From Chawton to China
Austen has travelled far. Her novels sit on bookshelves from Slovenia to Japan, and from Azerbaijan to Iceland. This map plots the locations of translations catalogued from the two collections I visited in the small village of Chawton – at Jane Austen’s House and Chawton House. Though Austen’s work is often characterised as resoundingly and containedly English, her stories have resonated worldwide. In light of this, this map aims to display a visual representation of what it means to consider Austen’s works global or world literature.
Translation Through Time
This map shows the locations of two groups of translations from two contrasting time periods. The first layer gives you a comprehensive view of the spread of translations in the nineteenth century, starting with the very first translation in Switzerland, 1813. The second layer moves out across Europe and beyond, displaying translations published between the years 1994 and 1999. Across almost 200 years of history, what corners of the globe has Austen reached? What new readers have been able to discover her?