Sul tradurre come metamorfosi. Dal testo originale al doppio traduttologico

Abstract

The idea of translation as a metamorphosis from one language to another triggers a series of reflections which concern, not only the role of the translator as such, but also the relationship between the original text and all the translations of it in the same language which follow on one after the other in time. While the original text remains the same, the translator of a classic – like Moby-Dick or Madame Bovary, for example – aims to render the uniqueness of the literary work. However, his/her translation is partly conditioned by the uninterrupted instability that characterises a translated work like Robinson Crusoe and all the existing versions in Italian as well as all the future translations that are still possible. The history of translation cannot avoid taking these transitions into account since they involve a reflection on traductological methods, the literary system and the cultural dialogue which translations of the great works of the Western canon generate. After all, translating ultimately evokes the artist that is in the translator, which in Eleanor Marx’s case culminates in a full identification with Emma Bovary, the heroine of the novel she translated in 1886. In this respect, the target text may be considered a traductological double, a sort of shadow of the other (i.e. the original), which leads to a competition on a strictly creative level (the Italian translation of Ulysses, for example). Moreover, when translators are also acclaimed poets and novelists, creativity prevails over philological precision and the translation really becomes a double that is fully entitled to seek its share in the greatness of the original.