Publishing Translations in Fascisit Italy

by Rundle, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9783039118311
• ISBN10: 3039118315
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-06
• Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Inc

Author Biography

Christopher Rundle is a tenured researcher at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators (SSLMIT) at the University of Bologna and Honorary Fellow of the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at the University of Manchester.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
List of Tables and Graphs	p. xi
List of Abbreviations and Institutional Names xii
Introduction	p. 1
Establishing the Fascist Regime	p. 7
From Squadrismo to the Dictatorship	p. 7
Censorship in the Regime	p. 12
Creating a Fascist Culture: The Dilemma	p. 26
The Publishing Industry	p. 34
The Statistics of the Translation Industry	p. 43
A Comparison with France and Germany	p. 47
The Situation in Italy	p. 59
The Translation Invasion: 1929û1934	p. 67
The Start of the Invasion	p. 69
The Translation Boom	p. 78
Room for Manoeuvre	p. 87
The Campaign Against Translations	p. 96
Translation and Cultural Autarky: 1936û1938	p. 113
The Second Campaign against Translations	p. 114
Negotiating with the Authorities	p. 143
The MinistryÆs View	p. 157
Translation as Cultural Pollution: 1938û1943	p. 165
The Bonifica of Italian Literature	p. 167
The Final Clampdown	p. 182
The Case of Americana	p. 197
Conclusion	p. 207
Appendix	p. 211
Overview Table	p. 211
Figures on Translations based on National Sources	p. 213
Figures from the Index Translationum	p. 220
Figures drawn from Francesco Chicco	p. 221
Figures manipulated by the Publishers Federation	p. 223
Mondadori Publishing Figures	p. 224
Bibliography	p. 227
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

In the 1930s translation became a key issue in the cultural politics of the Fascist regime due to the fact that Italy was publishing more translations than any other country in the world. Making use of extensive archival research, the author of this new study examines this 'invasion of translations' through a detailed statistical analysis of the translation market. The book shows how translations appeared to challenge official claims about the birth of a Fascist culture and cast Italy in a receptive role that did not tally with Fascist notions of a dominant culture extending its influence abroad. The author shows further that the commercial impact of this invasion provoked a sustained reaction against translated popular literature on the part of those writers and intellectuals who felt threatened by its success. He examines the aggressive campaign that was conducted against the Italian Publishers Federation by the Authors and Writers Union (led by the Futurist poet F. T. Marinetti), accusing them of favouring their private profit over the national interest. Finally, the author traces the evolution of Fascist censorship, showing how the regime developed a gradually more repressive policy towards translations as notions of cultural purity began to influence the perception of imported literature.