Cultures in Contact: Translation and Reception of 'I Promessi Sposi' in 19th Century England

Cultures in Contact deals with the complex cultural relations surrounding the translation and reception of Alessandro Manzoni’s novel I Promessi Sposi (1827) in nineteenth-century England and a few years later in America. The critical and methodological perspective of this study rests on the most recent developments and final convergence of Translation Studies and Cultural Studies, and considers translation as a privileged locus of exchange and negotiation of values and ideologies. The book analyses the situation of the target and source literatures and cultures at the time of the early translations, focusing on the systemic factors determining the selection of texts for translation. Particular attention has been devoted to the receiving context, considering how and why in England and in America the impact of Manzoni’s work was less significant than in France and Germany. A notable intra- and inter-linguistic interdependency of the English and French translations of I Promessi Sposi developed, and, in this perspective, the influence that the early French and English versions exercised on the definitive edition of I Promessi Sposi appears today critically relevant. The textual analysis of the translations has also revealed the importance of paratexts and irony in the way in which they shed light on both the reception of I Promessi Sposi in England and the translators’ wish to direct readers toward a given interpretation of the novel

Introduction

This volume is the result of a university research project entitled ‘Translation and reception of Alessandro Manzoni in nineteenth-century England’ funded by the University of Bari. It pertains to the broad and fertile field of critical studies concerning the interaction between English and Italian letters and cultures. Its focal point is the analysis of the complex relations surrounding the translation and reception of Alessandro Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi (1827) in England and a few years later in America, in the assumption that translation is central and essential to intercultural relations, as Translation Studies has shown. The critical and theoretical perspective of this study rests on the most recent developments and final convergence of Translation Studies and Cultural Studies, and considers translation as a privileged locus of exchange and negotiation of values and ideologies. Availing themselves of such key trends in translation research as Itamar Even-Zohar’s and Gideon Toury’s ‘polysystem’ theory, and of the fundamental contributions of scholars like Antoine Berman, Lawrence Venuti, and Susan Bassnett, the various researchers have concentrated on specific translations, which have been submitted to detailed description in a perspective that is mainly target oriented. Particular attention has therefore been devoted to the receiving context, considering how and why in England and somewhat later in America the impact of Manzoni’s work was weaker than in France and Germany. As emerges from the analyses, not only a faulty knowledge of Italian but other external factors exerted an ideological influence on reception and on the editorial machine