‘Wevers aan hetzelfde web van verhalen’

Abstract

In this case study, the concept of ‘multiple translatorship’ (Jansen & Wegener, 2013) is used to examine the international distribution of Cees Nooteboom’s novel Paradijs verloren (Lost Paradise). Many hands and minds contribute to making the literary text suitable for other target cultures with other literary systems. The transformative interventions of the actors involved are described in terms of the reception processes that Lüsebrink distinguishes in his model of structural elements of cultural transfer (Lüsebrink, 2008). The focus in this contribution is on the nature of the choices made by individual actors in a given context and the observable effects of their interventions. Special attention is given to the following three structural elements of reception processes formulated by Lüsebrink: the cultural adaptation form, the productive reception and the commentary form. In this contribution, insights are gained into the role of the translators, publishers, reviewers and also the author himself, in the dynamic processes surrounding the literary translation and the inter national distribution of Paradijs verloren (Lost Paradise) in German, French, English and Brazilian-Portuguese speaking areas.