by Gianluca Oluic (PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia)
This analysis takes into consideration Luigi Pirandello’s play Questa sera si recita a soggetto (1930) and three English translations of the play by Samuel Putnam (1932), Marta Abba (1959), and J. Douglas Campbell and Leonard G. Sbrocchi (1987). For the Italian text, I referred to the text printed in the 2007 Mondadori edition.
My methodology was the following: I consulted each text in relation to the other three, comparing words and phrases, ways of saying or idiomatic expressions. I focused in particular on the elements closely related to the specificity of Sicilian culture, and on the way in which each translation is reconstructed for a non-Italian audience. I examined the texts in their full extension, looking for discrepancies, common patterns and for passages that presented the translators with particular challenges. This study helped me to isolate the different features of each translation. My analysis does not aim to be exhaustive, or to cover every possible aspect of this kind of comparison: it is meant as a starting point for further studies.
The play has a Chinese box structure, with the main characters, a group of actors, playing a drama set in a Sicilian town. Tonight we improvise was from the outset conceived for the foreign stage. It is a complex play that entails many references to the contemporary German scene, as well as to the provincial Sicily that is represented in the play-within-the-play. Samuel Putnam, Marta Abba, Douglas Campbell and Leonard Sbrocchi are instead writing for an Anglophone audience. This audience may not be familiar with any of the references to German/Sicilian culture.
Putnam’s text was published in the United States in 1932, a time in which the relationship between Italy and the US were excellent: the popularity of eminent Italian such as the boxer Primo Carnera and the aviator Italo Balbo was considerable— the former inspired a Disney character in 1931 (Creamo Catnera)[1] and the latter was featured in the Time issue of the 26th of June 1933. An Italian-American, Fiorello La Guardia, was elected as mayor of New York in 1933. Overall, Italy and Italians were fashionable in the US in the early 30’s, and the Italian community in the US was vital and thriving.
After Putnam, Marta Abba decided to re-translate some of Pirandello’s plays. Marta Abba had acted in many of Pirandello’s plays and had a particular relationship to the author- Pirandello went as far as writing several plays for her. After moving to the US, she successfully performed in several Broadways shows (such as Anatole Litvak’s Tovarich in 1936). As she held the rights of many of Pirandello’s works, she refused to allow other translations but her own for many years (France, 493). She was not a professional translator. If we compare her version of Tonight we improvise to Putnam’s, we can notice the use of a more pragmatic, colloquial English. This, we can infer, could be the consequence of her limited knowledge of English, or of her wish to present a renewed and lighter version that she thought more appealing for her contemporary public.
For a more recent translation of the play, we have to wait until Campbell and Sbrocchi’s edition, which was commissioned and published by the Pirandello Society of Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Society for Italian Studies: the result is a critical edition enhanced by an introduction and footnotes.
There are several differences between the three English versions. In the context of the Sicilian story that constitutes the play-within-the play, Putnam reduces the dramatic relationship between the non-Sicilian characters (Ignazia and the three northern Italian officers) and the locals, especially Rico Verri, to a conflict between country and city; in fact, the setting of the play is a small provincial town that refuses to accept the modern habits of the metropolis (Naples, Milan or Venice). In the Italian text, instead, it is evident that the collision rests on the contrast between Sicily and the mainland.
Marta Abba, in her translation, chooses to keep, whenever possible, Italian words. As a result, the story becomes more “exotic”, and reminds the Anglophone audience that the play originated in a different culture. Campbell and Sbrocchi, instead, try to involve the reader/spectator in the Italian background without resorting to exotic words, and use Italian wording only in specific situations, such as in the quotes of Opera librettos and in few another few cases (i.e. the use of the word “Generala” or “Signora” referred to Ignazia, or “Verginelle” in the religious procession).
To help visualize the differences between the four texts, I decided to group some examples into categories to highlight patterns that emerge in each translation.
Operatic quotes
In the play, there are many references to Italian opera. When the characters are representing/singing opera, Marta Abba and Campbell and Sbrocchi choose to reproduce the operatic lines in Italian. In addition, Campbell and Sbrocchi supply, though their translation in the endnotes). By contrast, Putnam provides an English translation, as we can see in this example:[2]
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
p. 353 SIGNORA IGNAZIA: «All’opra, all’opra! Dàgli. Martella. Chi del gitano la vita abbella?» |
p. 136 Rouse up to labor! Take each his hammer! Who makes the gypsy’s life a life with pleasure laiden? |
P. 77 “All’opra, all’opra! Dàgli. Martella. Chi del gitano la vita abbella?” |
P. 57 “All’opra, all’opra! Dàgli. Martella. Chi del gitano la vita abbella?” |
|
p. 355 CORO: «Vedi le fosche notturne spoglie de’ cieli sveste l’immensa volta: sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie i bruni panni ond’era involta.» |
p. 138 See, how the shadows of night are flying! Morn breaketh, heaven’s glorious arch unveiling: Like a young widow, who, waery of sighing, Lays by her garments of sorrow and wailing. |
p. 78 “Vedi le fosche notturne spoglie de’ cieli sveste l’immensa volta: sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie i bruni panni ond’era involta.” |
p. 58 “Vedi le fosche notturne spoglie de’ cieli sveste l’immensa volta: sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie i bruni panni ond’era involta.” |
Putnam’s choice to translate the quotes from Il trovatore seems to be superfluous, because Opera is commonly sung in Italian. We can therefore presume that he considered the meaning of the operatic quotes significant for the play’s interpretation.
It is also evident that all translators work directly from Pirandello’s text, rather than from the libretto of Verdi’s Trovatore. In fact, in Pirandello’s play the operatic quotes are approximate: i.g. Pirandello writes “[c]hi del gitano i giorni abbella” whereas the libretto says “[c]hi del gitano la vita abbella” .[3]
Insults
In the play, Pirandello often uses insults to highlight the distance among the members of the La Croce family, as well as the relationship of the family to the inhabitants of the town in which they live. In studying the texts, I noticed that the translators choose various, yet somehow similar ways of adapting these insults to an Anglophone context. In some passages, however, their strategies differ. For instance, as we can see in A2, Putnam chooses to translate “Vigliacchi” with “villians”, a word that sounds close to the Italian, but has a different meaning. Marta Abba similarly chooses to translate “schifosi” with “cowards” (See A16), which, as an insult, has a very different connotation. A26 underlines a very interesting case: the Italian words “zotici villani” (A25) are literally translated by Campbell/Sbrocchi (A27), whilst Abba decides to render the locution with three adjectives “rude, uncouth, boorish villagers”, using “villagers” as opposed to townsmen. Putnam uses only one adjective (“coarse”, A26) and combines it with “countrymen”, underlining the contrast between rural/ urban.
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
A1 p. 328 POMARICI: Vigliacchi schifosi! |
A2 p. 73 The dirty villains! |
A3 p. 54 Filthy cowards! |
A4 p. 31 Those filthy cowards! |
|
A5 p. 328 DORINA: Mascalzoni, chi è stato ? |
A6 p. 73 Who were the scoundrels that did it? |
A7 p. 54 The scum! Who did it? |
A8 p. 32 Rascals! Who did it? |
|
A9 p. 328 SAMPOGNETTA: Miserabili! |
A10 p. 73 The wretches! |
A11 p. 54 What despicable! |
A12 p. 32 Scoundrels! |
|
A13 p. 328 TOTINA: Mentre sono stati questi schifosi! |
A14 p.74 ….While all the time it was the scum over there! |
A15 p. 54 it was those swine there who did it. |
A16 p. 32 while those filthy cowards are to blame! |
|
A17 DORINA: p. 329 Mascalzoni farabutti! |
A18 You’re a pack of scoundrels! |
A19 p.55 Savages! Animals! |
A20 p. 32 You filthy fools! |
|
A21 p. 333 SIGNORA IGNAZIA: Cannibali! |
A22 p. 85 The savages! |
A23 p. 58 Cannibals! |
p. 36 A24 Cannibals! |
|
A25 p. 341 SIGNORA IGNAZIA: A questi zotici villani del paese! |
A26 p. 108 To these coarse countrymen about here! |
A27 p. 67 To these boorish peasants here in town! |
A28 p. 45 To these rude, uncouth, boorish villagers. |
References specific to Italian culture
When it comes culturally specific references, each translator employs a different strategy. Putnam translates very literally, but does not always render the Italian concept: it’s the case of the first example (B2), in which the name of the hero Aeneas remains, as the Italian text, “Enea”, suggesting the existence of a person instead of the Homeric character. Campbell/Sbrocchi, instead, translates “Enea” as “Aeneas”, and therefore keeps the intertextual allusion. Abba decides to avoid the reference to the Aeneid altogether, providing instead the generic idea behind Ignazia’s allusion: the fact that times have changed.
In the same scene, the three translators render very differently Ignazia’s comment about her daughters’ conduct “vorrebbe che le tenessi dalle monache”. Campbell translates as “keep them with the nuns”. Putnam and Abba opt for a more generic “bring them up with the nuns” or “treat them like nuns”.
In some cases, all translators choose to replace culturally specific references altogether: it is the case of the once popular game of Morra, which all translators replace with a generic game of cards (see B13 to B16).
The different choices to render the expression raccogliersi (B9 to B12) indicate how challenging it can be to translate a verb that can refer to different actions. The meaning differs, but the different solutions can all be considered acceptable.
Ignazia’s ironic reference to her husband, Sampognetta, as “il cavaliere” (B17) is rendered very differently. Abba (B20) translates as “Sir Galahad!” replacing a generic reference with a specific allusion to a character from the Arthurian cycle. In my opinion, this sophisticated, bookish reference changes the reader/viewer’s perception of Ignatia, who in the Italian text is not portrayed as a very educated figure.
The Italian text also contains several expressions that refer to objects/ materials/traditions typical of Sicilian culture. These words present a challenge for the drama translator, who has to render them for readers/spectators who may not be familiar with the source context. For example, in B5, the word “albagio” refers to the material used for shepherds’ coats. Putnam solves the problem by describing the quality of the fabric, instead of the material. Campbell/Sbrocchi keep the Italian word, while Abba omits the reference altogether (see B4 to B8). The translation of the musical instrument “ciaramella” does not entail particular difficulties, as it is easily associated with the bagpipe. On the other hand, the word “acciarino” is not easy to render in English. Pirandello refers to a musical instrument, an idiophone (a sort of triangle), which in Sicilian is called “azzarinu”. However, the word “acciarino” in Italian indicates a “flint” or a “linchpin”. Campbell and Sbrocchi choose to keep the Italian word (see B7); while Putnam and Abba replace the reference with a different instrument (see B5 and B8).
In B21, “quadro”, a specific theatre-related term, is rendered in English in three different ways, with Campbell-Sbrocchi using a French term, “tableau”, while Abba chooses to describe the meaning of the term.
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
B1 p. 317 ATTRICE CARATTERISTA: Vorrebbe che le tenessi dalle monache a imparare il catechismo e il ricamo? Passò quel tempo, Enea… […] |
B2 p. 54 THE CHARACTER WOMAN Would you have me bring them up like nuns and teach them the catechism and embroidery? Those days are gone, Enea […] |
B3 p. 46 Would you like me to to keep them with the nuns learning the catechism and embroidery? “Those times have gone, Aeneas…” […] |
B4 p. 22 What do you want them to do? Treat them like nuns and teach them to embroider? Don’t be old-fashioned, my dear. […]
|
|
B5 p. 322 un pastore, con berretto di pelo e cappotto d’albagio,[…] soneranno, quello la ciaramella, e questo l’acciarino;
|
B6 p. 62 a shepherd, with a hair-cap and a coarse-cloth great coat […] they are playing, one the bag-pipe, the other the ocarina.
|
B7 p. 50 a shepherd with a fur hat and an albagio coat […] one plays the bag-pipe, the other an acciarino |
B8 p. 26 A shepherd in a wool beret and coat one is playing the bagpipes and the other the flute.
|
|
B9 p. 350 DORINA Raccoglimento! Raccoglimento! |
B10 p. 126 Collect your thoughts, Mamma! Collect your thoughts! |
B11 p. 74 Quiet! Quiet! |
B12 p. 54 And we must all get in a group! |
|
B13 p. 360 VERRI: Vada a giocare alla morra lei! |
B14 p. 151 You’d better go play cards! |
B15 p. 82 Go somewhere and play cards! |
B16 p. 63 Go play cards or something, then. |
|
B17 p. 362 SIGNORA IGNAZIA: (con un ghigno) – ecco eh già! il cavaliere! |
B18 p. 158 With a sneer … ah, playing the gallant, was he? |
B19 p. 85 (With a sneer): Oh I see! A knight in shining armour! |
B20 p. 66 (With a sardonic smile) There, see! He thinks he’s Sir Galahad! |
|
B21 p. 395 Quadro |
B22 p. 226 A stage picture |
B23 p. 109 Tableau |
B24 p. 96 They stand in fixed poses. |
Idiomatic expressions:
Putnam tends to replace idiomatic expressions with a paraphrase: for example, he translates the expression “menare il can per l’aja” with “becoming a little prolix” (see C2); “[c]osì a vento io non vado” with “I can’t go drifting like this” (C10) and he simply omits the expression “patti chiari” (C14). In addition, he chooses to render the expression “Hai finito di vuotare il sacco?” with a literal translation “have you let everything there is out of the bag?” (see C6), which is not as idiomatic in English. Campbell/Sbrocchi tend to render idiomatic expressions with corresponding English idioms, with the exception of C19, in which the expression “Voleva fare un macello!” is translated literally. Abba focuses on rendering the meaning of the expression, rather than emphasizing the colloquial tone, and, unlike Putnam, maintains an informal tone.
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
C1 p. 322 Il Dottor Hinkfuss comincia a menare il can per l’aja |
C2 p. 62 Doctor Hinkfuss is becoming a little prolix. |
C3 p. 50 Doctor Hinkfuss begins to fritter away some time. |
C4 p. 26 But Dr. Hinkfuss continues to put the audience off. |
|
C5 p. 318 DORINA Hai finito di vuotare il sacco? |
C6 p. 55 Well, have you let everything there is out of the bag? |
C7 p. 47 Have you finished spilling the beans? |
C8 p. 23 Now have you scraped bottom? |
|
C9 p. 320 PRIMA ATTRICE Così a vento io non vado. |
C10 p. 60 I can’t go drifting like this. |
C11 p. 49 I can’t perform like this, fluttering in the wind. |
C12 p. 25 I simply can’t change every five minutes. |
|
C13 p. 320 PARE: Oh, patti chiari, signorina, intendiamoci: |
C14 p. 60 Let us coming to an understanding, Miss… |
C15 p. 49 Look: let’s be clear about this. Miss ____. Let’s understand each other: |
C16 p. 25 Let’s get this straight now. |
|
C17 p. 362 AVVENTORE: Voleva fare un macello! |
C18 p. 159 He had blood in his eye! |
C19 p. 85 He threatened to kill everybody! |
C20 p. 66 He was ready for a massacre. |
Geography:
Putnam renders the word “paese” with “countryside” (see D2): he never uses the word “town”, which would be a more obvious choice, and therefore emphasizes the rural setting of the play and the contrast between rural/city landscape. In the Italian text, Ignazia refers to the city of Milan both as “Milano” – the standard Italian usage- and “Milan” – the name of the city in Milanese, which happens to be pronounced in the same way as in English. Putnam ignores the coincidence, while Campbell/Sbrocchi and Abba make a creative use of it (see D9: Milano/Milan; D11, D12: Milan/Milano). In the next sentence, the title of Carlo Bertolazzi’s play El Nost Milan is kept in Milanese in all the texts.
The expression “provincia” also deserves attention. In Italian, this term is used to indicate a small urban area and its surroundings, often in opposition to a large city (e.g. Milan, Rome, Naples). It does not necessarily have a rural connotation, as Abba’s choice suggests in D17.
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
D1 SECONDO AVVENTORE: p. 329 Lei è la favola del paese! |
D2 p. 75 You are the talk of the countryside! |
D3 p. 55 You are the talk of the town! |
D4 p. 32 Everyone in town’s talking about your behaviour! |
|
D5 p .319 PRIMO ATTORE: era anzi con tutti noi a tener testa a questi selvaggi dell’isola che si recano quasi a onta il nostro innocente vivere alla continentale |
D6 P. 50 he was even on our side against all the uncivilized ones on the island who thought it is a shame the way we lived after the Mainland manner |
D7 P. 48 On the contrary, he went along with us when we argued with the savages of this island. They thought it shameful, our living -quite innocently – the way they do on the Continent |
D8 P. 24 Like the rest of us, he looked down all those savages in town who thought it was shameful, our living alla continentale |
|
D9 p. 341 SIGNORA IGNAZIA: Ah, Milano! Milan…. Figuriamoci! El nost Milan… E io sono di Napoli; di Napoli che — senza fare offesa a Milano — dico, — e salvando i meriti di Venezia — come natura, dico… un paradiso! […] Mentre qua, tutte queste fetenzieríe… |
D10 p. 109 Ah Milan! Milan … just imagine! El nost Milan! And I am from Naples. – from Naples, which – with all due respect to Milan – I must observe is the greater city of the two, so far as population is concerned; and then, too, with all due respect to Venice – I mean so far as natural scenery goes – it is the perfect paradise! […] And here all these putrid things… |
D11 p. 68 Oh, Milan! Milano … El nost Milan … And I am from Naples! Naples – and I say this without offence to Milan – and putting aside the beauties of Venice – as far as nature is concerned, it’s paradise! […] While here … nothing but fetenzierie, filth everywhere. |
D12 p. 46 Ah Milan. Milano. Think of it. El nost Milan. I myself come from Naples, from Naples, which is -I don’t want to insult Milan, but I must say it – and fully granting the charm of Venice- is, is, in its very essence a paradise. [..] While here, all these “fetenzierie!” They stink! |
|
D14 p. 390 NENÈ: qua in provincia |
D15 p. 221 in the provinces… |
D16 p. 104 in small towns like this |
D17 p. 92 in country towns |
Religious expressions:
When it comes to religious exclamations, Putnam tends to substitute them with lighter and more generic expressions (see E6, E10); for example, in E2, he translates “Santa protettrice” with “Guardian Angel”. Campbell/Sbrocchi remain closer to the Italian with “patron Saint” (E4), and Abba chooses to keep the Italian words in the English text. The other examples listed indicates Cambell/Sbrocchi’s tendency to offer a literal translation, while Abba takes a more creative approach and continually reminds the reader/spectator that the play originated in Italy.
| PIRANDELLO | PUTNAM | CAMPBELL/SBROCCHI | ABBA |
|
E1 p. 316 -Cara, cara signora! -Viva la nostra Grande Generala! –E la nostra Santa Protettrice! |
E2 p. 51 “Dear, dear lady!” “Hurrah for our Commander-in-chief!” “And our Guardian Angel!” |
E3 p. 45 -Dear, dear Signora! -Hail to our great Generala! -To our patron saint! |
E4 p. 21 Cara Signora! Long live the General! Santa Protettrice! |
|
E5 p. 355 VERRI: Ah, perdio! Cosí vi fate beffe di me? |
E6 p. 141 Good God! So this is the way you make sport of me, is it? |
E7 p. 79 God damn you! Make a fool of me, would you! |
E8 p. 59 God damn you all! So this is the way you make fun of me behind my back, is it? |
|
E9 p. 372 PRIMO ATTORE: Perché è qua tra noi, col suo maledetto teatro che Dio lo sprofondi! |
E10 p. 178 By the very fact of you being with us, with your cursed ideas of a theatre! To hell with such a theatre! |
E11 p. 91 Because! Here you are! Right in the midst of us! Keeping us in this cursed theatre of yours, God damn it to hell! |
E12 p. 74 Because you’re here with your damned theatre. The devil take it. |
To conclude, this analysis indicates that the three translators use different strategies to address the challenges presented by the text. Surely, the environment in which they were writing had an impact on their decisions. Putnam is the first to render to translate Questa sera si recita a soggetto into English. Campbell/Sbrocchi wrote 55 years after Putnam and 29 after Abba. The time in which each of the translation was produced partly explains the diversity detected in each writer’s style, although it is evident that the different preferences and experiences of the translators also played a role.
Overall, I was able to trace certain patterns: for example, Putnam prefers to replace (or at least attempts to replace) Italian expressions with English equivalents; Campbell/Sbrocchi are preoccupied with clarity, but include selected expressions in Italian; Abba takes a creative approach and often simplifies the language register.
As I have demonstrated in my study, incongruities emerge mostly with culturally specific references. It is evident that the most recent translations benefitted from the efforts of the previous ones, and that each translator had their own priorities and agenda. It also has to be remarked that, at the time Campbell and Sbrocchi published their translation, Pirandello was already a canonical author and a large corpus of scholarship was available about this play.
Gianluca Oluic (PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia)
Works cited:
France, Peter. The Oxford guide to literature in English translation. Oxford; New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Pirandello, Luigi. Questa sera si recita a soggetto. In Maschere Nude, Milano:
Mondadori, 2007.
—. Tonight we improvise. Trans. Samuel Putnam. New York: Dutton, 1932.
—. Tonight we improvise: a drama in three acts. Trans. Marta Abba. New York: Samuel French, 1960.
—, Tonight we improvise; and “Lenora, addio!”. Trans. J. Douglas Campell and
Leonard G. Sbrocchi. Ottawa: Canadian Society for Italian Studies, 1987.
[1] Mickey Mouse Boxing Champion, February 1931. Republished by Gemstone in November 2008.
[2] The examples given in the grids will follow this pattern: on the very left side is the Italian version, specifying the name of the character who is speaking. The Campbell/Sbrocchi’s version is between Putnam’s and Abba’s, since I consider it a midpoint between them. I sometimes bolded words to draw attention to details considered of particular significance.
[3] See at page 20 and 21 of the West Press edition of Il Trovatore (San Pietro in Cariano: 2001).