The Hidden Reflection

This book presents and analyses twelve different writings from 19th century Italian literature on the topic of translation. With the exception of their original publication and some earlier reissues, these texts have never been republished in the 20th or 21st centuries and have remained in the shadows for about two centuries. Nevertheless, they provide a very important testimony to the lively interest in translation and the debate that characterized this specific period of Italian literary culture. The few international studies that deal with 19th century theoretical reflection on translation in Italy often focus only on some scattered contributions of a few influential writers (e.g. Leopardi and Foscolo). In this regard, this book could spark new investigations on the subject. While it is commonly thought that reflections on translation during the century analysed in this book came almost exclusively from Germany, France, and England, the debate on this topic was alive and well in Italy during that time and produced many interesting original ideas. Some of the topics discussed by the authors presented here, such as language hospitality, foreign translation, authorial translation, importance of translation in the receiving culture, among others, are presented in an original way that anticipates twentieth-century reflection. Above all, they demonstrate Italian intellectuals’ awareness of the observations on translation originating from other time periods and nations. Although studies on the theory of translation in Italy are often hoped for, they are still rare and undeveloped, and have yet to examine the texts published in this book. The academic awareness of the origins of translation studies in other countries, on the other hand, is more advanced. This book aims to be among these studies.