Chapter 11
Translating, transforming, and targeting books for
children
Author and publisher Morten Hallager as a transnational agent
in Late Enlightenment Denmark
This chapter investigates the work of Morten
Hallager (1740–1803), one of the most productive figures in the
emerging market for children’s books in Denmark. With strong
language skills in German and French, know-how as a former printer,
and a career as a schoolmaster, he had important qualifications and
experiences for transmitting books and transforming them for a
Danish audience. Based on analyses of 38 publications for children
by Hallager, mostly from the 1790s, the chapter demonstrates the
importance of analysing different variables and dimensions, when
mapping translation practices, not least the number of source texts
and the degree of “localization”. Being shaped by, and taking
advantage of, specific developments in Denmark, Hallager needs also
to be seen as one of many European transnational agents dealing with
children’s books during the late Enlightenment.
Article outline
- A spectrum of translations and adaptations
- Late Enlightenment Denmark
- Morten Hallager and his book business
- Translations and adaptations as default
- Minor and moderate interventions
- Major interventions in works by one author
- Compilations and own compositions
- Conclusions
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Notes
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References