“Of course there is something here and there I’m afraid I don’t quite understand”: Cesare Pavese’s correspondence with Anthony Chiuminatto as a collaborative translation strategy

Italian writer Cesare Pavese (1908-1950) is also known as an ‘Americanist’ or a disseminator of American culture in Italy during the first half of the 20th century, which he mostly achieved with his work as a translator. Indeed, he translated several novels by contemporary US authors, during a historical period, the ‘Fascist era’, in which this might and was seen as an act of fascination toward an alien and hostile culture and, thus, as an act of rebellion. Numerous studies have focused on Pavese’s original work as a poet and a novelist, and possibly as many have commented on his contribution to the cultural phenomenon of Americanism. This paper intends to investigate a more specific aspect of his work: his translations. In particular, an attempt will be made to analyse the process followed by Pavese when he translated from English into Italian. This included consulting as frequently and thoroughly as he could with his Italo-American friend Antonio Chiuminatto, by letter. Pavese’s requests were mainly lexical, especially about specific terms and slang expressions or collocations. The Pavese-Chiuminatto years-long correspondence (as edited by Pietralunga 2007) will therefore be explored, in order to extract Pavese’s linguistic reflections on language(s) and translation. An interpretation of the passages then will be offered according to the notion of ‘collaborative translation’, arguing that Pavese’s celebrated translating activity could hardly have taken place – or at least not as successfully – without consulting with his Anglophone advisor. Reference Pietralunga, Mark (ed.) 2007. Cesare Pavese and Antonio Chiuminatto: Their Correspondence. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press Incorporated. Select bibliography Dughera, Attilio 1992. Tra le carte di Pavese. Roma: Bulzoni. Dunnett, J. (2015). The ‘Mito Americano’ and Italian Literary Culture under Fascism. Ariccia: Aracne. Ferme, Valerio 2002. Tradurre e tradire: La traduzione come sovversione culturale sotto il Fascismo. Ravenna: Longo. Fernandez, Dominique 1969. Il mito dell’America negli intellettuali italiani dal 1930 al 1950. Translated by Alfonso Zaccaria. Caltanissetta-Rome: Salvatore Sciascia Editore. Franzina, Emilio 1996. Dall’Arcadia in America. Torino: Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli. Mesiano, L. (2007). Cesare Pavese di carta e di parole. Bibliografia ragionata e analitica. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso. Ragone, Giovanni 1999. Un secolo di libri: storia dell’editoria in Italia dall’Unità al post-moderno. Torino: Einaudi. Stella, Maria 1977. Cesare Pavese traduttore. Roma, Bulzoni.