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Chapter 6SimpaticoHow many people today live in a language that is not their own?Or no longer, or not yet, even know their own and know poorlythe major language that they are forced to serve? This is theproblem of immigrants, and especially of their children, theproblem of minorities, the problem of a minor literature, but alsoa problem for all of us: how to tear a minor literature away fromits own language, allowing it to challenge the language andmaking it follow a sober revolutionary path? How to become anomad and an immigrant and a gypsy in relation to one’s ownlanguage?Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (trans. Dana Polan)In 1978, soon after my translations of Italian poetry began appearingin magazines, I met another American translator of Italian, an older,widely published, and very gifted writer who commented on someof my work and gave me advice about literary translation. Amonghis many shrewd remarks was the recommendation that I translatean Italian author of my own generation, something which he himselfhad been doing for many years and with much success. Heexplained that when author and translator live in the same historicalmoment, they are more likely to share a common sensibility, and thisis highly desirable in translation because it increases the fidelity ofthe translated text to the original. The translator works better whenhe and the author are simpatico, said my friend, and by this he meantnot just “agreeable,” or “congenial,” meanings which this Italianword is often used to signify, but also “possessing an underlyingsympathy.” The translator should not merely get along with theauthor, not merely find him likeable; there should also be an identitybetween them.