Is the Politics of Resistance (Un)Translatable? Translating James M. Cain in Fascist Italy

Abstract

The first two, almost synchronic, Italian versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) incarnate two ostensibly opposite translating strategies, and two different ways of dealing with the foreignness of the source text. However, they do not stem from antithetical political standpoints, but represent equally radical ways of resisting fascist tyranny and wishing for its final collapse. Through a linguistic analysis of Ada Prospero’s (1940 ca.) and Giorgio Bassani’s (1945) translations of the well-known American crime novel, I will show how translatability vs. untranslatability, domestication vs. foreignization may not be such diametrically opposed antinomies. In light of contemporary rereadings of Schleiermacher’s 1813 essay, I will argue for a reconciliation of opposites in the practice of translation under totalitarian regimes.