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172 The Translator’s Invisibilityrecounts the tragedy of Cornelius’s “allievo che avendoinawertentemente evocato durante l’assenza del maestro, uno spiritomaligno, ne fu ucciso”/“pupil who having inadvertently raised amalign spirit in his master’s absence was killed by it,” Tarchetti addedanother detail to the English passage to make the incident moreplausible: “senza che alcuno avesse potuto soccorrerlo”/“beforeanyone could come to his aid” (I:115). The Italian version similarlyenhances the psychological realism of the English text. When Winzyand Bertha part after their first falling out, he tersely states that “wemet now after an absence, and she had been sorely beset while I wasaway” (220). In the translation, however, the meeting is much morehistrionic, with Vincenzo physically expressing his passion forOrtensia and emphasizing the distress caused by their separation:Io la riabbracciava ora dopo un’assenza assai dolorosa; il bisogno diconfidenza e di conforti mi aveva ricondotto presso di lei. La fanciulla nonaveva sofferto meno di me durante la mia lontananza.I embraced her again now after a very painful absence; the need forintimacy and comfort led me back to her. The girl had not suffered lessthan me during my distance.(I:117)Because the translation tends to favor extreme emotional states, thissort of mimetic amplification easily turns a relatively realistic Englishpassage into overwrought fantasy. When Winzy fearfully runs awayfrom the allegedly satanic Cornelius, he turns to Bertha forconsolation: “My failing steps were directed whither for two yearsthey had every evening been attracted,—a gently bubbling spring ofpure living waters, beside which lingered a dark-haired girl” (220).The Italian version infuses the landscape and the girl with Gothicovertones:I miei passi si diressero anche quella volta a quel luogo, a cui pel girodi due anni erano stati diretti ogni sera, —un luogo pieno d’incanti,una sterminata latitudine di praterie, con una sorgente d’acqua vivache scaturiva gorgogliando malinconicamente, e presso la qualesedeva con abbandono una fanciulla.My steps were directed that time as well toward that place, wherefor a period of two years they had been directed every evening,—a