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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Norwegian Translations of Anne of Green Gables: Omissions and Textual Manipulations

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Lucy M. Montgomery’s classic novel Anne of Green Gables has been translated into Norwegian four times, but Mimi Sverdrup Lunden’s 1940 translation of the novel remained in print until 2009, and was the only version of Anne available to several generations of Norwegian readers. This article examines Sverdrup Lunden’s translation in light of her political engagements in both the women’s and labour movements in the pre- and immediately post-war era with an eye towards contextualising the omissions, manipulations, and textual transformation in the Norwegian version. Central to the argument of the article is the notion that Sverdrup Lunden’s political convictions led to her crafting a secularised and egalitarian vision of Avonlea and its residents at odds with Montgomery’s original vision.