Autotraduzione e traduzione allografa: il caso di Not I / Non io / Pas moi di Beckett : stili a confronto

This paper deals with a play by Samuel Beckett, Not I, its Italian translation by John Francis Lane and the following self-translation into French. The aim of this comparison is to investigate the complex relation between the translation and the two authorial versions of the same text, a specific problem with an author like Beckett. The comparison wishes to highlight how stylistic choices by the author as translator can be used as a roadmap or as a model by a translator into a third language. The choice of this specific play is due to its style, which is in every aspect extreme, even for an author as Beckett: the monologue is fierce, jerky and broken, an uninterrupted flux which is known to overwhelm the audience in theatres. Not I, written in 1972 and published in 1973, was self-translated into Pas moi and published in France in January 1975 (copyright 1974). The translation by Lane was begun right away, used in a performance in March 1973 and published in 1974. The translator into Italian, therefore, could not avail himself of the self-translation and consequently worked autonomously. His choices will be compared to the ones made by Beckett in order to verify stylistic similarities and / or discrepancies, and to what extent stylistic awareness can influence the outcome of a translation.