Literature and Translation in the Licensing Realm

This study examines how literature and its interlingual circulation changed under the conditions of international legal agreements. Until the 19th century, translation into other languages was dominated by the so-called target culture and took place independently of the source culture (freedom of translation). By contrast, modern authors can influence the international distribution of their works through copyright law. Not only has an extensive licensing system emerged – with agencies, publishers and scouts specializing in the interlingual dissemination of literature – the author’s awareness of writing books for countries other than their own has also increased. The development of transnational authorship is traced through the history of German literature since the 19th century and the interaction of writers with translators, publishers and agencies.

Alexander Nebrig is Full Professor of Modern German Literature at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. He has published to date two books on the translation history of Diderot and Racine, a book on women in science in the 19th century, a book on the relationship between philology and poetry in the modern age, and numerous articles on German and comparative literature. His research interests include: Literary ethics, rhetoric, theory and history of writing, translation studies, and book studies.