Deconstructionist Analyses of an Italian Poem with Special Emphasis on the Process of Translation Giovanni Papini: C’è un canto dentro di me

Abstract

This second of three related articles presents two deconstructionist literary analyses of translations of Papini’s poem C’è un canto dentro di me. This study demonstrates how the two authors interpreted their own English translations and, thus, indirectly, the Italian original, in terms of the accepted deconstructionist analysis frame. Working independently, the authors’ three-level analysis of the poem (verbal, textual, and linguistic) resulted in significantly diverse outcomes concerning the poem’s overall message. This study compared the authors’ content elements and their familiarity with Papini’s work. Not surprisingly, it showed markedly different person-related readings and revealed that deconstructionist analyses conducted by two independent translators could lead to equally justified multiple interpretations of the poem. Another finding is that both authors’ translations could be considered real “deconstructionist” since they do not fit the foreignization – domestication continuum. This statement is especially true when the target language is English, an international communication medium. Therefore, translators can never know in advance which nationality and cultural background their readers might belong to. Nevertheless, both authors recognize that poetry, by its very nature, leaves less room for national-cultural aspects during the translation process than longer prosaic pieces. Therefore, translating poetry has a much higher chance of being “deconstructionist.”