tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post3214694838173534616..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Italian Literature's Identity Crisis, by Mari BiellaKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-28908479689278001782015-07-06T19:24:23.506+01:002015-07-06T19:24:23.506+01:00What a worthwhile blog -- though I still feel slig...What a worthwhile blog -- though I still feel slightly guilty for getting my Italy fix via Michael Dibdin and Donna Leon. For me Italy speaks most directly through music, but that's not exactly up to date<br /> julia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-3699180162331767342015-07-05T19:27:23.750+01:002015-07-05T19:27:23.750+01:00And even the translations may be a problem. I thin...And even the translations may be a problem. I think I remember reading that Nabokov created different puns for different language versions of his books because they were not easily translatable. Learning something of the Tuscan language would be interesting. I read The Leopard last year at the urging of John A. A. Logan who mentioned it in one of his blogs here. I prefer those "slice of life" narratives you mentioned which "go nowhere" but teach us about the language, culture, thought patterns and mores of the writer and his/her country.Áinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74435115713794148562015-07-03T20:52:45.653+01:002015-07-03T20:52:45.653+01:00I think you are right about a lot of this. A larg...I think you are right about a lot of this. A large part of the problem is that not nearly enough work by Continental European writers is translated into English. We in England kid ourselves that we are so international but actually we are horribly parochial. (I say this as someone who lived abroad for sixteen years). There is also a cultural problem. We are dominated by an Anglo Saxon / American idea of what a story is. Stories have to develop and 'go somewhere.' Often Continental European stories don't. Think of all those wonderful French films which are simply slices of life and 'go nowhere' but are fantastic nevertheless. The English publishing industry is simply not going to buy a story which, apparently, 'goes nowhere.' But things are changing - look at what Peireine Press are doing. And look at the recent success of Eleanor Ferrante. Now there's an Italian who is attracting attention. But I bet it has been a struggle to get those books translated and out on the English market.<br />Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-40023781428297900152015-07-02T20:48:45.904+01:002015-07-02T20:48:45.904+01:00And Umberto - love you, but wish you didn't ha...And Umberto - love you, but wish you didn't have a giant spider behind your head every time I look at you!Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-26101577647931770742015-07-02T20:48:02.646+01:002015-07-02T20:48:02.646+01:00Leela - translating the work of Dalits sounds like...Leela - translating the work of Dalits sounds like a wonderful project.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-2407493386476435202015-07-02T17:34:43.161+01:002015-07-02T17:34:43.161+01:00Mari, I just came across this today and thought it...Mari, I just came across this today and thought it was fascinating: Leonardo da Vinci: A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance Italy by Angelo Paratico<br />In his latest book, Hong Kong-based writer and historian Angelo Paratico suggests that not only that the Mona Lisa is—or might have been—Leonardo’s mother, but also she was—or might have been—Chinese. Leela Somanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-69151988341648666742015-07-02T14:30:06.918+01:002015-07-02T14:30:06.918+01:00Thanks for the comments, everyone. It's fright...Thanks for the comments, everyone. It's frightening, Dennis, to think that a good novel was turned down for being 'too difficult' - if readers aren't even given the option to stretch their minds a bit, doesn't that become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy?<br /><br />I love <i>Invisible Cities</i> too, Reb - it's one of my all-time favourites, in fact!Mari Biellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221256993468150226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-38306216842942658242015-07-02T14:28:54.687+01:002015-07-02T14:28:54.687+01:00Despite its identity crisis, the influence of Ital...Despite its identity crisis, the influence of Italian Lit on other countries' has surely been phenomenal. Byron could never have written his comic masterpieces--Beppo, Vision of Judgment and Don Juan --if not for ottava rima. Boccaccio may have invented it but Pulci's mock heroic epic Morgante Magiore showed Byron the stanza's comic potential for English rhyme. Would love to read more on the subject of Italian influence. glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-82582897125622164512015-07-02T14:16:38.165+01:002015-07-02T14:16:38.165+01:00Terrific post, Mari. Glad you mentioned Calvino, w...Terrific post, Mari. Glad you mentioned Calvino, whose Invisible Cities is one of my favorite books. glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-62885634180576804792015-07-02T14:01:25.119+01:002015-07-02T14:01:25.119+01:00I could watch Montalbano every day, just to see th...I could watch Montalbano every day, just to see the crumbling beauty of Sicily and listen to the Italian and watch the subtitles to try and find familiar words! You are so right about lack of translated works. It is not just in Italy. In India the publishing world is becoming aware of the numerous languages that need to be accessed by the huge population and are at last taking the first steps to recognise the 14 National languages and the 200 plus dialects. The translations of the work of Dalits(the old untouchables) is particularly appealing to me. Literature even literacy was the reserve of the rich and priestly classes,so there is a need for a concerted effort to get works more accessible to all people in society. Your great blog gave us a peek into Italy's lit scene. Hope much more is done to get this subject debated and acted on. Thanks Mari. Leela Somanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-85854277941695892442015-07-02T12:04:05.840+01:002015-07-02T12:04:05.840+01:00Great post Mari, very thought-provoking - certainl...Great post Mari, very thought-provoking - certainly Scandi crime is huge here in the UK now and virtually nobody speaks those languages, so that's not the barrier. Perhaps there's just not enough translation going on? The success of Italian crime on TV and the popularity of those like Leon must be a promising sign. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-54706403122466517102015-07-02T11:33:32.148+01:002015-07-02T11:33:32.148+01:00I know you're right, Mari. I like Italian dete...I know you're right, Mari. I like Italian detectives but the ones I go to first are Brunettti and Aurelio Zen, by Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin respectively. Yes, English can be a curse and when it returns to being a rough dialect spoken on a wet island we'll all be in trouble.Talking of Dante, there's a very good new writer in Writers in Oxford who recently published independently a remarkable YA novel called Ante's Inferno, which gets kids actually inside the poem. I thought it was brilliant and asked her why it hadn't been taken up by a mainstream publisher. She told me it was because they all said that modern kids would neither know Dante or like him if they did and they wouldn't understand what the book was about and it was generally far too difficult for them and anyway it was about things they wouldn't want to know. To repeat Sue in yesterday's comments, Dear God. Twenty years ago editors would have bitten hands off to publish it.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-71850990434006749112015-07-02T07:23:37.644+01:002015-07-02T07:23:37.644+01:00Brava Mari! Well said. By happy coincidence, right...Brava Mari! Well said. By happy coincidence, right now, we're doing our best at Chicago Quarterly Review - where I am an editor - to help fill that English-speaking world's knowledge gap about contemporary Italian literature. <br /><br />Our literary magazine's current offering -"The Italian Issue" - long in the making (guest edited by Michela Martini) -features more than 200 pages of outstanding, newly translated writings from the 1960s to the present, by more than three dozen Italian language poets, fiction writers and essayists.<br /><br />You can get a peek here, including a list of the writers: <br /> http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/2015/04/08/the-italian-issue/ <br />.. or here: <br />http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Quarterly-Review-20-Italian/dp/1508814546/ref=la_B00VQKBW2S_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435817359&sr=1-1<br /><br />Chicago Quarterly Review has been in print continuously for the past 21 years. Alas, it's not available in e-book form as yet, but I'm working on that. Umberto Tosihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939504157464234443noreply@blogger.com