Transmitting format, content and practices in early newspaper translation in Finland. ‘Tales from the Eastern Lands’ as a case in point

Newspapers were part of the emergent translation culture in Finland at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, enabling circulation of ideas, providing material for translation, and offering novice translators concrete models and practices. Translated content in newspapers and journals tells us about these practices, such as the search for source texts, and textual and paratextual strategies. The article examines the case of The Thousand and One Nights and other Eastern tales in Finnish periodical press. How did translators find out about potential texts (information circulation, availability)? Which texts were chosen (appraisal, selection)? What kinds of translation and writing practices were transmitted? By focusing on the tradition of Oriental stories in the early newspaper press in Sweden-Finland, I examine the triangle of format, content and practice, its implications for translation, and the cross-border, cross-linguistic influences between the two geographical areas that were separated by a political border in 1809: Sweden and Finland.