Discussion
The translator’s immobility: English modern classics in Italy

Paola Venturi
University of Bologna

Abstract

Translations are facts of target cultures, but the perceived status of source texts has a bearing on how these are reflected or refracted in the target language. This proposition is particularly evident in the case of classics: when translators have to work on literary creations occupying a pivotal position in the source/target cultures, they adopt strategies of literalness and ennoblement which betray a quasi-religious awe—on the one hand, a desire to ruffle the surface of the revered original as little as possible; and on the other, a determination to reproduce the supposed ‘classical qualities’ of the classic even when they are not present in the source. In the following article, I examine how the ‘idea of classic’ influences translation theory and practice, substantiating my theoretical observations by looking at Italian translations of English classics. A marked—and historically determined—disparity between source and target readerships, and the translators’ reverence for their prestigious originals, conspire to produce Italian versions which are much more ‘wooden’ and ‘elegant’ than their English counterparts.

Keywords:
Table of contents

Despite the shifting grounds of critical appraisal, some literary works enjoy the commonly accepted and rarely questioned status of ‘classics’. Being widely known and recognized as paradigms of literary excellence, these works and their translations have often been the object of single comparative studies. What seems to be lacking, though, is a wider perspective on this constellation of translated literature as a whole, and specifically on how the idea of classical literature can guide translators in their choices (be they aware of this process or not). It is this perspective that I will attempt to sketch, with particular regard to the Italian translations of a few English modern classics.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Altick, Richard D.
1957 The English Common Reader. A Social History of the Mass Reading Public 1800–1900. Chicago-London: Phoenix Books-The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Austen, Jane
1816/1998 Emma. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2002 Emma. Trans. Anna Luisa Zazo. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Bassnett, Susan
1997 “Text Types and Power Relations”. Anna Trosborg, ed. Text Typology and Translation. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 87–98.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, Walter
1961 Illuminationen. Ausgewählte Schriften. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Berman, Antoine
1995 Pour une critique des traductions : John Donne. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
1999 La traduction et la lettre ou l’auberge du lointain. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.Google Scholar
Bly, Robert
1983 The Eight Stages of Translation. Boston: Rowan Tree Press.Google Scholar
Brisset, Annie
1990 Sociocritique de la traduction. Théâtre et altérité au Québec (1968–1988). Longueil: Les Éditions du Préambule.Google Scholar
Bruni, Leonardo
1996 Opere letterarie e politiche. Torino: Utet.Google Scholar
Cavallo, Guglielmo
1995 “Tra ‘volumen’ e ‘codex’. La lettura nel mondo romano”. Cavallo and Chartier 1995 . 37–69.Google Scholar
Cavallo, Guglielmo and Roger Chartier
eds. 1995 Storia della lettura nel mondo occidentale. Bari: Laterza-Éditions du Seuil.Google Scholar
Chapdelaine, Annick and Gillian Lane Mercier
eds. 2001 Faulkner. Une expérience de retraduction. Montréal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Detti, Ermanno
1987/2002 Il piacere di leggere. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.Google Scholar
Dimitriu, Rodica
2006 “From Robinson Crusoe to Robinson in Wallachia.The intricacies of the reception process”. Anthony Pym, Miriam Shlesinger, Zuzana Jettmarovà, eds. Sociocultural Aspects of Translating and Interpreting. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 73–82.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
[ p. 356 ]
Eco, Umberto
1979 Lector in fabula. Milano: Bompiani.Google Scholar
Eliot, George
1871–72/1965 Middlemarch. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
1995 Middlemarch. Trans. Michele Bottalico. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Eliot, T.S.
1975 Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Even-Zohar, Itamar
1978/2004 “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem”. Lawrence Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. New York-London: Routledge. 199–204.Google Scholar
1990 Polysystem Studies. Tel Aviv-Durham: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics-Duke University Press. [Poetics Today 11:1]Google Scholar
Fish, Stanley
1980 Is There a Text in this Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Cambridge (Mass.)-London: Harvard University PressGoogle Scholar
Folena, Gianfranco
1991 Volgarizzare e tradurre. Torino: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Gilmont, Jean-François
1995 “Riforma protestante e lettura”. Cavallo and Chartier 1995 . 243–75.Google Scholar
Grafton, Anthony
1995 “L’umanista come lettore”. Cavallo and Chartier 1995 . 199–242.Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. and Ruqaiya Hasan
1976 Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Iser, Wolfgang
1978 The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Julia, Dominique
1995 “Letture e controriforma”. Cavallo and Chartier 1995 . 277–316.Google Scholar
Lefevere, André
1982/2004 “Mother Courage’s Cucumbers: Text, System and Reflection in a Theory of Literature”. Lawrence Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. New York-London: Routledge. 239–255.Google Scholar
Machiavelli, Niccolò
1984 Lettere. Torino: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Marco, Josep
2004 “Translating style and styles of translating: Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe in Catalan”. Language and Literature 13:1. 73–90.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montanari, Franco
1991 “Tradurre dal greco in greco”. Salvatore Nicosia, ed. La traduzione dei testi classici. Teoria prassi storia. Napoli: D’Auria. 221–36.Google Scholar
Morini, Massimiliano
2006 Tudor Translation in Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Plath, Sylvia
2002 Opere. Trans. Anna Ravano. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Robinson, Douglas
ed. 1997 Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Salmon, Laura
2003 Teoria della traduzione. Storia, scienza, professione. Milano: Vallardi.Google Scholar
Scarpa, Federica
2001 La traduzione specializzata: Lingue speciali e mediazione linguistica. Milano: Hoepli.Google Scholar
Schleiermacher, Friedrich
1816 “Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens”. Abhandlungen der philosophischen Klasse der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften aus den Jahren 1812–1813. Berlin: in der Realschul-Buchhandlung. 143–72.Google Scholar
Smith, James Harry
ed. 1951 The Great Critics. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Steiner, George
1975 After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. New York- London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tompkins, Jane
2001 “Masterpiece theater: The politics of Hawthorne’s literary reputation”. James L. Machor and Philip Goldstein, eds. Reception Study. From literary theory to cultural studies. New York-London: Routledge. 133–54.Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1995 Descriptive Translation Studies and beyond. Amsterdam- Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
[ p. 357 ]
1998 “A Handful of Paragraphs on ‘Translation’ and ‘Norms’”. Current Issues in Language and Society 5. 10–32.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Traniello, Paolo
2002 Storia delle biblioteche in Italia dall’Unità a oggi. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1995 The Translator’s Invisibility. A History of Translation. London: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998 The Scandals of Translation. Towards an ethics of difference. London-New York: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 “Translation, Community, Utopia”. Lawrence Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. New York-London: Routledge. 482–502.Google Scholar
Wolff, Erwin
1971 “Der interdierte Leser: Oberlegungen und Beispiele zur Einführung eines literaturwissenschaftlichen Begriffs”. Poetica 4. 141–66.Google Scholar
Woolf, Virginia
1927/1987 To the Lighthouse. London: Grafton Books.Google Scholar
1992 Gita al faro. Trans. Giulia Celenza. Milano: GarzantiGoogle Scholar