Europa orientalis

La letteratura polacca nel polisistema letterario italiano (1991-2021). Un’introduzione

Andrea Ceccherelli — 2023-12-31

The essay considers in overall terms the growth of the presence of Polish literature in Italy over the past three decades, observable in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In quantitative terms, the determining factors are both internal to the Italian publishing market and traceable to the supportive action exerted by Polish cultural institutions. As many as 535 titles released in the last 30 years are listed in the overall bibliography. It does not escape attention, anyway, that the large number of books released in the thirty-year period does not, in many cases, equate to a large number of readers; many translations occupy a weak position in the target culture system. Also in translation policy, a distinction is made between a qualitative strategy inspired by the principle of selectivity (either large publishing houses, or small publishing houses as long as they are prestigious) and a quantitative strategy inspired by the principle of serendipity (the important thing is to throw seeds, some will germinate). In qualitative terms, however, the essay focuses on two aspects: the increase in the symbolic capital of Polish literature and its articulated presence in the Italian literary polysystem. The increase in symbolic capital concerns in particular certain fields, or genres, in which Polish literature has expressed names of commonly recognized value: the Nobel laureates Szymborska, Milosz and To- karczuk, but also representatives of non-canonized genres that have emerged from the peripheries of the polysystem only recently, such as Lem, Kapuscinski, Sapkowski. Thanks to them, Polish literature has moved in various articulations of the Italian polysystem from a peripheral to a central position. If in 1991, in Marchesani's calculations, there were twelve Polish authors who had had at least four volume titles published between 1945 and 1990, in the last thirty years there are as many as thirty-two.

La poesia polacca in Italia (1991-2021)

Leonardo Masi — 2023-12-31

The timeline of the presence of Polish poetry in Italy in the period 1991-2021 can be divided into two spans of equal length. Up until 2006, the scene is dominated by the masters of the second half of the twentieth century, Zbigniew Herbert, Czeslaw Milosz, Tadeusz Rózewicz and Wislawa Szymborska, albeit with various publishing fortunes. Since 2006, some new directions have been observed. Italian translators and publishers began to benefit from the support of the Book Institute (an organisation inaugurated by the government in 2004 to promote Polish books abroad), further stimulated by the arrival of a poet, Jaroslaw Mikolajewski, as director of the Polish Institute in Rome in 2006. This led to the translation and publication of many works of Polish literature in Italy. In particular, many poets who were young at the time (bom after I960) flourished. At the same time important gaps were also gradually beginning to be filled, a process that can only be said to be almost complete in recent years. Indeed, since late 2010s translators and publishers have finally started to turn to Renaissance and 19th century poetry, with the publication or re-edition of important works by Jan Kochanowski (also from Latin) and Adam Mickiewicz (see for instance Pan Tadeusz). As far as twentieth-century poetry is concerned, discrete attention has been paid to the poets of Nowa Fala (of particular note are the italian successes of Adam Zagajewski and Ewa Lipska), but pre-World War II poetry remains almost unknown.
A separate discourse should be made for Karol Wojtyla, the popular pope who, at least until his death in 2005, saw his poems reprinted several times in Italy, and especially for Szymborska, whose fortunes in Italy have been quite exceptional and always on the rise since being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1996. The article gives an account of the books published during the thirty-year period, presenting and analysing data and also focusing on the work of translators and publishers; it also shows the importance of other channels for the dissemination of Polish poetry during the thirty-year period: blogs, newspapers, magazines, festivals, etc. Some hints are also made about the presence of Polish poetry in the works of Italian authors (poets, writers, musicians). Finally, the author outlines some working hypotheses for translators, scholars and publishers in the coming years.

La narrativa finzionale polacca in Italia tra traduzione e ricezione

Andrea F. De Carlo — 2023-12-31

The paper aims to offer the cue for a survey, which, for obvious reasons of space, has the characteristics of a broad sampling, rather than a detailed examination, of the main Italian translations of fictional works translated from Polish in the thirty-yearperiod 1991-2021.

Le traduzioni di saggistica letteraria e di memorialistica polacca: un canone in trasformazione?

Serena Buti — 2023-12-31

The article proposes some of the author’s reflections that arose in collecting the bibliography of Italian translations of Polish (literary) essays and memoirs between 1991 and 2021. Firstly, the effects of the Nobel Prize on essay and memoir translations are noted. Then, considering Poland’s entry into the European Union, the need to include new European voices on topics such as contemporary history, totalitarianism and European identity is explored. Shifting the focus to the student-reader audience, a comparison was made between the ‘canon of Polonists’ and the ‘canon of publishers’. It was found that over the last thirty years, the work of Polonist-translators has brought the two canons closer together.

Il fascino discreto della realtà: sulla fortuna del reportage polacco in Italia (1991-2021)

Dario Prola — 2023-12-31

The first part of the paper offers a reflection on the reportage genre, defining its salient features and the intermediate position it has occupied in the Polish literary system between fiction and document. The following is a brief overview of the evolution of this genre in the Polish information and publishing system from 1991 to the present day. The second part of this paper is an analysis of the presence of Polish reportage in the Italian book market during the period under review. The aim of the research is not only to indicate which reporters and works have been translated but above all to reflect on the main factors that have determined the presence and fortune of Polish reportage in Italy.

Non solo Lem. La narrativa di genere polacca in Italia

Alessandro Amenta — 2023-12-31

The paper offers an overview of the Italian translations of Polish genre fiction published in 1991-2021. Six genres will be considered: SF, fantasy, horror, crime, romance, and graphic novel. After introducing the theoretical and methodological framework, the research parameters will be outlined, including the number of translated books, editions, authors, and state funding. As a result of editorial practices, readers’ preferences, and market expectations, genres like science fiction, fantasy and crime appear more appealing and widespread. Finally, issues related to translation strategies, indirect translations, transmediai storytelling, and genre-specific reception will be discussed.

Rassegna della letteratura drammatica in Italia (1991-2021)

Nadzìeja Bakowska — 2023-12-31

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Polish dramatic literature presence in Italy over the past thirty years (1991-2021). It focuses on the literary context, translations and publications, but not on the stage adaptations. The Polish dramaturgy in Italy is approached from two perspectives: a diachronic one, against the last report dating back to early nineties by Anton Maria Raffo, and a synchronic one, against the contemporary dramatic literature phenomena and trends in Poland. The condition of Polish dramaturgy in Italy over the past three decades is then summarized in terms of three key aspects: the profile of translators; the characteristics of translation and publishing initiatives; the range of translated works; and finally the fùture perspectives forthe Polish dramaturgy in Italy are outlined.

La letteratura polacca per l’infanzia in Italia (1991-2021)

Lorenzo Costantino — 2023-12-31

Polish children’s literature is traditionally the least represented sector in the panorama of translated literature in Italy. During the twentieth century, only few works of Polish children’s literature were translated into Italian. However, in the last thirty years - and in the last two decades in particular - the situation has changed radically. This is due both to the increase of cultural and editorial interest in the sector in Italy, and to the increase of the literary and artistic level of Polish production (after a crisis of the 1980s), accompanied in the new millennium by a new promotional policy abroad implemented by public institutions. The most represented sector of Polish children’s literature in Italy today is the picture book.

Traduzioni dallo yiddish di autori polacco-lituani. Una bibliografia ragionata

Arsen Hordziy — 2023-12-31

The article discusses the Italian bibliography prepared by the author of translations of Polish-Lithuanian Jews made from Yiddish. Firstly, the issue of national literature is tackled: it is argued that Polish literary field has been and still is multilingual and that it is a significant starting point for broader considerations. One of the possible perspectives concerns Jewish literary life in Poland. As a matter of fact, Jews, as well as their languages, were a crucial element of the cultural landscape of the country until WWII. In the last part of the article the criteria of selection are defined and some wider aspects of the Italian reception are presented, first of all its modesty.

Bibliografia della letteratura polacca tradotta in italiano (libri usciti negli anni 1991-2021)

Andrea Ceccherelli — 2023-12-31

Language Identity and Language Laws in Ukraine: Implementation Challenges and the Real Impact on Society

Olena Ponomareva — 2023-12-31

The question of language as a marker of cultural and political identity in contemporary Ukraine remains a complex problem despite extensive scholarly literature on language processes and the sociolinguistic situation in general within the country. The challenges in implementing the law On ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language (2019) - not least the Venice Commission recommendations and the criticism voiced by various groups within Ukraine opposing the Law - have highlighted a number of concerns facing Ukrainian society that appear destined, fatally, to remain without a satisfactory answer. This essay is innovative in that it links Frantz Fanon’s and Serhij Kryms’kyj’s theoretical legacies with a proposal to develop fresh research approaches for the conceptualization of the language problem in postwar Ukraine.

Alcune peculiarità morfosintattiche dei dialetti ucraini nord-orientali (contesto slavo-orientale)

Salvatore Del Gaudio — 2023-12-31

In this contribution, we first outline some of the recurrent morphosyntactic features characterizing a part of north-eastern Ukrainian dialects spoken in the Ripky area (north-west of Cemihiv) and in proximity of the Ukrainian-Bela- rusian and, to a minor extent, Russian border. Successively, we focus on the most common types of dialectal possessive constructions considered within the East Slavic context. Such constructions, especially with reference to the standard languages, have been extensively described and discussed in linguistic typological works over the last decades. However, the generalizations proposed in the aforementioned works, as pointed out elsewhere, do not always take in due account diatopic and diastratic variation and language historical developments. In this respect, the already available typological studies can undoubtedly benefit from the elaboration of recent dialect data, thus leading to a revision of the typological-linguistic classifications of (East) Slavic languages, also within the framework of European areal-typological classifications.

Realtà storica o favola? Ancora intorno a un’ipotesi sulla glottogenesi slava

Cristiano Diddi — 2023-12-31

The author re-examines some of the most controversial aspects of the theory of the late formation of Proto-Slavic, allegedly developed in the region north of the Danube due to political and cultural contact with the Roman Empire and thus dating back to a period no earlier than the middle of the 1st millennium AD. This interpretation, put forward almost exclusively by historians and archaeologists, does not, however, take into account the data of historical linguistics and dialectology, which, on the contrary, project the formation of Proto-Slavic far back in time. The article considers the main objections to this theory, with reference to some of the most recent contributions in the field of linguistics.

“Sarà il mio congedo dagli studi russi...”. Materiali di russistica nel fondo Renato Poggioli: note preliminari

Bianca Sulpasso — 2023-12-31

“In these days, with an almost heroic act of will (during a ten-day leave), I have completed an old ‘torso’ of mine that I have wanted to rid myself of for years, as if it were a “specter”. With the forthcoming reissue of my anthology, now entitled ‘Il Fiore del Verso Russo’, this will be my farewell to Russian studies. It is a small volume of 150 pages, and will be published by my publishers in Florence, which I hope to present to you in a few months as a modest token ofhomage. The theme and title are ‘Il Genio della Letteratura Russa’”.
This is how Poggioli wrote to Guillén in the 1940s, while still serving in the American army, declaring his intention to leave the field of Russian studies. However, it did not happen; the announced farewell never took place, and Poggioli continued to offer significant contributions to Russian studies, contributions for which there is, as yet, no complete overview. The Fondo Poggioli in Rome is a precious resource for reconstructing Poggioli’s interests and research lines, containing valuable documentation related to projects, translations, and correspondence, some of which are still unpublished. This article offers preliminary description of the archival material related to Russian studies in the Fondo Poggioli in Rome.

“Dopo così lungo silenzio, pensi ch’io sia foco?”. Le lettere di Ettore Lo Gatto ad Angelo Formiggini (1920-1936)

Marco Caratozzolo — 2023-12-31

In the period from July 1920 to the autumn of the following year, the Italian Slavist Ettore Lo Gatto had an interesting correspondence with the eclectic publisher Angelo Fortunato Formiggini. Lo Gatto's letters to Formiggini are preserved in the Archive of the “Biblioteca Estense” in Modena and are here published for the first time. They testify, on the one hand, to Lo Gatto's multifaceted activity in the early 1920s and, on the other, to the scholar's very cordial relationship with Formiggini, for whom the former published a monograph and several articles and reviews.

Il contributo di Bruno Meriggi alla serbo-croatistica

Maria Rita Leto — 2023-12-31

This article retraces the significance of Bruno Meriggi as a scholar in Serbo- Croatian studies. Meriggi, who died prematurely at 43, knew several Slavic languages and literatures, and produced important studies especially in the earliest stage of Slavic cultures, the proto-Slavic phase, as well as in Polish, Czech, Russian cultures. Later in his career, towards the end of his life, Meriggi also developed an interest for southern Slavic studies. His activity in this field can be divided into three aspects: studies on Serbian popular epics; translations and didactic writings; studies on Croatian literature. Although limited in quantity, the quality ofhis works has left a long-lasting impact in the field.

Zagadki dvuch "Lolit" i dvuch jazykov Nabokova

Masha Levina-Parker — 2023-12-31

Nabokov’s bilingualism remains an intriguing aspect of his oeuvre. We address it in Lolita and in general. The Russian Lolita differs from the original not only in its language but even more so in the design of its mysteries, which we call quasi detective narrative. The anglophone reader for the most part of the novel has to guess what was the crime committed by Humbert: sex with an underage girl or murder? The Russian reader is told from the outset that it is murder, which sets a different puzzle: who did he kill? Not only in this respect but also in a number of others, big and small, the Russian version is clearer than English
Nabokov is known for his word-play. He plays far more with English words than Russian, his English is far more unusual, so unusual that it can in some ways be compared with that of Joyce. His Russian, however, is also far from usual - but that is due not so much to word-play as to the insufficient knowledge of some everyday Russian terminology, e.g. names of cloth items. This does not make Nabokov’s Russian inferior but it does make it a little strange and funny.

Vladimir Solov’ev, traduttore di Hāfeẓ

Andrea Lena Corritore — 2023-12-31

The essay is dedicated to the Russian translations ofHafez made by Vladimir Solov’ev in 1885. The Russian philosopher’s interest in the Persian poet is part of European, and specifically German, Orientalism, but finds a more direct origin in the Hafezian translations published by Afanasij Fet in I860. Solov’ev’s lyrics have hitherto been thought to be translations of Hafezian imitations by the German poet Friedrich Bodenstadt (Der Sanger von Schiras, Hafisische Lieder 1877). The essay shows how Solov’ev translated Hafez through Georg Friedrich Daumer’s rewritings (Hafis 1856), the same edition used twenty-five years earlier by Fet. For both poets, Hafez was functional in conveying their own artistic and philosophical vision.

Letteratura russa e periodici italiani per ragazzi: Gor’kij e la rivista “Primavera” (1911-1914)

Raffella Vassena — 2023-12-31

The Author analyses the translations of Russian literary works that appeared in the first Italian monthly magazine for children, “Primavera” (1911-1914), directed by Vittorio Podrecca. A particular emphasis is placed on the collaboration of Maxim Gorky, who published four stories in Podrecca’s magazine, one of which did not appear in any subsequent publications. Gorky’s involvement in “Primavera” is of particular significance as it marks the early stage of his pedagogical ideology and his venture into children’s literature, a field he would further develop in the ensuing years.

La fattualità del male: la non finction novel e le sue versioni sovietiche

Duccio Colombo — 2023-12-31

Two books which appeared almost simultaneously on both sides of the Iron Curtain share similar, analytical and unusual, indications as to their genre: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood: “The true account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences” (the author would usually refer to his text as “Nonfiction Novel”) and Lev Ginzburg’s The Abyss “A Narrative Based on Documents”. A similarity can be traced on the thematic plan as well: In Cold Blood is centered on the murders’ story, while The Abyss is based on the records of a trial to collaborationists serving in the SS during the war and taking part in the mass murders of Soviet civilians, reporting for the first time in the Soviet Union about their personal histories: both authors undertake an inquiry on the nature of Evil - they are both, probably, written under the impression of Eichmann’s trial and possibly of Arendt’s book - and, in order to undertake this task, they both challenge traditional literary categories. Is there a necessary connection between the thematic and the generic plans? A definitive answer can hardly be reached. A parallel reading of the American debate on Capote and the Soviet one - not on Ginzburg in particular, but about the blooming genre that at the time was beginning to be called “documentary literature” - can help shed some light. Both Capote and Ginzburg aim at a narrative of reality clearly detached from novelist traditions, however different those were in their respective countries. In the United States, this meant setting oneself apart from a modernist tradition that had renounced to any pretense to depict society; in the Soviet Union, to set oneself free from the Socialist Realist canon, doubting of its capacity to give a meaningful depiction of the horrors of the Twentieth Century (a tradition which will develop up to Svetlana Aleksievich). In both cases, anyway, a criticism of the conventions of Realism was implied, clearly resounding, at a glance from today, the late avant-garde. In the Soviet debate of the Sixties, however, any reminding of it was significantly missing - the only mention of Sergei Tretyakov and the “literature of fact” are in quotations from an American review of Capote. The disappearing of Tretyakov from the Soviet debate has yet to be explained: was censorship the reading, or was his name totally unknown to the younger writers? A renewed interest in the avant-garde can, anyway, be observed in the Soviet Union in the Sixties, clearly connected with the atmosphere of destalinization. A resurgence of avant-gard experimentation is characteristic for the Western world in the same era. Both Capote’s and Ginzburg’s texts are conceived in this atmosphere, and after the Eichmann trial, which is considered a milestone in the development of a new attitude towards the Shoah and its witnesses. On both sides of the divide, it seems - and as several further instances show - it was the attempt to “write poetry after Auschwitz” that caused to question novelistic conventions.

Sjužety zapadnoj kartinki v russkoj grafike čerez veka

Maria Chiara Pesenti — 2023-12-31

The study of Russian culture and Russian history is necessary to understand the text and the function of lubok, popular print often illustrating religious stories, which are amazingly beautiful and full of deep meaning. Of particular interest is the study of the origin of stories illustrated by the Russian lubok and popular Russian prints. Everyone knows that there are images which are typically Russian, but it is also known that many Russian pictures are adapted russified versions based on engravings of Western origin, which came to Russia from Western Europe through different channels. In this article we research the process of adapting these illustrations. This analysis highlights the wealth of information and meaning which characterizes the revisited images. This analysis allows us to better understand the existence of the popular religious prints and their role in the life of the Church.