Medea: översättningar och omtolkningar : En receptionsstudie av Euripides drama mellan 1860 och 2016

Sammanfattning: Medea is, even though a mythological woman from ancient Greece, very popular today and her story feels modern, which many recent adaptations clearly prove. How can this ancient material be so applicable and thought-provoking to discuss today? This study shows how different translators and authors have interpreted and re-imagined Medea to make her feel relevant to their contemporary societies. Focus is put on Medea’s roles as a woman and a foreigner, because these aspects are especially relevant today. The following research compares three Swedish translations of Euripides Medea from 1860, 1931 and 2012 with each other and analyses three modern adaptations (a movie by Lars von Trier, a novel by Christa Wolf and a play by Viktor Tjerneld) to reveal similarities and differences in the reception of the ancient material. This is achieved by a close reading and analysis of the source material with a theoretical approach that focusses on classical reception and drama theory. The results show that the different translations only differ in nuanced details because all of them try to stay as true as possible to the ancient Greek original. Only the prefaces and character lists written by the translators reveal significant differences in the values that they express and that are signs of their contemporary societies. The modern adaptations offer more possibilities for changing the original depending on which aspects are important during the time of publication. The results show that Medea’s role as an independent woman is important today, but also that her role as a foreigner becomes even more significant as the debates about refugees are getting more evident in our society.