Translation and the circulation of Dutch cultural images in Italy
Translation plays a crucial role in the spreading of cultural images and shapes the way countries perceive of other cultures and think about them. This is a message that runs like a red thread in Paola Gentile’s “De Beelden van de Lage Landen In Italiaanse Vertaling (2000-2020)”.
In her book, Gentile places translation studies within the context of imagology and explores the literary exchange between Italy and the “Low Countries:” Flanders and The Netherlands. In her research, she takes four dimensions into consideration: a political, economic, social and cultural dimension. The political dimension is taken into account because institutions such as the Nederlands Letterenfonds and Literatuur Vlaanderen play a central role in the promotion of Dutch literature. An economic dimension is included because publishers generally have an interest in making profit. A social dimension is furthermore taken into account because contacts between translators, publishers and other stakeholders influence the selection, production and promotion of literary works. Lastly, Gentile’s research encompasses a cultural dimension as well, because all these cooperating actors generally keep in mind the preferences and tastes of their audiences. By paying attention to these aspects and exploring the role they play in the literary exchange between the Low Countries and Italy, Gentile is able to create a wider context for the study of cultural and literary representations of these countries in Italy. (#Literature&Society, #Dutchliterature)
Subjective factors
An interesting aspect that comes to the fore is that the selection of books is often done on the basis of already existing cultural images of the Low Countries that are all shared by the actors. Thus, subjective factors always play a role in the choices they make. Subsequently, when a work does not present recognizable cultural traits that are associated with the country of origin, the author is often deemed not eligible for publication. This is often the case with Flemish authors; since the Italian public does not have a clear cultural and national image of Flanders, Flemish authors are published less in Italy. Thus, actors within the publishing system are sometimes influenced by their own images of the Low Countries and, in recommending promotion strategies to publishers, they contribute to the creation and diffusion of cultural images of the Low Countries in Italy. (#goalaudience, #promotion)
The crucial role of Iperborea
One of these actors is Iperborea, an Italian publishing house specialised in the publication of Northern European literature. In her research, Gentile indicates how the establishment of Iperborea has been crucial for the diffusion of Dutch literature in Italy. She points out how, according to the databank of the Dutch letterenfonds, Iperborea has translated the largest number of Dutch novels into Italian; it is furthermore the only publishing house with a consistent publication policy for Dutch literature. The Flemish and Dutch letterenfondsen collaborate extensively with Iperborea and define it as the “gatekeeper of Dutch literature.” Gentile in fact points out how their promotion strategies and publications clearly contribute to Dutch cultural branding in Italy. In its paratexts and promotional messages Iperborea often tends to stress the northern features of Dutch and Flemish authors in an attempt to make Italian readers associate these authors with Scandinavian ones. Dutch literature falls within the category of Scandinavian literature for Iperborea.
This publisher also tries to present distinct cultural images of The Netherlands. Gentile analyses an interesting publication in this regard: The Passenger - Olanda. This volume is a collection of essays focusing on several topics relevant to The Netherlands and presents in so doing diverse cultural images, both through text, which is written by several Dutch authors and journalists, and through visual elements such as photos. By zooming in on Iperborea, Gentile is able to show how the actors involved in the selection, translation and publication of books influence the circulation of cultural images of the Low Countries in Italy. In short, what makes Gentile’s work innovative and original is that it tries to fill in a knowledge gap concerning cultural and literary representations of the Low Countries in Italy; In doing so, it provides us with fascinating insights into the nature of literary exchanges between these countries and distinctly illustrates how such exchanges come into being and develop within the publishing system.
Herman Koch
An author that is particularly interesting from an imagological perspective and that Gentile analyzes as well, is Herman Koch. In his works, he pays a lot of attention to some cultural features of the Dutch. In his book The Ditch (De Greppel) for example, Koch poignantly describes the features of a provincial mindset when the protagonist refers to his rival in love Maarten van Hoogstraten:
Whatever the case, it remained a strange and wondrous thing to hear Alderman Van Hoogstraten say something about Amsterdammers in a speech. Especially about Amsterdammers who included himself. “We Amsterdammers,” he would say, for example—but the way he pronounced “Amsterdammers” reminded you more of pitchforks, pigs, and rubber boots in the mud. On the nightly news, people with accents less pronounced than his were subtitled often enough.
The alderman acted like a little boy visiting the big city for the first time. He had moved here about five years earlier, but still couldn’t believe his eyes. He went on being amazed at all the neon signs, the number of motor scooters—he still jumped every time a tram screeched through a curve. At the same time, you could see how pleased he was with himself, that he had left the barnyard and the village pump behind and actually dared to sit at an outdoor café in this big city (Koch 60).
This excerpt offers a cultural image in the sense that it shows the marked difference between people living in the city and those that moved from the countryside to the big city. The centrum-periphery polarity is a recurring trope in Dutch contemporary literature, as can also be seen in Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s book the Discomfort of the Evening, which describes the typical Dutch rural environment.
To sum up, imagology is an interesting approach for the study of literary translations, as it can fill in a knowledge gap concerning cultural and literary representations of the Low Countries in Italy. But as a tool it can obviously also be helpful when other countries are concerned.
(Emma Bologna)