"Franny e Zooey" hanno ancora qualcosa da dire: ritradurre J.D. Salinger per un lettorato contemporaneo

The aim of this dissertation is to propose a retranslation of selected excerpts from J.D. Salinger's "Franny & Zooey", from English into Italian. The book was originally published in 1961 by Little, Brown & Company and it collects two short stories that had appeared in "The New Yorker" between 1955 and 1957. Its first Italian translation, by Ruggero Bianchi and Romano Carlo Cerrone, was issued in 1963 by Einaudi. This retranslation seeks to preserve the distinctive voices of the characters, capturing their irony, wit, and vulnerability, while also revitalizing a text that warrants rediscovery in the context of contemporary sensibilities. In doing so, the retranslation is not merely a linguistic endeavor but a cultural one, aimed at fostering new life into Salinger's work. The goal of this translation is to possibly offer a possibility for the book to continue to resonate with today’s readers with the same intensity and relevance it held when it was first published, and when it was first translated into Italian. The first chapter provides a theoretical framework on Retranslation, focusing specifically on literary retranslation. Key theories on the subject are examined and compared. The second chapter is dedicated to J.D. Salinger, and it traces the major stages of his life, with particular emphasis on the strong connection between his biography and his literary output. The third chapter focuses on "Franny & Zooey", describing the book's origins, analyzing its central themes, style, and tone. The chapter also examines the book's Italian publication history and introduces the translators of the Einaudi edition. The fourth chapter presents the retranslation of two excerpts, one from each of the two short stories. The fifth and last chapter presents a commentary on the retranslation, discussing the challenges encountered and the solutions implemented, with a contrastive analysis between the retranslated text and the previous Italian translation by Bianchi and Cerrone.