ITALIAN BOOKSHELF (download as PDF) - Ibiblio

446 Annali d’italianistica 30 (2012)
The translation uses British spelling in some instances and American in others
(including the use of variants “favor” and “favour” in consecutive lines, 73).
Even the author himself falls victim to his editors’ lack of proofreading zeal; his
name is spelled with a grave accent over the e in most instances (including on
the cover), but it frequently appears with an acute accent as well (113, 171).
Beyond its inconsistencies, the translation suffers from many other
substantive issues. Technically, it is full of errors, including abundant botched
punctuation. Enraged characters mellow when exclamation points disappear in
translation. One character, stripped of his Mediterranean temperament by his
linguistic migration, pronounces matter-of-factly, “How dare you open my
master’s door” (123). Questions such as “What is there to tell” (143), likewise,
become awkward statements because the translators or the editor have omitted
the question mark. Typos perplex the reader: “When he prince saw her he fell in
love” (23); “[…] when I get back I want to see everything ready, otherwise
you’re for it” (47); “It’s time has arrived” (89). Even more troubling are
instances when the translators’ choices result in strange or incomprehensible
phrases. When a little girl misbehaves in one story, her father excuses her,
saying, “she is still a child and you have got to feel sorry for her” (59). The
original, “ca è picciridda, e s’havi a cumpàtiri” (58), says something quite
different, namely, “we need to be indulgent with her,” a disconnect resulting
from the mistranslation of “cumpàtiri.” Elsewhere, the exclamation
“tradimentu!” becomes “traitor!” (78-79), a poor choice since the character
really means, “I’ve been betrayed!” Simple phrases that flow smoothly in
Sicilian clunk in translation. One formulaic beginning, “si cunta ca cc’era un Re
e ’na Riggina” becomes, “it has been said that once upon a time there was a
King and a Queen” (88-89), an excessively wordy solution to the (admittedly
tricky) si impersonale.
The most serious problem facing The King of Love and Other Tales is that
its intended audience is unclear; it is impossible to say whether the translators
have done their work with schoolchildren or scholars in mind. Several examples
highlight this fundamental incoherency. The text is cleansed of “offensive”
words and phrases in the translation, because, as the introduction tells us,
“[w]here somewhat obscene or ‘indelicate’ words are concerned the translator
has preferred to use a more acceptable term to allow the stories to be read to
children” (xii). It seems odd, then, that Cocuzza and Watson have chosen rather
salacious tales in which characters pass golden feces (“The Silversmith”), face
decrees prescribing incestuous marriage (“The Girl in the Horse’s Skin”), or
escape an evil witch by “catch[ing] her nipples and grip[ping] them so hard that
she will almost die of pain” (“The King of Love” 129). In this context, quibbling
over the translation of the verb “cacare,” which becomes a euphemistic “to
relieve oneself,” seems beside the point. Conversely, other choices suggest that
the book is meant for an academic readership. Both original and translation are
peppered with footnotes indicative of scholarly aspirations, scatological