The
European literary and cultural heritage
has been built in the course of several
centuries through processes of interlingual
and intercultural communication. The
indisputable role of translation in
this process allows disproving the
overused cliché Traduttore
Traditore with the more truthful Traduzione
Tradizione (Translation Tradition).
In a broad sense, this formula points
out how the practice of translation
is now consolidated in all the countries
and cultures which Rilune aims to
explore. In its narrow sense though,
the formula also emphasizes one of
the poles of the dialectics inherent
in the process of translation, tensed
as it is between tradition and innovation
(with translation practices reasserting
the literary canon on the one hand,
and subversive practices on the other
– either in the choice of the
source texts or in the employed translation
strategy).
At
different times in European history,
translation allowed for the transfer
of literary traditions and currents
among different languages and it contributed
to renovate and modify profoundly
the cultures in which it was practiced.
Classical examples of this can be
found in the Latin imitatio of Greek
texts, as well as in the influence
of Martin Luther’s Bible on
the development of a unified German
language. Or again, in more recent
times, in the openness to the “stranger”
promoted by Romanticism (Berman 1984)
and in the role of translation in
the transmission of Avant-garde ideas
in the literary magazines of the early
1900s (Gubert 2003). Or, finally,
in an odd practice such as that of
resorting to “fictitious translations”
as a tool for cultural planning (Toury
2005).
In
the latter half of the 20th Century,
the intensified commercial contacts,
together with the ever increasing
importance of mass-media, allowed
for a dramatic increase in the number
of published translations, as shown
in the statistics of Unesco’s
Index Translationum. If a quantitative
increase is unquestionable (both in
the number of translations and in
the number of languages from which
these translations are made), is it
possible to estimate the effects of
this increment on the European literary
system, according to the polysystem
theory as defined by Itamar Even-Zohar
(1979, 1990)? Where can we locate
– and is it possible to locate
it? – the contemporary practice
of translation, in relation to the
above-mentioned dialectic? Is translation
still a tradition, or rather a subversion?
What role, in the end, does translation
play within the complex macro-polysystem
of European literature?
Translation
has often been defined as a portal
towards the Other, an image which
seems to well encompass the various
possible approaches to the question
of mutual influences among national
literary systems. The first section
(Inclusion) gathers articles dealing
with the entrance of foreign concepts,
authors and literary works in a given
national system, examining how their
inclusion contributes shaping national
literatures. The second section (Dissemination)
brings together articles dealing with
the exit, or diffusion, of concepts,
authors or literary works out of the
system in which they originated into
the European scene. The third section
(Contamination) invites contributions
reflecting on translation as a two-way
movement, as a threshold practice,
thus accounting for multilingualism,
linguistic syncretism and mutual exchange
between languages.
The
several papers gathered in this issue
wish to offer a multilingual and multifaceted
view of the European literary scene,
revealing the inherent “unity
within difference” of the European
macro-polysystem, necessary condition
to the realisation of a common cultural
conscience.
Enrico
Monti & Fabio Regattin
