ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what is meant by 'popular fiction' before providing an overview of the history of research on translating popular fiction. Several translation scholars have examined the role of translated popular fiction in popularising a genre in a target culture. In some countries, popular fiction genres developed through pseudo translations—texts ostensibly translated but lacking a source text—which Gideon Toury argues 'constitutes a convenient way of introducing novelties into a culture. When a market for translated popular fiction proves fruitful, it can mobilise significant economic resources. The effect of imported translations narrowing the market for domestic production has been noted in French science fiction, Portuguese science fiction and German romance fiction. Brian Mossop broadens the field to extra-terrestrial communication by comparing how translation challenges are depicted in science fiction novels and in scholarly scientific publications. Jean-Marc Gouanvic compares Marcel Duhamel's translations of crime fiction with his translations of realist American novels.
