2005 / 12 Prospero. Rivista di Letterature Straniere, Comparatistica e Studi Culturali

This essay discusses the effect of literary translations on the work of some great writers, from Rilke to Celan. Between the two extremes of translation as a simple exercise and the creative translation, the author advocates for an intermediate solution, wishing for translations characterised by a high degree of individual creativity. Still, the author makes it clear that this practice should avoid the detrimental effect of the loss of the text’s original tone, which needs to transpire from the translation as well.

The poem "Playtime" by Paul Celan (1968) shows a fabric of intertextual allusions to the homonymous film by Jacques Tati. These references concern a critical representation of the phenomena of depersonalisation and standardisation which pervade the contemporary age. The activities of writing and translating do not stand in a direct relationship here. Nonetheless, the work of Celan in the poem is deeply linked with a question that, albeit treated in different ways, is touched both in Shakespeare’s drama and in Tati’s film. The question regards the possibility of transmitting events or situations from the past to a present which is characterised by historical ignorance. The analysis brings to light a Shakespearian signature which relates in particular to the conception of historical time as elaborated in "Hamlet".

The composition of "Poesie a Casarsa" (1942) is characterised by a complex weaving of procedures for which Pasolini seamlessly oscillate between Friulian and Italian while translating himself from one language into the other in an uninterrupted exploration of expressive possibilities. The linguistic itinerary of the texts becomes thus double and circular. The coherence of the dialectal choice in relation to the young author’s poetics and to his literary models is also illustrated.