2 (2023) ► pp.146–166

Cultural transfer and the sociology of translation

A processual approach

ORCID logo | Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

The sociology of translation has opened up a broad field of research in recent years. Nevertheless, the autonomy of this research line has been relativized since this ‘sociological turn’ was preceded by the ‘cultural turn’ in translation studies (TS). Consequently, the focus of research should be on the interaction between translation and culture when analyzing sociological aspects in TS. Therefore, in this article, the concept of cultural transfer is used as a processual basis for the study of sociological aspects of a literary transfer in tandem with the way a target culture influences a translation and subjects it to its own ideas. This allows for interpreting all activity regulated by various actors from the perspective of the receiving culture. Focusing on the reception of recent Dutch and Belgian literatures in Germany, the presented approach offers innovations in the study of literary transfer while also acknowledging methodological challenges.

Keywords: cultural transfer, sociology of translation, cultural turn, sociological turn, imagology, Dutch literature, Belgian literatures, German literary translation
Article outline
  • 1.Literary translation as a cultural transfer
    • 1.1The selection process
    • 1.2The translation process
    • 1.3Subsequent reception processes
  • 2.Methodological challenges
  • 3.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 3 August 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.23005.van
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