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In:A (Re)turn to the Source Text
Edited by Malin Carlström and Richard Pleijel
[Benjamins Translation Library 169] 2026
► pp. 142–170

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Annes of Green Hills

Source texts and sources of inspiration for the Finnish, Polish and Norwegian translations of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables

 | Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
 | University of Agder
 | University of Helsinki
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 20 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.169.05cze
Abstract
The chapter studies a network of source texts by tracing the influences of the Swedish translation of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables on the Polish, Finnish, and Norwegian versions. Identifying the source texts used in each translation determines whether they are direct or indirect, and singular or compilative (Ivaska 2020, Rosa et al. 2017). Material from the publishers’ archives and bibliographical material is analyzed, and results are confirmed by a comparative textual analysis of the translations and their presumed source texts regarding proper names, intertextual references, and infantilizing strategies. This examination of a network of source texts shows that the source text is not stable, as all three translations analyzed have different singular or compilative source texts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Expanding the concept of source text
  • 3.Swedish context: The first ever translation of Anne of Green Gables
  • 4.Polish context: Compilative translation using the original source text and a single mediating source text
  • 5.Norwegian context: Direct translation with possible influences from a supporting source text
  • 6.Finnish context: Indirect translation using a single mediating source text
  • 7.Comparative textual analysis
    • 7.1Proper names
    • 7.2Literary allusions
    • 7.3Didactic additions and infantilization of Anne
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (53)
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