Translating America

This volume attempts to critically re-think the ways in which facts and myths, histories and fictions that shape current and past understandings of (the US of) «America» have been perceived, assimilated, transformed and, in sum, «translated» in the arena of global culture, especially in Europe. The essays presented analyze notions of «America» and «Americanness», and their interpretation, transformation and appropriation through linguistic translation, adaptation, domestication and re-imagination, at all levels of the cultural semiosphere. Essays focus on trans-Atlantic and trans-American migration and displacement of political ideas, economic models, and cultural discourses. How has translation served as a way of rewriting certain crucial stories, tropes, or images across different cultural media or genres? What are the challenges of translating gender identity and ethnic and cultural connections? How have political ideas and cultural practices been negotiated across the Atlantic over the centuries? This volume develops from some of the papers presented at the Twentieth International Conference of the Italian Association for North-American Studies (AISNA) held at the University of Torino in September 2009.

Marina Camboni is professor of American Literature and director of the PhD Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Macerata, Italy. She has recently published H.D. La donna che divenne il suo nome (2007). Andrea Carosso teaches American Literature and Culture at the University of Torino. He has recently edited Urban Cultures of/in the United States (2010). Sonia Di Loreto teaches American Literature at the University of Torino. She has recently published Intimità in pubblico. Discorso effimero e mercato editoriale negli Stati Uniti del primo Ottocento (2007). Marco Mariano, assistant professor in Contemporary History at the University of Eastern Piedmont, has recently edited Defining the Atlantic Community. Culture, Intellectuals, and Policies in the Mid-Twentieth Century (2010).

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