Untore 1630–2023. Cenni critici sulla traduzione polacca del romanzo Diceria dell’untore di Gesualdo Bufalino
Untore 1630–2023: Critical Notes on the Polish Translation of Gesualdo Bufalino’s Novel Diceria dell’untore

Summary/Abstract: Linguistic repertoires of all communities include references to their long-forgotten collective experiences, which are passed down from generation to generation. Such examples include the Italian expression untore, which is linked to the plague pandemic of 1630, pictured by Manzoni in his novel The Betrothed (Promessi sposi, 1840–1842). The figure of untore appears in Gesualdo Bufalino’s novel Diceria dell’untore (1981), translated into Polish by Elżbieta Jogałła (Opowieść siewcy zarazy, 2023). The recent global experience of the COVID-19 pandemic may be of great importance in understanding and reinterpreting Bufalino’s novel. The aim of my article is to analyse both the Polish translation and Diceria dell’untore, focusing on the historical and social context, Bufalino’s characteristic language, and the veiled meanings of the literary and linguistic allusions in the novel. By analysing selected passages of the novel and the translation, I examine the Polish translator’s solutions and indicate other possible interpretations of the novel and therefore its translation. The examples I discuss expand our understanding of (un)translatability-related issues.

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