Translation, dialogue, testimony: primo Levi and his translators

Abstract

The adventure of the numerous translations of Primo Levi (1919-1987) first book - the autobiography about Auschwitz experience, but also recognized as a great literary work of the twentieth century -, points to the importance of careful, competent reading of witness and literary questions, and able to place itself in a relational dimension. If the translation act can be approached as a relation between texts (Meschonnic) - and not just between languages - the solution of impasses, or the enrichment that comes from the sum of the original with its translated text, can also happen thanks to personal and intense thanks to personal relationships and intense listening between writer and translator.If we want to use both a chemical and literary expression, we can say that it happens thanks to the elective affinities established in reading (and rereading operated by both). Interesting cases of the English and German translations of Levi’s first text, Se questo è un uomo (1947/ 2 ed.1958) will be reported to compose a panoramic picture of successes and problems, but also to introduce the specific issue of the book’s Brazilian translation (ed. Rocco, 1988), its limits and potential future challenges.