A Clown’s Journey: 3 X 7

Author(s): Natalia Afeyan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

A clown travels through times and identities. A personage is handed over to different creators and audiences. A voice changes its purpose. This article observes the metamorphoses of Pierrot from Commedia dell’arte through the romantic malheureux, the decadent Dandy to the perpetual loser and peace-seeker of the turn of the century, following the works of three authors: Giraud, Hartleben, and Schönberg. When and where is this journey going to end? – We don’t know.

Polskie opisy Rzymu ze zbiorów Gabinetu Starych Druków BUW. Studium proweniencyjne

Author(s): Martyna Osuch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (54)/2020

Descriptions of the Eternal City written or translated by Poles began to appear in print in the second half of the 16th century. Before 1800 only eight titles were published, three of which are kept in the Early Printed Books Department of the University of Warsaw Library. Analysing the individual characteristics of the copies, such as ownership marks, marginalia, or bindings, an attempt is made to establish the identity of the owners of the books, their interests and reading practices, and to determine the ways in which Rome was perceived by readers born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The aim of the study is also to show how the way of thinking about the Eternal City changed over the years and to present the purposes for which the former guides and accounts about Rome were used by the 17th, 18th, and 19th century readers. Five editions and eight copies of three titles were analysed. These are: O Rzymie pogańskim i chrześcijańskim (On Pagan and Christian Rome) by Andrzej Wargocki (two editions, five copies), Delicyje ziemie włoskiej (Italian Delicacies) by Georg Kranitz (two editions, two copies), and Droga rzymska z nawrotem do swojej ojczyzny (A Return Journey to Rome) by Kazimierz Kognowicki (one edition, one copy).

Опит за историзиращ прочит на новела екземплум IX, Ден ІІ (Бернабò и Джиневра) от „Декамерон“ на Джовани Бокачо

Author(s): Angel Angelov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

I attempt to restore elements of the horizon of perception that readers and listeners of the Bernabò and Zinevra novella (IX, Day II) from Decameron may have had in Italian cities in the mid-14th century. I discuss topics such as sustainability in social roles, cruelty and justice, the image of wolves, topography, the relationship between fairy tale and authenticity, the importance of the exemplum. The novel exemplum conveys experience, indicates a norm and its violation. Speaking of truth, deception and punishment, the short story establishes a pattern of behaviour.

Primul text de matematică tipărit în Moldova. Elementi aritmetice arătate firești (Iași, 1795)

Author(s): Liliana Soare / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 14/2021

The first mathematics textbook printed in Moldavia (Iași, 1795) was not sufficiently examined, although the translation offers us valuable information on the Italian influence on the Romanian language and a precious linguistic material as regards both the configuration of the Romanian literary language in Moldavia at the end of the 18th century and the constitution of mathematical terminology. The linguistic material excerpted reflects phonetic and morphologic norms specific of the author’s dialect, sometimes going beyond the criteria illustrated by the local tradition, especially in the morphosyntax field. The lack of a terminological tradition is to be observed in the high number of un-adapted terms, semantic loans and old terms. Amfilohie’s intense activity of translating from Italian (the scholar being a genuine forerunner of the Italianate movement in Moldavia) is proof of the depths of the cultural contacts with the western world, resulting in the intensification of the renewing of the Romanian vocabulary by assimilating Latin-Romance borrowings in general and Italian ones, in particular.

The first mathematics textbook printed in Moldavia. Elementi aritmetice arătate firești (Iași, 1795)

Author(s): Liliana Soare / Language(s): English Issue: 14/2021

The first mathematics textbook printed in Moldavia (Iași, 1795) was not sufficiently examined, although the translation offers us valuable information on the Italian influence on the Romanian language and a precious linguistic material as regards both the configuration of the Romanian literary language in Moldavia at the end of the 18th century and the constitution of mathematical terminology. The linguistic material excerpted reflects phonetic and morphologic norms specific of the author’s dialect, sometimes going beyond the criteria illustrated by the local tradition, especially in the morphosyntax field. The lack of a terminological tradition is to be observed in the high number of un-adapted terms, semantic loans and old terms. Amfilohie’s intense activity of translating from Italian (the scholar being a genuine forerunner of the Italianate movement in Moldavia) is proof of the depths of the cultural contacts with the western world, resulting in the intensification of the renewing of the Romanian vocabulary by assimilating Latin-Romance borrowings in general and Italian ones, in particular.

Umberto Eco – professione reporter?

Author(s): Wojciech Soliński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

Wojciech Soliński analyzes 2008 Polish translations of two reportages by Umberto Eco, written and published in 1968 after his stay in Prague, during the intervention of the Warsaw Pact troops, and in Warsaw, after the March events. Soliński’s interpretation of these reportages is accompanied by reflections on the art of reportage and on the theory of mass communication, etc., present in numerous works by Eco scholars and novels such as The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) or Numero Zero. Remarks on the art of reportage can also be easily found in journalistic texts, including occasional texts (e.g., in the Introduction to the Italian and Polish editions of Marco Polo’s Description of the World). Today’s reportages reveal all the advantages and disadvantages of this type of writing activity, which are not only the result of the temporal and spatial distance.

Gdy reporter szuka. O hybrydyzmie książki „Cień w cień. Za cieniem Zuzanny Ginczanki” Jarosława Mikołajewskiego

Author(s): Katarzyna Frukacz-Lewandowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

The paper discusses Jarosław Mikołajewski’s documentary work inspired by Polish-Jewish poet Zuzanna Ginczanka. The analysis aims at identifying two dimensions of the searching process, which appears as the main theme of the story. The first aspect of this search is constituted by tracing some facts and conjectures on Ginczanka, with special emphasis placed on the parallels between her and selected themes from Italian culture. The other dimension indicates the way in which Mikołajewski deconstructs the form of literary reportage and hybridizes the book by mixing different genres in it.

Style współczesnego reportażu wojennego: Wojciech Tochman i Wojciech Jagielski

Author(s): Ewa Sławek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

The article formulates a thesis that two eminent Polish writers covering war situations represent two different literary styles (idiostyles): Tochman's can be subsumed under the term „minimalist-rhetorical", whereas Jagielski's could be described as „metaphorical". To prove this thesis, the article makes use of linguistic analytical tools to interpret such works as Tochman's „Like eating stone. Surviving the Past in Bosnia", „The Crowing of Cocks and the Weeping of Dogs" and Jagielski's „Praying for Rain", „Towers of Stone. The Battle of Wills in Chechnya". Tochman's minimalism results from a creative treatment of syntax, the use of most basic syntactic constructions and verbless sentences as well as straight-forward announcement of facts. On the other hand, Jagielski's effort focuses on semantics, hence the abundance of metaphors, comparisons, and epithets.

Tra il pensare e il fare c’è di mezzo il parlare. Alcune riflessioni sulla natura dell’atto linguistico

Author(s): Aleksandra Paliczuk / Language(s): Italian Issue: 1/2023

This article investigates one of the main notions of pragmatic linguistics, namely, the theory of speech acts. Aleksandra Paliczuk analyzes relations between thought, word, and action. The project involves examining the structure of language and of its components through the ideas of different linguistic schools. It aims to answer the question posed in one of John L. Austin’s works, How to Do Things with Words (1955/1962). It endeavors to explain the capability or the possibility of understanding some words, expressions or sentences, even if their literal meaning differs from the intended one. This article defines the concept of the speech act, also in relation to the contemporary possibilities of communicating in the virtual world, and explains why it entails the three components of thought, word, and action. As a result, we find out that there are many complex relations regarding different human abilities and other forms of activity.

La concretezza come procedimento. Contributo per una storia di Memorial

Author(s): Simone Guagnelli / Language(s): Italian Issue: 1/2023

The present article offers a brief history of the Russian non-governmental organisation Memorial, a recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, from its origins in the 1980s to the present day. It also proposes an attempt to create a bibliography which could be used for a larger monographic volume, a more detailed work capable of going into more detail about the founding instances of the most important cultural movement of resistance in Russian and post-Soviet society. The nearly simultaneous invasion of Ukraine and the banning of Memorial make the publication of such a work urgent. It would not only outline the organisation’s development but also become a manifesto of concrete common action for a new Europe arising at the end of the conflict, which could thrive on the shared themes of historical memory and the defense of civil rights.

Le parole della musica nella Divina Commedia

Author(s): Maria Lucia Aliffi / Language(s): Italian Issue: 1/2018

The author analyzes a large corpus of words from the field of music in the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, examining the differences in occurrences in the three cantos and justifying these differences. An analysis of lexemes is presented according to the approach of cognitive linguistics, specifically the semasiological approach and the onomasiological one. While the word "music" is not attested, the term “canto” with its own and metaphorical value is widespread. The network of semantic relations shows considerable ambiguity, as shown in Casella’s canto, the second in Purgatory. The work intends to somehow enter the creative laboratory of the Poet, demonstrating how, on the one hand, he innovates and, on the other hand, how he takes into account the tradition.

Diario de un estudiante de Salamanca: la crónica inédita de Girolamo Da Sommaia (1603-1607), edición e introducción por George Haley. Contaminación e hibridación lingüística: el idiolecto toscano-castellano de un patritius florentinus.

Author(s): Laura Falasca / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 13/2022

The scope of this article is to describe the code-mixing traits of the so-called Diario de un estudiante de Salamanca ―a personal chronicle recorded by Girolamo Da Sommaia, a Florentine student, while attending the renowned University― and to delve into the textual incidence and the distinctive features brought about by interference and code-switching between Tuscan L1, as the author’s native language, and Spanish, as the overall communication code in the context of his stay. The investigation provides an overview of the persistent crosslinguistic interference of the Castilian on the Italian writing shaped by Da Sommaia, heightened by the proximity of the two codes. Transfer and code-switching occur into the text on phonetic, morphosyntactic and lexical resource levels, resulting in a repertoire of heteroglot elements and merging, for both languages, into a not yet regularized usus scribendi. Background information on the life of the patrician student, the origin and motivations of the journal, the acquisition and conservation of the manuscript containing the text, next to the most relevant philological criteria adopted by its publisher, are also provided to locate the historical framework and sociocultural setting of the communicative situation experienced by the author.

За енигмите и парадигмите в женското писане (Гешева, Р., 2023, Енигми и парадигми при някои италиански писателки от ХХ век)

Author(s): Ilka Birova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

Ofelia Pirandella: rozważania nad kobiecym szaleństwem

Author(s): Aleksandra Koman / Language(s): Polish Issue: 17/2017

The article is devoted to an analysis of Luigi Pirandello’s drama As You Desire Me which draws inspiration from an actual event connected with questions on the identity of a person suffering from amnesia. Unlike the real incident, the main character of Pirandello’s is a woman known only by her alias Stranger, as the main theme of the drama is establishing her true identity. The present article aims at proving that Pirandello’s drama is not a criminal mystery, but rather a deep reflection on the notion of human personality which in the case of a woman receives new, interesting meanings. One of them is spotting the correspondence between Pirandelli’s Stranger and Shakespeare’s Ophelia, as madness of both characters appears to have similar roots: female’s insanity seen through the prism of both dramas appears as defiance against the culture of patriarchy, but also stems from the conviction of one’s own emptiness and undefinedness. In this context, referring to studies on feminist criticism (E. Shawalter, K. Kłosińska, K. Woźniak), including studies on female hysteria is of relevance. Even though the structure of drama appears to lead to a finale in which the truth about the character is uncovered, Pirandello does not reveal her true identity. However, questions on female identity and female madness are worth reflecting upon, even if they remain unanswered.

In the Mirror of Translation. The Translator’s Biography of Cristina Campo

Author(s): Małgorzata Ślarzyńska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 47/2023

The subject of this article is the translation work of the Italian writer Cristina Campo (born Vittoria Guerrini), one of the most prominent Italian writers of the 20th century, poet, translator, and essayist, analysed in a biographical key. The aim is to look more closely at Cristina Campo’s biography – described so far in the only biography book (De Stefano 2002), but also recorded in the voluminous correspondence the writer left behind – through the framework of her translation activity. Of interest from this point of view become both her translation choices and reading choices (“the lovely kinsmen of the shelf,” as the writer called her favourite books) – related to a large extent to Campo’s literary temperament, her experiences in her private life, and her friends – as well as her choice of translation activity itself, largely conditioned by the need to spend a large part of her life in seclusion due to the incurable heart disease that Campo suffered from since her birth. An attempt will be made to answer the question of how illness and other life circumstances influenced her choice of translation activity, the selection of texts to be translated and the translator’s actual working conditions.

Metafore dei fenomeni naturali riferite agli esseri umani: da tempesta nel cuore a furtună în suflet (uno studio comparato tra italiano e romeno)

Author(s): Marinela Vramulet / Language(s): Italian Issue: 2/2024

The article proposes a comparative study of the metaphors of natural phenomena referring to human beings, in Italian and Romanian. An onomasiological approach is used for an interlinguistic comparison. It begins at the conceptual level, where correlations are established between the two constituent domains of the metaphor: NATURAL PHENOMENA and HUMAN BEINGS. Such correspondences lead to the conceptual metaphorical structure which is illustrated, at the linguistic level, with various metaphors in the two languages. The analysis begins at the deep level and concludes at the surface level, where it is determined whether the metaphorical meanings derived from the elements of the conceptual structure are present in the metaphorical expressions used in both languages. The approach used enables us to see that the meaning of metaphors is related to the conceptual structure and that the metaphor originates in thinking, as cognitivists would want, but grows and develops in language. Metaphorical meanings are, therefore, the reflection in the language of the elements of conceptual structure, that is, of our way of seeing and interpreting a reality, the human sphere (characteristics of human beings, feelings and/or passions, interpersonal relationships and personal events), in terms of another reality, that of natural phenomena (tempesta, burrasca, bufera, ciclone, uragano in Italian, furtună, vijelie in Romanian, like atmospheric disturbances, or lampo, fulmine in Italian, fulger, trăsnet in Romanian, like discharges electrical, etc).

L’editio princeps di “Kënëkëz pollithike” (Canto politico) di Francesco Antonio Santori

Author(s): Oreste Parise,Merita Bruci / Language(s): Italian Issue: 01-02/2023

Kjo këngëzë politike (Kënëkëz pollithike) e Franqisk Anton Santorit vjen për herë të parë nën kujdesin tonë në versionin integral. Ky botim ndjek vazhdën e një fushate të rivlerësimit të prodhimit letrar të F. A. Santorit duke ia hequr pluhurin arkivor dhe duke e shpëtuar atë nga harresa. Vepra të pabotuara të tij që po shohin mundësinë e botimeve kritike hedhin një dritë të re mbi autorin, dhe na lejojnë ta vlerësojmë figurën e tij jo vetëm si letrar, por edhe si një vëzhgues i mprehtë politik që botën e sheh nga dritarja e një manastiri të humbur diku në Kalabri. Këndi i tij i vëzhgimit është shumë i ngushtë, por analizat e tij janë të mprehta dhe ia mbërrijnë të shprehin frymën e kohës së tij shumë më mirë se protagonistët aktivë, tepër të përfshirë me veprimet e tyre personale, aq sa arrin të ketë një vizion gjithëpërfshirës të ngjarjeve. Aftësia e tij parashikuese mbetet akoma një aspect pak i njohur i personalitetit të tij. Këngëza politike e Santorit është një akt dëshpërimi që shpreh të gjithë pakënaqësinë nga procesi i bashkimit të Italisë, rezultat i një lëvizje që njihet nën emrin Risorgimento italiane. Ky bashkim në jugun e Italisë solli zhgënjim, shfrytëzim ekonomik, humbje të shpresës për të ardhmen. Në këtë këngëzë shfaqet vetëm dëshpërimi pa një të ardhme. Zhgënjimi i popullsisë së Italisë së Jugut, sidomos i arbëreshve, qe i madh. Ata e kuptuan shpejt se ç’po ndodhte: përkeqësim i kushteve të jetesës dhe një karakter shtypës i politikës piemonteze e cila synonte të nënshtronte Jugun pa pyetur për pasojat shkatërruese që po shkaktonte kjo politikë e rrezikshme e një integrimi të sforcuar. Kundërshtimi u shfaq edhe në poezitë dhe këngët popullore në të gjithë Jugun me një numër të bollshëm krijimesh që shprehnin një protestë të ashpër e që këndoheshin nëpër sheshe e panaire. Kjo përhapje nuk u pa me sy të mirë, po nuk u ngrit në nivelin e shtypjes së dhunshme. Këngëza përmban 136 vargje, të ndara në 19 strofa me 8 vargje seicila. Sa i takon kohës së krijimit, të dhëna historike dhe zgjedhjet alfabetike të autorit tonë na ndihmojnë të shtrojmë hipotezën që vargjet e këngëzës janë shkruar, në mos më 1869, para ose pak kohë pas këtij viti.

L’editio princeps di “Kënëkëz pollithike” (Canto politico) di Francesco Antonio Santori (Vijon nga numri paraardhës)

Author(s): Oreste Parise,Merita Bruci / Language(s): Italian Issue: 03-04/2023

Francesco Antonio Santori's Kënëkëz pollithike (Political Song) has never been published. Recently an effort has been made to remove dust and oblivion in which his manuscripts were buried. The increasingly number of posthumous works gradually published sheds new light on the author. It allows us to evaluate his figure not only as a man of letters, but also as an acute political observer who looks at the world from a window in a remote village in Calabria. His angle of observation is very narrow, but his analyses are very penetrating and express the Zeitgest of his era better than the active protagonists, who are too involved in their personal affairs, that they are unable to have a clear vision of the events. His predictive skill still remains a little-known aspect of his personality. Santori's Kënëkëz pollithike is a scream of desperation that expresses all the disappointment of the process of Italian unification which in the South - in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - brought only disappointment and economic prostration with the loss of all hope for the future. The disappointment, especially among the arbëresh, was terrible, as they soon realized what was happening: the worsening condition of the South, the repressive nature of Piedmontese politics. The aim of new government was to reduce the former Bourbon Kingdom to obedience without caring about its terrible conditions, and the disastrous consequences of forced integration. The price to pay was the eradication of any cultural or linguistic difference and the loosing of their identity. Dissent was particularly present in popular poetry and country songs throughout the South, giving rise to a large number of violent protest songs repeated in villages and fairs, a local diffusion that was poorly tolerated, without reaching levels of violent repression. Santori's singing fits right into this line and demonstrates once again how his ability of grasping the spirit of the time, even locked in a far corner with few information sources. The song contains 136 verses, divided into 19 stanzas with 8 verses each. Regarding the dating, historical indications and Santorian alphabetical choices help us to hypothesize that the text of the Kënëkëz Pollithike was composed around the year 1869, shortly before or after that date.

Fostering Solidarity, Hybridity, and Transnationalism: Elizabeth Dickerson Rice Bianciardi’s Italy

Author(s): Elisabetta Marino / Language(s): English,Italian Issue: 29/2024

Information about Elizabeth Dickerson Rice Bianciardi is scant andlimited, despite her reputation as an accomplished journalist, whocontributed to popular magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and TheHarper’s Monthly. Apparently, she moved to Italy to further her education, at acrucial time in the history of both her country, grappling with the aftermathof the Civil War, and her host country, striving for unification.This essay will focus on the two narrative pieces she penned during herstay in the peninsula: a biographical sketch of Giuseppe Garibaldi (“ThePersonal History of Garibaldi,” 1882), and a travel account published in 1884,At Home in Italy. As will be shown, Rice Bianciardi succeeded in fostering amore sympathetic and positive image of Italy and the Italians, thuschallenging inveterate stereotypes and misconceptions. In her works, Italyalso became a symbolic space where the redefinition of her identity, both as aprofessional writer and a liberated woman, could take place.

Mediterranean identity of Miljenko Smoje’s and Enzo Betizza’s Split and Dalmatia Depicted by the Grotesque Coloring of Their Characters

Author(s): Ivana Dizdar,Josip Miletić / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

The paper analyzes two Dalmatian chronicles titled Kronika o našem Malom mistu [The Chronicle of Our Little Place] (1971) by Miljenko Smoje and Egzil [Exile/Esilio] (1996) by Enzo Bettiza, in which Split and Dalmatia are presented as an integral part of the Mediterranean. Applying the methods of analysis, explication, and comparison, the paper will attempt to show that the Mediterranean identity is manifested in personality traits and behavior of peculiar characters, their relationship with space and fellow citizens, and their wry and bitter humor. In terms of themes, ideas, and style, Mediterranean elements are seen in the merging of opposites. Various opposed elements are inscribed in the real and fictional narratives of the Mediterranean, which, due to its position and socio-historical circumstances, absorbed various influences. As the analysis will show, the opposites are shown in grotesque presentations and the use of irony as a polyphonic figure of discourse.