An outsider's guide to Italy: translating an Englishman's Italy into Italian

Abstract

Outsiders’ autobiographical reflections on Italy and Italians often seek to ‘translate’ the country for anglophone readers, helping them to get to know and make sense of a foreign culture. Such texts are rarely translated into Italian and thus do not generally reach readers in the country of which they speak. Two contemporary English authors whose writings on life in Italy have been translated into Italian are Tim Parks (Italian Neighbours) and Tobias Jones (The Dark Heart of Italy). This article analyses textual and paratextual features of these works in English and in Italian translation, in order to identify the kinds of changes in content, presentation and perspective that take place as the books travel ‘back’ into the Italian context. Audience expectations and sensitivities, as well as the writers’ bicultural expertise and authority, are negotiated in a complex process of repackaging and rewriting.