Italian-Canadian Narratives of Return: Analysing Cultural Translation in Diasporic Writing

by Michela Baldo

Overview

This book examines the concept of translation as a return to origins and as restitution of lost narratives, and is based on the idea of diaspora as a term that depicts the longing to return home and the imaginary reconstructions and reconstitutions of home by migrants and translators. The author analyses a corpus made up of novels and a memoir by Italian-Canadian writers Mary Melfi, Nino Ricci and Frank Paci, examining the theme of return both within the writing itself and also in the discourse surrounding the translations of these works into Italian. These ‘reconstructions’ are analysed through the lens of translation, and more specifically through the notion of written code-switching, understood here as a fictional tool which symbolizes the translational movements between different points of view. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of translation and interpreting, migration studies, and Italian and diasporic writing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137477323
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/05/2019
Edition description:	1st ed. 2019
Pages:	433
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michela Baldo is Honorary Fellow in Translation Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Hull, UK.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction: Translation, narratives and returns.- Chapter 2: Italian-Canadian writing and narratives of translation as return: The Italian translations of Ricci’s trilogy, Melfi’s Italy revisited and Paci’s Italian Shoes.- Chapter 3: Towards a Narrative Model of Code-switching in Diasporic Writing.- Chapter 4: Code-switching and return in Ricci, Melfi and Paci and in the Italian translations of their works.- Chapter 5: Return as restoration and restitution.- Chapter 6: Conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

Michela Baldo’s book is a welcome and much needed addition to the study of Italian-Canadian literary production … . Italian-Canadian Narratives of Return is also a useful book for social and cultural historians who seek an up-to-date overview of the Italian presence and experiences in multicultural Canada. … the model of analysis tested in Baldo’s book also proves to be a useful tool to measure the sociological relevance of other diasporic literatures.” (Matteo Brera, Annali d’italianistica, Vol. 39, 2021)

“Michela Baldo maps out the theoretical questions posed by diaspora studies in a rich and compelling way. … This volume is also a useful overview of the themes and issues that are still unresolved within the field of ‘Italian-Canadian writing.’ … Surely, the merit of Michaela Baldo’s work is to demonstrate how the narratological inquiry– here operating meticulously – should go hand in hand with a broader cultural examination.” (Marco Gatto, ACCENTi, accenti.ca, January 11, 2020)

“Baldo’s latest volume is a welcome addition to the field of Italian-Canadian studies, a work that will certainly interest scholars in the area, as well as anyone interested in cultural translation or working with hyphenated literatures around the world.” (Tiziana Nannavecchia, Italian Canadiana, Vol. 33, 2019)

From the Publisher