Femminismo nel genere letterario Young Adult: analisi del fenomeno attraverso la prosa di Holly Bourne e proposta di traduzione di What’s a Girl Gotta Do?

This final dissertation is aimed to analyse the different ways in which feminism can influence and convey its ideas and values through literature, especially Young Adult fiction. In fact, this dissertation relies upon the translation of various paragraphs of Holly Bourne’s YA novel, What’s a Girl Gotta Do? As for the structure of the dissertation, the first chapter will explore the contributions to literature of feminist translators and critics, by illustrating their aims and strategies. As evidence, the second chapter will establish a general framework regarding the role of women in the history of the Italian publishing market. Moreover, the chapter also contains a study that I performed analysing the digital catalogues of five different Italian publishing houses: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Fanucci Editore, DeA Planeta Libri, Casa Editrice Nord and Il Saggiatore. From the third chapter on, the focus is shifted to Young Adult literature, so the chapter will introduce thoroughly this type of narrative, by illustrating its features, its main themes and its role in conveying feminist values to teenagers. Then, the following chapter will focus on Holly Bourne, by presenting her biography and her novels, however the emphasis will also be on her idea of feminism and on the introduction of the main characters of What’s a Girl Gotta Do? The fifth chapter will delve into the feminist critical analysis of the novel, by taking into consideration the main themes of the book, particularly feminism, the way in which the main female characters are portrayed and the nature of their relationship with male characters. In the end, it will be considered if the novel provides young readers some positive and realistic female role models. Finally, the last chapter will present the translation of the selected paragraphs of What’s a Girl Gotta Do?, including an analysis of the difficulties faced during the translation process and the solutions adopted.