The Pilgrim’s Progress in the Huguenot Diaspora: French Protestants and the Transnational Commodification of English Nationalism

Abstract

Abstract:What makes a text “transnational”? This article examines two historical intervals of the translation of The Pilgrim’s Progress (published in England in 1678). One interval hinges on Isabel Hofmeyr’s 2004 The Portable Bunyan: A Transnational History of The Pilgrim’s Progress, which traces the translation and indigenization of the text in colonial and postcolonial Africa. The other interval focuses on early modern French-language translations of the text in Holland and Switzerland. This article examines these Huguenot translations of Bunyan as examples of national products created through transnational processes and thereby rethinks the national/transnational dichotomy.