Translating Russian Literature into Italian: A Case Study between Language and Culture

Abstract: The present article focuses on some reflectionsabout the process of translation into Italian of the well-known Russian fairy tale by Aleksey Nikolaevich Tolstoy(1882-1945) Zolotoy klyuchik, ili Priklyucheniya Buratino(The Little Golden Key, or the Adventures of Burattino, 1935). Basing from the methodological point of view on some recent acquisitions of international TranslationTheory, we will examine the main “difficulties” or “challenges” for the translator present in the source text, such as anisomorphisms, linguistic connotations, neologisms, cultural realia and phraseologisms. We willalso consider the employment of different stylistic registersin the tale, often connected to the characters’ “expressiveaura” and to thick intertextual allusions to Russian Silver Age. Our lexical and stylistic choices in the translated text will be analyzed with regard to the dominants of the original work and to the specific characteristics of Russian(and Soviet) children literature of the time. Some solutionsproposed in the two published Italian versions of the 1980swill be also taken into account, questioning the opportunityand the main orientations of a new translation in relation to the kind of “implied readers” expected.