Bestseller in transformation

The Use of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the Nordic region, particularly Sweden

Abstract

How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin become part of literary tradition in Norden, and what can its example teach us about the aesthetic, linguistic, political, and technological pathways of literature? The project “Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Norden: Translation, Reception, Transformation” involves five researchers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, who intend to follow the novel’s journey from the charged debate on slavery in the American 1850s to its impact on the Nordic nation building projects and on to today’s welfare societies, where issues of oppression, justice, and complicity have gained renewed relevance. As suggested by the project title, the aim is to examine how the story has been translated, transformed, launched, received, and used, and what kinds of relationships and connections it has established in the Nordic region. This article describes the overall purpose and theoretical frame of the research and delves into some examples from the early 19th century and contemporary reception using concepts from the research area of world literature.