Translating (and censoring) eroticism for female audience during the 1960s in Italy

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a woman of pleasure (1749) by John Cleland is an English epistolary erotic novel, which counts about 38 translations into Italian. Since the euphemisms in the novel distinguish it from other pornographic works, critics have discussed how Fanny’s language affects the sexual scenes she describes. In fact, Cleland used euphemisms (Hollander 1963) and metaphorical language to describe Fanny’s sexual adventures to avoid taboo words and the consequent prosecution. The language idealizes and glamorizes sexual acts, elevating them out of the field of vulgar pornography, and lends an appearance of cleanness and purity to the sexual relationships. Translating sex(uality) tends to be an activity in which gender-related prejudices and configurations are routinely reproduced and projected. Through translation, social norms defining what is (im)moral or (in)decent are usually reinforced but may also— at least potentially—be challenged or defied (Santaemilia 2018). Within the framework of Retranslation Studies, the paper intends to focus on two Italian translations of the book published in 1964 and in 1966 which both share the same level of adaptation by aiming at an overtly female audience, with the result of a book focused on sensual feelings. The retranslation analysis, carried out also through the paratextual elements of the books, may help to detect socio-historical and cultural context of the target culture (Cadera and Walsh 2017).