The English translation of Umberto Eco’s Il Cimitero di Praga

Abstract - The translation of Umberto Eco’s latest novel raised various practical considerations. First, historical context: all of the main characters, except the protagonist, actually exist; most of the events around which the story is told actually happened; this means that the story must not only sound right, but it has to be right. Second, the action in the novel moves between Piedmont, Sicily and Paris, and involves negotiating between three languages: the cultural context suggests that certain words should be left in Italian, while others were better translated into French. Third, the story is told mainly through diaries written in the last years of the 19th century: the vocabulary in the target language therefore had to be appropriate for that period. Fourth, to place the English reader in the same position as the Italian reader, particularly in understanding Latin expressions, a little help could occasionally be given. Fifth, it was important to render the diversity of the three different voices of the Narrator, Simone Simonini and Abbé Della Piccola, as well as changes in pace and style. The task of the translator, in the end, is to try to produce the same effect for an English reader as the author has tried to produce for an Italian reader. It involves working on sound and rhythm – it involves trying to find the voice of the author.