Discovering the Italian Traditions of Eudora Welty’s Works

Abstract

Discovering the Italian Traditions of Eudora Welty’s Works Maria Sciacco Reading the cultural pages of one of the most important Italian newspapers, Il Corriere della Sera, we realize the high position of American literature in Italy. Names such as Roth, DeLillo, and Bellow among many others are in the Italian magazines and newspapers almost every week. That these writers are not new to an active Italian reader demonstrates that the Italian publishers are interested in American writing. In November 2001, the magazine Sette published an article about a new trend of the Italian publishers, announcing, “Faulknermania has broken out” (Guarini 132). The journalist, Ruggero Guarini, explains that the most important Italian publishers such as Adelphi, Einaudi, and Bompiani have devoted their recent efforts to re-promote Faulkner in part due to the difficulty of his work. Faulkner is the most enigmatic writer of the twentieth century, and paradoxically that is also the reason why, according to Guarini, there are few Italian readers of Faulkner. And although the number of readers is unlikely to increase after the new wave of publications, the aficionados of Faulkner’s work will persist. Even with few readers, Faulkner maintains a prominent position in the Italian editorial market and in the Italian academic world. Unfortunately, the academy has not paid the deserved attention to another important Southern writer, Eudora Welty. In fact, in Italy her name is still unknown to the majority of the readers. Her works are restricted to a limited group of literary scholars and to people who love American literature. Until the academic elite promote Welty’s works, the publishing houses won’t put more effort (and above all, money) into the publishing of her books. At this time, the only book by Eudora Welty that an Italian reader can find in the bookshops is Primo amore (First Love) in two editions: Guanda, 1990, and Tea, 1994. Both of these are reprints of Vezio Melegari’s 1947 translation. The Robber Bridegroom, The Golden Apples, and The Optimist’s Daughter are still not translated into Italian.1 This is the unfortunate situation of Welty’s art in the Italian book market. The newspapers confirm this status, for when Welty died in July 2001, the most important Italian [End Page 203] papers wrote just a few words about her works defining her only as the natural successor to Faulkner. The continuous comparison between Faulkner and Welty is an injustice to Welty, shadowing her work in the light of the great Nobel Prize winner. As a reader of a new generation, I would like to read Welty as she presented herself with her superb style and fabulous world. Of course Faulkner deserves attention, but sometimes one would like to appreciate Welty according to her own art. If one insists on comparing Faulkner and Welty, I would say that the former is great for his grotesque complexity while the latter is great for her elegant simplicity. It is difficult to gauge the current Italian perception of Welty’s works because most of her Italian translations cannot be found in bookstores. One must search the antiquarian bookshops as I did to find treasures such as the original version of Primo amore (Longanesi, 1947). There, I had hoped to find a small preface about Welty or the translator, but nothing. That same year, 1947, Delta Wedding was published in Italy with the title Nozze sul Delta. The Libreria Provinciale Salvatore Tommasi in Aquila, where a copy of the volume is kept, could not help me with further publication information. Both texts were part of the La Gaza Scienza series and as Primo amore is Volume 18 and Nozze sul Delta, Volume 23, I assume that the first Italian translation of Welty’s work is Primo amore. This collection includes all of the short stories of The Wide Net and Other Stories, but the title Primo amore was chosen perhaps because it sounds more romantic and exotic than La Gran Rete. Welty liked the title Primo amore, as we can read from a November 12, 1947, letter to her agent Diarmuid Russell quoted by Michael Kreyling in Author and Agent. The Italian Wide Net—how much better is the...