1800-talets svenska romanundret på tyska: Fredrika Bremer, Emilie Flygare-Carlén och Marie Sophie Schwartz

Abstract From the early nineteenth century onwards, Swedish literature was remarkable successful outside Sweden. Especially novels by women writers triumphed in German-speaking Europe from 1840 onwards. Therefore, this article analysis the first surge of Swedish literature on the German book market from the mid-nineteenth century until the fin-de-siècle. It demonstrates the importance for Swedish literature to be translated into German for wider transnational circulation. Specifically, it examines the translation and distribution of bestselling Swedish novels by Fredrika Bremer, Emelie Flygare-Carlén and Marie Sophie Schwartz, and what kind of publication strategies the German publishers used to launch their novels. The German reception of the novels is also demonstrated by examples of secondary reception, that is, how the most popular novels gave rise to fan fiction, pirated editions and adaptations into dramas. Finally, Bremer’s, Flygare-Carlén’s and Schwartz’s most bestselling novels in German translation are presented in relation to genre and later evaluation of their authorships in Swedish literary history.