So Long Been Dreaming: proposta di traduzione di quattro racconti di postcolonial speculative fiction

This dissertation focuses on the translation of four short stories belonging to the Postcolonial, Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology So Long Been Dreaming (SLBD), edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan. The main objective of this thesis is to introduce the genre known as postcolonial speculative fiction to the Italian readers, not only through the translation of the stories, but also with the help of some analysis of the genre itself and its history. The first chapter is an analysis of the various ingredients postcolonial speculative fiction is composed of, which are science fiction, fantasy and postcolonial literature itself. Through the definitions and the brief history of those three elements, the first chapter points out the necessity of introducing and dealing with postcolonial speculative fiction as an independent genre with its own tradition and dignity. The second chapter resumes the history of science fiction written by women, showing the relevance they have always had throughout the history of SF, supporting the decision of translating only short stories written by women. The third chapter deals with the anthology So Long Been Dreaming. After introducing the anthology itself and its editors, Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan, the chapter goes on analyzing the four short stories selected for this dissertation, together with their authors. The fourth chapter contains the four translations, with a brief introduction about the parameter used to select the short stories, which are: “Rachel” by Larissa Lai, “When Scarabs Multiply” by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, “The Forgotten Ones” by Karin Lowachee, and “Journey into the Vortex” by Maya Khankhoje. Last but not least, the fifth chapter contains an overlook about the history of science fiction in Italy and the characteristics of the short story, together with a comment about the translations and the choices made during this challenging and inspiring process.