The Book of Mormon

: creation and circulation through a post-translation lens

Abstract

Since its publication in 1830, the Book of Mormon has been translated into 116 different languages. Between 1851 and 1856 the first six translations were published in Danish, French, Welsh, German, Italian, and Hawaiian. The main objective of my thesis is to examine these translational events, especially the initial creation of the text and the Danish, Welsh, and Hawaiian cases, through a post-translation lens, i.e., not to analyze the translations themselves but to investigate how the circulation of the text through translation resulted in cultural changes in these three target cultures and the source culture. Data will be gathered such as the number of converts or examples of productions of culture in the communities where the translations were introduced, complemented by a cultural-historical analysis of the relationship between the translations and those source and target cultures at the time, as well as an analysis of the paratexts of the original and the translations. My research aims to answer the following questions: Why was the Book of Mormon presented as a translation? Why was the Book of Mormon translated into these specific languages at those particular times? How did these translations impact the receiving cultures? In other words, what pre- and post-translation effects can be identified?

Date of Award	13 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Joana Moura (Supervisor)