Lost in Translation? – A Comparative Study of Three Swedish Translations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 'The Hobbit'

Abstract: The practice of translation has many different approaches. By comparing and discussing three different Swedish translations of 'The Hobbit', this text discusses what factors affect literary translation and how these influences have changed over time. In this essay, I investigate how the translations 'Hompen, eller En resa dit och tillbaks igen' (1947), 'Bilbo: En hobbits äventyr' (1962) and 'Hobbiten eller Bort och hem igen' (2007) differ from each other and discuss this with special attention to the influence of social and cultural norms, but also how translators position themselves according to the source text author’s wishes and the opinions of readers. I will argue that these factors impose demands on translations and that these demands change over time, which consequently affects the production of a translated literary text.