An analysis of English and American translations of Manzoni’s ‘I promessi sposi’

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to present the various challenges translators of literary work may face, in particular when dealing with such a symbolic prose as I Promessi Sposi. This dissertation highlights also the different output given by the chosen translators. Moreover, it compares and contrasts their solutions and the effects of their choices. The choice of Manzoni’s novel was mainly influenced by the interest the novel generated way back, when for me, I Promessi Sposi was only a ‘compulsory’ reading book at school. On the other hand, the same cannot be said about the choice of the four translations. Since there are numerous English and American translations of I Promessi Sposi, choosing the right translations for this work proved to be quite a task. The four translators whose work will be discussed in the following pages are Charles Swan, Archibald Colquhoun, Bruce Penman and Omero Sabatini. What led to the selection of these four translators were primarily the numerous differences between the four renditions which consequently led to a more interesting and fascinating analysis of the four translations. Swan’s translation was published in 1828, a year after the first edition of Manzoni’s novel was published, and it is, as a matter of fact, based on this edition. On the other hand, Colquhoun’s and Penman’s translations are two of the most referred-to translations and were published in 1951 and in 1972 respectively. Whilst the three translations mentioned are English, the fourth translation to be analysed is that done by American translator Sabatini. Published in 2002, the latter’s translation is one of the most recent translations of Manzoni’s novel.